INDIAN RESERVATION TIMBERLANDS 357 



The proposed plan provides first for the temporary withdrawal of 

 all lands in Indian Reservations which are owned by the United States 

 or subject to disposal by the United States, and are chiefly valuable 

 for timber production or watershed protection. Before they can be 

 withdrawn the lands must first be examined by the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture and found to be of the class required. This classification must 

 then be approved by the National Forest Reservation Commission. The 

 withdrawal takes efifect when the approved classification is filed with 

 the Secretary of the Interior. 



As to such lands as are withdrawn because chiefly valuable for 

 timber production or watershed protection the National Forest Reser- 

 vation Commission has two functions. First, it is authorized to recom- 

 mend to the President the incorporation within National Forests of 

 any lands so withdrawn ; second, to determine the value of any such 

 lands as are the property of Indian tribes, and to provide for the 

 liquidation of the Indians' equities. Upon recommendation of the 

 Commission, the President, in his discretion, may incorporate such 

 lands in the National Forests subject to any valid claims, entries, or 

 allotments, and to the rights, equities, or title of the Indians. Upon 

 inclusion within the National Forests the lands would thereafter be 

 administered by the Forest Service substantially as other National 

 Forest lands, such special provision being made to meet the require- 

 ments of their origin exactly as special provisions are made to meet 

 peculiar local conditions upon other National Forests. 



Expressed in tabloid form, this plan proposes that all unallotted 

 Indian reservation lands chiefly valuable for timber production or 

 watershed protetion shall be taken over by the Government for that 

 purpose, and that the Indians shall be paid for them. 



That lands chiefly valuable for timber production and watershed pro- 

 tection should be reserved for such purposes is an economic truism. 

 The proposition is not one which admits of serious question within 

 this Society. 



That the Indians should be treated fairly and not unjustly deprived 

 of their lands is equally true and as freely conceded. It should not be 

 necessary for me to file any disclaimer on the part of the Government 

 of intention to defraud. I feel that honesty of purpose in the recogni- 

 tion of existing equities may at the outset be conceded as inherent in all 

 branches of the Government and not a rare attribute peculiar to some 

 one Bureau alone. 



With these two points made clear; (a) that lands chiefly valuable 

 for timber production and watershed protection should be permanently 



