356 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Of the 91 porniits included in this statement, 50 were for commer- 

 cial use, and 61 of the applications here reported as received in 1911 

 were for commercial use. 



It still remains true, however, that there is need for legislation to 

 make possible the granting; of term permits, revocable oidy for breach 

 of the stipulations during a period of years sufficient to justify the 

 financing of largo enterprises. By direction of the President, repre- 

 sentatives of the Agricultural and Interior Departments took up last 

 winter the (luestion of the legislation immediately needed to provide 

 for the use of portions of the public lands by private companies for 

 the generation and transmission of hydroelectric power. The 

 Department of Agriculture was represented by the Forester, the 

 Solicitor, and Mr. J. B. Adams, of the Forest Service. Recom- 

 mendations were drawn up proposing a system of leases secured 

 against interference through tne location of claims under the public- 

 land laws, with safeguards to protect the public against the specula- 

 tive tying up of power sites, and with provision for a moderate charge 

 based on the net horsepower capacity of the site. The report of tlie 

 joint committee of the two departments was approved by their 

 respective Secretaries and submitted to the President, who in turn 

 gave it his approval. A bill along the line of the report was intro- 

 duced into Congress by a member of the House Public Lands Com- 

 mittee. Other bills, advocated by representatives of some of the 

 hydroelectric power companies, were also introduced. The latter 

 embodied the principle of perpetual casements, without compensation 

 proportioned to the value of the sites and without adequate safeguards 

 of the public interest. No bill was reported to either branch of Con- 

 gress at the last session. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



Stand of National Forest Timber. 



The standing timber on the National Forests, including cordwood, 

 is now estimated to be the equivalent of 518,000,000,000 board feet, 

 exclusive of Alaska. In 1910 a total stand of 530,000,000,000 feet 

 was reported. The slirinkage is due in part to the loss from forest 

 fires in the summer of 1910 and in part to the corrected data. Relia- 

 ble estimates of the timber on the National Forests in Alaska have 

 not been obtained. A rough approximation, however, credits these 

 Forests with a stand of 69,000.000,000 feet. 



The Timber Sale Policy. 



The stock taking of National Forest resources as a basis for scien- 

 tific forest management, and particularly a more exact inventory of 

 the standing timber, has progressed as rapidly as funds r.nd men 

 could be spared for this work. First consideration has been given to 

 Forests wnere the demand for timber is greatest and overcutting 

 most likely to occur. In 1908 a systematic plan of timber recon- 

 noijisance was adopted and put into effect on a small scale. This 

 work has since been extended into all of the districts and is now nearly 

 complete on a few Forests wdiere information of this character is 

 most critically needed. Up to the })resent time the reconnoissance of 

 8,658,983 acres on an intensive basis, including detailed timber esti- 



