BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS. 485 



NATIONAL FOREST ROADS. 



The appropriation made by the Federal highway act for forest 

 roads is divided into two specific funds — (1) for the survey, construc- 

 tion, reconstruction, and maintenance of roads and trails of primary 

 importance for the protection, administration, and utilization of 

 the national forests or when necessary for the use and development 

 of the resources upon which such communities within or adjacent 

 to the national forests are dependent; and (2) for the survey, con- 

 struction, reconstruction, and maintenance of forest roads of primary 

 importance to the State or communities within, adjoining, or adjacent 

 to the national forests. Administratively the two funds are known 

 as the forest-development fund and the forest-highway fund. 



Projects to be constructed from the second part of the appropria- 

 tion are selected so as to coincide or correlate with the Federal-aid 

 highway system. It is the policy of the bureau to use the funds 

 under this part of the appropriation, so far as possible, to complete 

 and make continuous the important State routes through the forest 

 areas. On account of the large areas of forest lands within the 

 boundaries of some of the Western States it is necessary, in order to 

 obtain a complete and connected system of highways that will 

 serve the State and the local communities, to combine the Federal- 

 aid highways and these forest highways into one system. The 

 rules and regulations for the administration of national forest roads 

 and trails have definitely provided a line of procedure to be followed 

 in the selection and the construction of these projects. 



Each of the State highway departments will submit, through the 

 proper district engineer, a map of the State showing the forest areas 

 within the State, the Federal-aid highway system, and the highways 

 recommended by the highway department for construction as national 

 forest highways. Before submitting its map the highway department 

 will secure and consider the recommendations of county officials 

 as to forest highways of importance to the counties. Having worked 

 out a map which will embody the State and county recommendations 

 as decided upon, the map will be transmitted to the proper district 

 engineer of the bureau, who will attach his recommendations and 

 forward them with a copy of the State map to the district forester. 

 The district forester will prepare another map showing the existing 

 roads in and adjacent to the forest areas, indicating the roads pro- 

 posed for improvement and which of them should be improved, in 

 his judgment, as parts of the forest highway system and forest de- 

 velopment road system, respectively. 



Upon the basis of the several recommendations a joint recommenda- 

 tion will be prepared in conference between representatives of the 

 State highway department, the district engineer of the bureau, and 

 the district forester. Following this conference final recommenda- 

 tions for the designation of the forest highway system will be submitted 

 to the Secretary by the Chief of the Bureau of Public Roads and the 

 Forester, and sucn recommendations will be embodied in a map. 

 This map, w^hen approved, will constitute the general program for 

 •highway construction in the forest areas. It will undoubtedly take 

 some time and very careful study before these maps can be finally 

 adopted. In the meantime a proCTam for construction and surveys 

 for the 1922 and 1923 seasons has been set up by agreement between 



