INDIAN RESERVATION TiMBERIvANDS 361 



The plan for the disposal of Indian reservation timber lands as ex- 

 I)ressed in the Snell bill and in the report of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, provides for a classification of such lands. The establishment 

 of an Indian Forest Division in the Forest Service would fit in with 

 this plan admirably. The work would then be done by that Division 

 and the Forest Service's existing Branch of Lands in collaboration. 



To become eitective such classification must meet with the approval 

 of the National Forest Reservation Commission. This Commission is,, 

 as you all know, composed of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the 

 Interior, and Secretary of Agriculture, two Senators appointed by the 

 President of the Senate, and two Representatives appointed by the 

 Speaker of the House. Each of the two leading political parties has 

 usually been given recognition in both House and Senate appointments. 

 Also, there has been representation of North, East, South, and West. 

 The Commission, therefore, is not dominated by any department or any 

 section. Necessarily the relations of the Indian Office with the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior are as close as the Forest Service with the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture. Obviously, the Secretary of War and the Senate 

 and House members should be credited with an attitude of strict im- 

 partialitv guided by an earnest desire to advance the broad public 

 interests within limits of national integrity. 



You have been asked to accept as an economic truism the proposition 

 that Indian Reservation timber lands which are chiefly valuable for 

 timber production and watershed protection should be administered 

 as timber reservations. It is believed your judgment will also readily 

 concede that such areas of such land as may readily be merged with 

 existing National Forests may be most effectively and most econom- 

 ically managed as National Forest lands. I shall now submit for your 

 approval the proposition that the Department of Agriculture which is 

 charged with the responsibility of protecting and administering the 

 existing loii.OOO.OOO acres of National Forest lands is best cjualified 

 to determine what lands are desirable for such purposes, and that the 

 National Forest Reservation Commission is the one body best qualified 

 to approve or disapprove their being -designated for such use. In 

 brief, no lands are to be reserved for National Forest purposes unless 

 the Department charged with the responsibility of handling such reser- 

 vations makes an affirmative finding as to their actual suitability for 

 such use, and even then not unless the National Forest Reservation 



