276 Forestry Quarterly. 



Service does exercise a very considerable influence upon the stock 

 business of the country, since nearly all the available summer range 

 is in forest reserves. Similarly, the fact that the regulation of graz- 

 ing upon summer range in the mountains is essential to the contin- 

 ued utilization of the desert or prairie winter range, is an argument 

 in favor of the reservation of the former. While the latter greatly 

 exceeds the former in extent, still it cannot be utilized unless the- 

 former is so managed as to furnish sustenance for stock during that 

 portion of the year in which the deserts or prairies can not be 

 grazed on account of the absence of water. 



The reservation of woodland areas is frequently justifiable, as. 

 in portions of Nevada, where such areas form important watersheds, 

 or where the question of fuel supply or mining timbers is of great 

 importance. On the other hand, the reservation of small or inacces- 

 sible forest areas is unjustifiable unless these areas are of sufficient 

 present or prospective economic importance to justify the expense, 

 considered from the point of view of timber production or water- 

 shed protection. 



In the field, the first question to be answered is "Should this area,, 

 or a part of it, be reserved.^" 



The next step is the collection of field data for topographic and 

 forest maps, and for the report. If the area is surveyed by either 

 the Land Office or Geological Survey, the question of topography is 

 practically eliminated. If not, the deficiency must be made up by 

 sketching in the unsurveyed portions from the highest points acces- 

 sible. Since it is expected that an average of about one township per 

 day will be examined, these maps can not pretend to great accuracy. 

 On these rough field maps are designated the distribution of the 

 various types of forest cover, as Commercial Forest, Timberland, 

 Non-Commercial Forest, Woodland, Cut-Over Land, Burn, Chap- 

 paral. Sagebrush, Open Grass Land, Cultivated Land, Cultivable 

 Land, and Barren Land. 



While in the field, tentative boundaries are determined and mark- 

 ed in on the township plats above mentioned. These lines are run 

 ■ almost invariably upon section or quarter-section lines, seldom 

 upon forty lines. Natural boundaries are seldom used, even on un- 

 surveyed land. Portions of the boundaries of the Priest River re- 

 serve, in Idaho and Washington, and of the Bitterroot reserve, in 

 Idaho and Montana, are exceptions to this rule. 



The examiner does not survey or mark the proposed boundaries;: 



