170 ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Alaska, been brought substantially to completion. The existing 

 Forests are approaching stability. 



REASONS FOB DKCEEASE IN AREA. 



The land classification idea lay behind the establishment of the 

 Forests, but at first it had to be applied in a rough and ready way. 

 The forested public lands were passing rapidly into private owner- 

 ship, and there was no time for a refined classification. Hence the 

 first decade of the twentieth century Avas the period of rapid area 

 expansion, while close to another decade has been given to restudjdng 

 the lands in order to determine just how much should be perma- 

 nently held. 



The act of June 4, 1897, after defining the purposes for which 

 National Forests might be established, specified two classes of land 

 which were not to be permanently retained, and provided for their 

 disposition. Recognizing that the temporary inclusion of a certain 

 amount of land more valuable for agricultural or mining develop- 

 ment than for Forest purposes would necessarily attend the making 

 of the reservations, the law authorized the Secretary of the Interior 

 to restore such lands to the public domain " after due examination 

 by personal inspection of a competent person appointed for that 

 purpose." It also made mineral lands subject to continued location 

 and entry. The act of June 11, 1906, authorized opening to entry 

 lands within the Forests found to be chiefly valuable for agricul- 

 ture. Study of the situation soon disclosed, however, that portions 

 of the Forests should be eliminated for other reasons. A good deal 

 of land had been included which, as its potential usefulness was 

 weighed, was found unsuitable for National Forest purposes because 

 its value to the public was too low to justify the cost of administra- 

 tion. In many other cases the Government-owned lands were too 

 heavily interspersed with private holdings for advantageous admiYi- 

 istration. The bulk of the lands which have been eliminated from 

 the Forests since 1909 fall within these last two classes. 



While much of the area thus eliminated has agricultural value, as 

 a rule the agricultural value, where there was any, was low. A rela- 

 tively minor amount of agricultural land of excellent quality, usually 

 in strips along the valleys of the larger streams, has been eliminated, 

 while the forest homestead act has made it possible to deal with small 

 patches of lands chiefl}'^ valuable for agriculture by listing them for 

 entry as interior holdings. In the case of lands chiefly valuable for 

 the minerals therein it has not been found necessary to provide for 

 their development through eliminations, since the Forests are open to 

 prospecting and mining development precisely as are the public lands. 

 When a mining claim goes to patent the land is thereby classified as 

 mineral, and this means of securing the development of such lands 

 is all that is needed. 



One other important class of land remains to be mentioned. As 

 the National Parks policy has developed it has become evident thai 

 some portions of the National Forests have their highest value for 

 permanent administration by the Government as National Parks. 

 Some of the reduction of the area of the National Forests has been 

 due to the enactment of legislation creating National Parks out ol 

 National Forest lands. The desirability of this course, where the 



