182 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



little range which is not accessible to live-stock, but the bulk of the 

 timber is still out of reach of the lumbermen. 



The receipts of 1919 were 175 per cent of those of 1915, while the 

 cost of operating the Forests has remained practically stationary dur- 

 ing these four years. The appropriation act for the current year 

 made increases in the items for a number of the individual Forests, 

 aggregating $266,074. Most of these increases were to strengthen the 

 protective system on the Forests where the danger of costly and de- 

 structive fires is greatest because of the inaccessibility of the country. 

 These new funds did not become available until after July 25, when 

 the fire season was reaching its height, which precluded the carrying 

 out of the plans contemplated when the increases were asked for. 

 Before the end of June the worst fire season ever faced in the North- 

 v/est had begun. When it ended the expenditures for fire fighting- 

 had so far exceeded the appropriation for that purpose that it became 

 necessary to ask a deficiency approj)riation from Congress of S2,950,- 

 000. Again, as in last year's report, it must be pointed out that 

 greater outlays for fire prevention, early detection, and swift concen- 

 tration of fire-fighting forces vv^ould be much more economical. 



THE NATIONAL FOREST PROPERTIES. 



The net area of the National Forests at the close of the fiscal vear 

 1919 was 153,933,700 acres, as against 155,374,602 acres June 30, 1*918. 

 The corresponding gross area,s were 174,261,393 acres and 175,951,266 

 acres. The gross area includes all lands within National Forest 

 boundaries; the net area excludes alienated lands. 



These figures indicate a decrease of 1,440,902 acres in net area and a 

 decrease of 1,689,873 acres in gross area. Eliminations made either 

 by presidential orders or proclamations or by special acts of Congress 

 totaled 1,658,989 acres, in 25 National Forests. The act of February 

 26, 1919, creating the Grand Canyon National Park, eliminated from 

 the Kaibab and Tusayan National Forests and transferred to the 

 Grand Canyon National Park 606,720 acres. State selections author- 

 ized under a proclamation of June 4, 1912, were approved in the St. 

 Joe National Forest, in Idaho, aggregating 21,262 acres. Elimina- 

 tions by Executive orders or presidential proclamations, as a result 

 of the land classification that is now nearing completion, reduced the 

 National Forest areas 1,031,007 acres. Furthermore, a considerable 

 acreage passed into private ownership under the usual operations of 

 the mining laws and the Forest homestead act. 



These reductions in area were in a small degree offset by three small 

 public-land additions. Presidential proclamations increased the 

 Dixie National Forest in Utah 8,328 acres and the Humboldt Forest 

 in Nevada 28,020 acres. By the act of March 3, 1919, 2,886 acres 

 were added to the Minam Forest in Oregon, 



Increase of the National Forests in the East through purchases 

 continued at a conservative rate. The total i\et area of pul)li(' land in 

 the National Forests established from purchase areas now aggregates 

 1,347,666 acres. Of this amount 1,333,405.03 acres have been pur- 

 chased, the remainder ])ei]ig unoccupied and unentered ])ublic lands 

 hi the Alabama National Forest. At the close of the fiscal year there 

 remained a total of 396,493 acres approved for purchase by the 

 National Forest Heservatioii Commission and under process of 



