AGRICULTURE IN NATIONAL FORESTS 



561 



made from New Castle to Yampa. The 

 itinerary took our party first up the west 

 branch of Elk Creek over the flat divide to 

 White River above Meeker, thence up the 

 north fork of the White River, up Snell 

 Creek, down Rough Creek to Pyramid ; 

 thence up Bunker Creek on the Spronx trail, 

 by Chaffee's mill, and down the Pinnacle 

 road to Yampa. At Yampa I was met by 

 Senator Ammons, who accompanied the party 

 on a trip into the forest to inspect the kind 

 of land which was being listed for home- 

 steads. 



The criticisms with reference to this forest 

 concern three classes of land. First, the 

 high parks. Second, certain areas at lower 

 elevations covered with aspen. Third, lands 

 near the edge of the forest covered with as- 

 pen and small oaks. 



There are on the high plateaus of this 

 forest a good many open parks, at 9,000 to 

 10,000 feet elevation. In some cases these 

 open areas are natural parks, comprising 

 swales between the intervening higher 

 ground. Other areas constitute openings in- 

 terspersed between patches of forest, which 

 by natural reproduction are gradually being 

 restored to tree growth. It is believed by 

 some that many of these high areas can be 

 brought under cultivation, at least, for the 

 production of hay. This possibility the Forest 

 Service does not deny, and we are prepared 

 to encourage such development. 



In proof of this, let me state that four ap- 

 plications were made for land on the high 

 country above West Elk Creek. The land was 

 opened to entry. Three of the applicants 

 abandoned their claims very quickly, and 

 the fourth worked a year, plowing some of 

 the land and planting timothy and winter 

 wheat. This last and most persistent of the 

 applicants was a Mr. Lyke, who, with his 

 two sons, operates a sawmill in the forest. 

 I met these men and discussed the matter 

 with them. They felt that possibly a contin- 

 uance of cultivation for several years would 

 bring the soil into such a condition that tim- 

 othy could be produced in paying quantities. 

 But they were unable to make the necessary 

 investments to carry on what they consid- 

 ered an experiment with doubtful results. I 

 cite these instances to show that the Forest 

 Service is not standing in the way of the 

 settlement of these areas. 



The second class of lands in question in- 

 cludes those areas at lower elevations whose 

 configuration and character of soil permit 

 cultivation. These are in many cases cov- 

 ered with a growth of aspen and are locally 

 called aspen lands. These areas are situ- 

 ated in the bottoms between the ridges, in 

 coves, on benches at the head of gulches, 

 on small mesas, and on the lower slopes of 

 broader valleys. They do not occur in solid 

 bodies, but are scattered. There is really 

 no dispute about these lands. 



Senator Ammons accompanied us upon an 

 inspection of certain typical aspen areas near 

 Yampa, where they are said to be as abundant 



as anywhere in the forest. We seemed to be 

 in entire agreement as to what ought to be 

 brought under cultivation. Applications have 

 been made from time to time for such areas, 

 and the land has been opened to entry under 

 the Forest Homestead Act. In other words, 

 the Service has been opening them to settle- 

 ment when they are desired. That there 

 are scattered areas not being settled, is due 

 to the fact that they have not been requested, 

 exactly as there are areas outside the forest 

 well susceptible of cultivation, that have not 

 been taken up. 



The third class of land is that near the 

 borders of the forest, which, it is alleged, 

 is not strictly forest land. During the past 

 two years the Forest Service has been ex- 

 amining very closely the boundaries of the 

 forests. Maps have been made showing the 

 character of the land and the vegetative cover, 

 and the local officers have made recommenda- 

 tions regarding eliminations of certain areas 

 not required for forest purposes. In this 

 boundary revision the principles followed by 

 the forest officers are to include those areas 

 which should be used for the production of 

 timber and wood, and those areas on which 

 the cover of trees, brush, or other vegeta- 

 tion should be strictly protected for the reg- 

 ulation of water flow, prevention of wash, 

 slides, or for the other 'protective purposes. 

 Bodies of agricultural land, pure grazing land, 

 or other classes of land not required for the 

 above-mentioned forest or protective pur- 

 poses are to be excluded. 



Under this policy, established by my prede- 

 cessor and which I approve, there have al- 

 ready been extensive eliminations, amounting 

 in this state, I believe, to over 500,000 acres. 

 In applying the details of this work, any 

 large bodies of agricultural land are taken 

 out of the forest. 



It is not the design, however, to make an 

 extensive elimination of forest land in order 

 to eliminate by presidential proclamation 

 scattered patches of agricultural land which 

 may be located here and there between the 

 ridges. The boundary lines are drawn by 

 legal subdivisions and practical questions of 

 administration are taken into consideration. 

 Sometimes there is a high ridge with good 

 forest growth on the moist slope, but poor 

 growth on the other side. Such a ridge is 

 included for the good forest growth. Many 

 times the poor slope can be restored to good 

 growth or at least the forest upon it very 

 much improved. We are still working on 

 this problem. When the work is fully com- 

 pleted, I do not believe that there will be 

 legitimate cause for criticism of the boundary 

 lines. 



As a result of what I myself have seen 

 on this trip and of what I learn from our 

 forest officers of other forests, it is clear to 

 me that there has been a great deal of public 

 misunderstanding of the possible amount of 

 agricultural land in the forests, and of the 

 policy of the Forest Service in administering 

 such agricultural areas as do occur. I find 



