FOREST SERVICE. 

 Reports to th General Land Office on unpatented claims. 



367 



Action upon claims to National Forest land before the Department 

 of the Interior resulted as follows: 



Claims to National Forest land disposed of by the Department of the Interior. 



The appUcations for and Ustings of National Forest lands for home- 

 stead entry under the act of June 11, 1906, are compared with those 

 for 1909 in the following table. Such lands are hsted when an exam- 

 ination, made at the request of the applicants, has shown that they 

 are chiefl}^ valuable for agriculture and not needed for public pur- 

 poses. The total area listed since the passage of the law was at the 

 close of the year 626,872 acres. The large number of claims shown 

 as awaiting action at the close of the fiscal year is due partly to the 

 fact that it was considered unnecessary to examine lands in arcaa 

 shortly to be eliminated, but chiefly to the fact that applications 

 accumulate during the winter months when examinations are gener- 

 ally impracticable. By the close of the field season most of the 

 examinations here shown as applied for will have been made. 



Applications and listings for forest homestead entry. 



Since settlement within as well as near the National Forests is an 

 aid to their protection and development, there is every reason for 

 encouraging use for agriculture of land which can be properly listed. 

 The act of June 11, 1906, is administered with a view to facilitating 

 settlement. Decision on applications is matle wholly on the basis or 

 the fitness of the land for agriculture as against forest use, not with 

 reference to the ability of the particular applicant to make a living 



