REPOET OF THE SECRETARY OF xiGRICULTURE. 61 



When the Department of Agriculture assumed charge of the 

 national forests in 1905 the tide of agricultural settlement was still 

 active in the regions adjoining many of them. In fact, one of the 

 major problems then confronting the department was the classifica- 

 tion of the national forests themselves and the segregation of areas 

 which should be made available for agricultural use. The initial 

 grazing regulations were drafted with special attention to the en- 

 couragement of the new settler in the many localities where the use 

 of public range was essential to the successful development of farm- 

 ing lands. In many instances this policy necessitated a gradual 

 but material curtailment in the herds of former users of the national 

 ranges and a process of redistributing the grazing privileges among 

 an increasing number of stockmen, including the small herds of new 

 settlers. 



The Department of Agriculture should always make the encour- 

 agement of rational land settlement a primary object in the admin- 

 istration of both the grazing and timber resources of the national 

 forests. And it should always seek to obtain the closest possible 

 ■correlation between the use of forage in the forests and the develop- 

 ment of adjacent range and agricultural lands. The conditions 

 affecting agricultural development in the regions where it can be 

 aided by the forage on the national forests, however, have changed 

 materially during the last 18 years. The main tide of new agricul- 

 tural settlement has largely spent itself. At some points, indeed, 

 homestead settlement is receding, owing to the failure of attempts 

 at dry farming. While additional areas will, of course, be placed 

 under cultivation as time goes on, in connection with irrigation 

 developments or otherwise, it is evident that land settlement is not 

 as large a factor as in 1905. It is also evident that by granting 

 longer permits for range privileges the department will not only 

 promote the welfare of the livestock business, and particularly its 

 financial rehabilitation following the present crisis, but also will 

 promote sound economic development and permanency of settlement 

 in these regions as a whole. 



The revision of the grazing regulations has consequently been 

 directed primarily (1) toward stabilizing the use of the ranges under 

 permits extending for a period of 10 years, and (2) toward stabiliz- 

 ing the livestock enterprises which the national forests support in 



