FOREST SERVICE. 349 



units, owing to an increased volume of business in these Forests. On 

 the other hand, on account of the undeveloped character of the Forest 

 areas, the Choctawhatchee and Ocala Forests, in Florida, and the 

 Michigan and Marquette Forests, in Michigan, were administered as 

 single units. The Luquillo Forest, in Porto Rico, is not under admin- 

 istration, because of the large amount of alienated land and of land 

 the title to which is in question within its boundaries. A new Forest, 

 called the Santa Rosa National Forest, was created from public lands 

 in Nevada not liitherto within Forest boundaries. The net result is 

 that 153 units were under administration within the limits of the 

 United States, as against 147 at the end of the last fiscal year, and the 

 average Forest area was reduced from 1,129,957 acres to 1,070,545 

 acres. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 

 AREA AND BOUNDARIES. 



The total area within the boundaries of the National Forests was 

 decreased during the year by presidential proclamations which elimi- 

 nated 4,598,705 acres and added 2,806,267 acres. These additions 

 and ehminations were made as a partial result of the field examina- 

 tions carried on during the past two years. Additional changes, not 

 shown in the area table on page 10, became effective on July 1, 1911, 

 adding 364,480 acres and ehminating 84,969 acres. Further additions 

 and eliminations, amounting to approximately 619,000 acres and 

 1,128,000 acres, respectively, are still pending. 



The policy which has governed recommendations for additions and 

 eliminations, as agreed upon by the Secretary of Agriculture and the 

 Secretary of the Interior February 7, 1910, and later approved by the 

 President, is as follows: 



(1) Lands wholly or in part covered with brush or other under- 

 growth which protects streamflow or checks erosion on the watershed 

 of any stream important to irrigation or to the water supply of any 

 city, town, or community, or open lands on wliich trees may be 

 grown, should be retained Avithin the National Forests unless their 

 permanent value under cultivation is greater than their value as a 

 protective forest. 



(2) Lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, 

 or cut-over lands which are more valuable for the production of trees 

 than for agricultural crops, and lands densely stocked with young 

 trees having a prospective value greater than the value of the land 

 for agricultural purposes, should be retained within the National 

 Forests. 



(3) Lands not either wholly or in part covered with timber or 

 undergrowth, which are located above timber line within the Forest 

 boundary or in small bodies scattered through the Forest, making 

 elimination impracticable, or limited areas which are necessarily 

 included for a proper administrative boundary line, should be retained 

 within the National Forests. 



(4) Lands not wholly or in part covered with timber or under- 

 growth, except as provided for in the preceding paragraphs, upon 

 wliich it is not expected to grow trees, should be eliminated from the 

 National Forests. 



