48 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. ( 



recreational i)iirposes or for the protection of their natural beauty. 

 There is a <i;rowin«; demand for suinniei--home sites, for public camp 

 grounds, for the development of comnumity recreation areas in the 

 forests, and for other forms of recreational use. To meet this demand, 

 there should be more specific provision than has yet been made for 

 the administration of the recreation resources. 



GRAZING FEES. 



Grazing at present is the principal source of money return to the 

 Government from the national forests. Since 1916 the grazing fees 

 have been doubled, with the view of making them commensurate with 

 current rental rates for neighboring private lands of the same char- 

 acter. When the existing rates were established, th ^ users of the 

 range understood that they would remain in effect for five years 

 and many of the grazing permits were issued for this period. The 

 value of the grazing privilege on many ranges subsequently advanced, 

 and a considerable sentiment in favor of an immediate further 

 increase in the fees developed. The good faith of the GoA^ernment 

 would be impaired by such a course. Furthermore, to advance the 

 fees at the present time would add to the instability of the national 

 forest live-stock industry w^hich has been brought about b^^ existing 

 market conditions, and would be neither just nor good public policy. 



No policy has been laid down by the Congress for the guidance of 

 the department in the exercise of the administrative discretion, with 

 which it has been vested for 15 years, to determine the conditions 

 under which the use of the range may be permitted. If the Congress 

 desires to prescribe such a policy, it should not take effect until after 

 1923, when the existing leases will expire. Even in the absence 

 of legislation, the department will make a classification of the ranges 

 and fix a new scale of charges, to be imposed in 1924, under which the 

 fees will represent the actual grazing value of the particular portion 

 of the range used by each permittee or group of permittees. Before 

 the new scale is determined, an opportunity w^ill be given the local 

 associations of national forest range users to submit any data regard- 

 ing the fairness of the proposed fees which they may desire to 

 present. 



THE DEVELOPMEIVT OF ALASKA. ^ 



The Department of Agriculture, in common with a number of other 

 departments, has very definite responsibilities in connection with 

 Alaskan development. It is endeavoring, for example, to increase 

 the production of crops and live stock ; it has experts in the field in- 

 vestigating the possibility of building up the reindeer herds into 

 an important source of meat supply ; it is giving attention to the per- 

 petuation of the fur industry. But its chief responsibility at the 



