OUR NATIONAL TIMBERLANDS THREATENED 



By HiiRMAN H. Chapman 



nEGISLATION pending in the 

 present Congress, and which may 

 be consummated at any day, 

 threatens to take from the National 

 Forests of the West, milhons of acres 

 of the most valuable timberland remain- 

 ing in government control, and turn it 

 over to the large lumber companies 

 through the agency of the homestead 

 laws. 



In the agricultural appropriation 

 act, which is now in final conference, 

 the clause was introduced by Senator 

 Nelson, providing that all lands "suit- 

 able and fit" for agriculture must be 

 classified and listed for settlement at 

 once under the homestead laws. This 

 clause is intended by its author to apply 

 to heavy bodies of timber. Under its 

 operation all timber on the National 

 Forest, which is growing on land for 

 which any claim of agricultural value 

 can be made must be listed, not when 

 there is need of it for farming, but 

 now, and by this listing be removed at 

 once from the jurisdiction of Forest 

 Service. Not a single safeguard is 

 thrown around the operation of such a 

 clause, and it would become necessary 

 to list all lands of doubtful agricultural 

 value, which might be claimed or de- 

 sired for their timber under the guise 

 of agricultural use. Claims are made 

 that even steep mountain slopes are suit- 

 able for fruits and orchards and this 

 would mean the immediate elimination 

 of timber-covered slopes, because some 

 of this land might some day be used for 

 such purposes, and it is, therefore, all 

 suitable and fit for agriculture. 



There is hardly an acre of good tim- 

 ber land in the West to which claim 

 would not be made under this proposed 

 law, and if pushed to its logical con- 

 clusion the nation would be stripped of 

 its remaining timber resources for the 

 ultimate enrichment of the large lum- 

 ber men, and an incidental and tempo- 

 rary benefit to those through whose 



hands the timber passed en route to its 

 ultimate ownership. 



The opposition of the friends of true 

 conservation secured a change in the 

 wording of this amendment, while it 

 was in the hands of the Conference 

 Committee, and it now reads that all 

 lands that are "chiefly valuable for agri- 

 cultural purposes and that are not 

 needed for public purposes, or for use 

 by the public," must be listed imme- 

 diately. This would prevent the listing 

 of timbered land, and would prevent ap- 

 plications for water-power sites and for 

 government ranger stations, which, un- 

 der the original clause, could have been 

 demanded as agricultural lands. The 

 adoption of this modified amendment 

 has met with bitter opposition on the 

 floor of the Senate and the advocates 

 of the original timber grabbing amend- 

 ment threatened to filibuster against the 

 bill and prevent the passage of the ap- 

 propriations for the Forest Service un- 

 less they are permitted to have their 

 way. 



When these forests were created they 

 were supposed to include lands more 

 valuable for their timber or for the pro- 

 tection of water sheds than for agri- 

 culture, and to exclude lands chiefly 

 valuable for agriculture. It was impos- 

 sible to avoid including some lands 

 within the original boundaries, which 

 were agricultural in character, but as 

 fast as the work could be done close 

 examinations were made of all forests 

 and the boundaries were readjusted to 

 exclude all large bodies of lands, not 

 heavily covered with valuable timber, 

 which could be used for agriculture. 

 This work has been completed for over 

 a year, but to supplement this classifica- 

 tion and make sure that there remain 

 no land genuinely desired and suitable 

 for farming, a law was passed June 11, 

 190G, permitting persons to apply 

 for any lands within the National For- 

 ests for homesteads. If, on examina- 



537 



