FOREST SERVICE. 



499 



by forest officers will be accepted with confidence by lumbermen and 

 timber purchasers. 



FBEE USE. 



The following table summarizes the free use of timber on the 

 national forests for the year: 



Free use of timber on national forests, fiscal year 1912. 



1 Under Reg. 3-27 timber is taken in Alaska without permit. The figures for quantity and 

 value in Alaska are estimates only. 



Of the total amount, 33,379,000 board feet was live timber and 

 89,854,000 dead, valued, respectively, at $88,496.96 and $107,838.45. 

 There was practically no change in the amount and value of the 

 material taken during the year, but the number of permits decreased 

 slightly. A particular effort has been made to decrease the cost of 

 administration without lessening the protection given to the forest, 

 through the development of more simple and economical methods. 

 Some of these are: The concentration of use on specific areas con- 

 venient to users; issuing pcnnils for an entire or a considerable part 

 of the fiscal year; mailing at the beginning of the fiscal year, to 

 residents entitled to free use, year-long permits for timber on speci- 

 fied free-use areas; and encouraging applications from those en- 

 titled to the privilege so far as practicable during the season in w^hich 

 other work is slack. 



LOSSES BY FOREST FIRES. 



The fires of 1911 on national forests. — The statistics of fire 

 losses are compiled by calendar years, since the season of greatest 

 hazard, during the warm or dry months, is included within two 

 fiscal years. The climatic conditions during 1911 were generally 

 favorable to fire protection, and the service was better prepared than 

 ever before to discover, report, and extinguish fires. 



The total area of national forest lands burned over was 469.638 

 acres, of which 348,783 acres were tiinberland and 120,855 acres open. 

 The loss in tiinix^r destroyed or damaged was 117,174,000 board teet, 

 with an estimated value of $172,385. There was also a loss in repro- 

 duction estimated at $176,406. and of forage valued at $5,955, making 

 a total national forest loss of $354,746. 



On private lands within the forests 310,34*2 acres were burned over, 

 of which 267,107 acres was timber and 43,235 acres open. The loss 



