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-^ Proposed ISfational Forest Changes '^ 



David F. Houston, secretary of Afjriciiltiirc, iu his report for the 

 fiscal year ended June 30, 1914, recommends a change in the methods 

 of administering the national forests in undeveloped sections, so that 

 they will yield at once revenue that can be applied to local develop- 

 ment which will further assist communities and aid in the settlement 

 of the territory. Under this plan the department, instead of waiting 

 until timber is actually sold before the unsettled counties gain any 

 revenue from this form of the public domain, will, if Congress grants 

 the necessary authority, underwrite its proportion of expenditure for 

 local improvement, especially for road construction, and charge this 

 against the counties' shares of tindjer sales when the timber is opened 

 for commercial cutting. 



In regions where timber is the chief income-producing resource 

 absence of demand for it often works a serious hardship upon those 

 who have entered the region as the advance guard of civilization and 

 are seeking, in the face of many difficulties, to establish homes. There 

 are counties iu which a sparse local population of pioneer settlers 

 find themselves surrounded by a wilderness" largely consisting of 

 national forest land, which is almost idle so far as any form of present 

 use is concerned. In other words, a great, if not Sie greatest of the 

 potential sources of wealth in such counties, hekl in trust by the gov- 

 ernment for the benefit of the public, not merely contributes nothing 

 now to the upbuilding of the communities which will give value to 

 the forests, but actually adds to the burden which these communities 

 must assume. That it should be made to serve the local as well as 

 the national public welfare has been definitely recognized in the pro- 

 visions of law for the use of thirty-five per cent of all gross receipts 

 from the forests for local public purposes. 



To carry more fully into effect this already established principle 

 a further step should be taken. It should not be necessary to wait 

 until the period of hardest struggle is past before these public re- 

 sources begin to assist local development. Before the national forests 

 begin to yield large incomes, as well as after, they should be made to 

 participate in the work of building up the country and giving value 

 to all its resources. 



Better Ro^u).s Needed 

 The first need of the public iu undeveloped regions is for more and 

 better roads. Without them the struggle of individuals to gain a 

 foothold is much more difficult, while isolation from neighbors and 

 the outside world means meager educational opportunity, a lack of 

 comforts, and conditions unfavorable to community life. A road 

 system, however, constitutes a capital investment which a handful of 

 settlers must make a little at a time. When their roads must be built 

 largely through national forest lands, which pay no taxes, their case 

 is much more difficult. In such regions the secretary of Agriculture 

 should be authorized to make a study of the local conditions and to 

 gather all the data necessary to formulate a plan for public-road 

 development based on local needs. On the liasis of the showings of 

 fact regarding the value of the government's property, its potential 

 income-yielding capacity, and the needs of the public, Congress 

 should be asked to appropriate for the construction of specific projects 

 recommended by the secretary of Agriculture. The cost of such road 

 construction by the government should constitute an advance of the 

 amounts which the forests would later make available for local use. 

 In effect, therefore, the roads would become an obligation upon the 

 forests, to be extinguished as their resources come into commercial 

 demanil. ' ' 



H0ME.5TEAD CUANUES PROPOSED 



The secretary recommends changes in the system of homesteading, 

 and suggests the wisdom of releasing certain parts of the forests by 

 exchange of property with the states. An important part of the 

 forest problem is to get the right line drawn between farm and 

 forest. Under private ownership considerations enter which do not 

 always lead to the best use of the land. On the national forests the 

 question is determined by a careful study of what the land is best 

 fitted to produce and what the public most needs.. Agricultural 

 development is provided for either by excluding from the forests land 



chiefiy valuable for other than forest purposes or by listing land for 

 settlement under the forest homestead act. The work is carried out 

 through land classification, which was aggressively pushed last year. 

 The elimination made or iletermined upon totaled over 2,000,000 acres, 

 while systematic classification was conducted on 100 of the forests, 

 and over 280,000 acres of land were listed for settlement under the 

 forest homestead law". The area in the forests at the close of the 

 year, exclusive of land not the jiroperty of the government, was 

 slightly over 165,000,000 acres. 



There is need for similar classification work outside of the national 

 forests wherever the public domain is timbered. There are still many 

 areas which should be added to the forests. Wherever the land wUl 

 have largest permanent value through use for forest production it 

 should be held in public ownership. Timbered portions of the public 

 domain are now unprotected against fire and trespass and are often 

 a source of danger to adjacent lands. 



There is also need for legislation to permit the consolidation of 

 national forest holdings through land- exchanges with states and 

 private owners. Some of the forests contain a great deal of land 

 which was acquired from the government before the forests were 

 established. Exchanges of land on the basis of equal values would be 

 verv advantageous to the government, since the cost of administration 

 and protection would be materially reduced. 

 Timber Sale.s 

 The report outlines the policy of the department regarding timber 

 cales in the national forests. In its handling of timber sales on the 

 national forests the department is confronted with a situation radically 

 different from that which obtains with respect to the grazing. While 

 almost all the range on the forests is in demand, most of the timber 

 is not. To a large extent development work here means so handling 

 the timber that it will be an important factor in opening up the 

 country. Wherever and whenever general business and market con- 

 ditions make it possible to sell large bodies of now inaccessible timber, 

 the aim is to offer the timber on terms which will tend to increase 

 transportation facilities, promote settlement, and build up permanent 

 communities. Where timber can be sold the benefits of government 

 management of the forests as public resources are apparent now. 

 Where, however, the timber is not in present demand a difficult situa- 

 tion sometimes exists. 



It has been urged that, with the vast supplies of virgin national 

 forest timber, the government should greatly increase its sales by 

 lowering the price asked for stumpage. To the extent that such a 

 course had any effect at all it would be, in the long run, an effect 

 unfavorable to the public interest. Upon the greater part of the 

 timber it would have no effect, because no manufacturer could, under 

 present conditions, afford to cut the timber at any price. Where tim- 

 ber is thus not in demand because still inaccessible, as a rule the pos- 

 sibility of marketing it depends on the advent of a period of greater 

 activity in the general lumber trade. When, as at the present timu, 

 lumbermen are forced by general market conditions to curtail output, 

 the department can not expect to make many large sales. Neverthe- 

 less, it is wise even in such times not to cease offering large bodies 

 of timber on terms which may attract purchasers, and this is being 

 done. At the same time all possible effort is given to develop small 

 ^ales for the supply of local needs, and sales to industries which 

 require wood for special purposes, since sales of this character provide 

 a fairlj' steady market for national forest stumpage, even when the 

 general market is depressed. 



In the section dealing with forestry the secretary points out that 

 the forests have passed through an unusually dry and dangerous 

 summer without serious fire damage. He indicates that the present 

 emergency fund of $100,000 for fire protection of one billion dollars 

 of public property is inadequate even in ordinary seasons. In dis- 

 cussing the recreational use of the forests, which he holds to be the 

 chief of the secondary uses, he urges that the department should be 

 enabled to grant term leases to persons wishing to use the land for 

 .summer homes or hotels. 



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