NEWS AND NOTES 



From the Annual Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 

 the year 1915, we quote the following statements having refer- 

 ence to the National Forests and to the grazing situation : 



Before the national forests were created practically no effort 

 was made to protect the timber on public lands from destruction 

 by fire, notwithstanding the fact that the situation was peculiarly 

 hazardous. During the last decade a fire-protective system has 

 been developed. Extensive improvements have been made, in- 

 cluding more than 25,000 miles of roads, rails, and fire lines, 

 20,000 miles of telephone lines, many lookout stations, and head- 

 quarters for the protective force. In the year 1914, when con- 

 ditions were exceptionally unfavorable, nearly 7,000 fires were 

 fought successfully. They threatened bodies of timber valued at 

 nearly $100,000,000, but the actual damage was less than $500,000. 

 This work not only is saving public property ; it is conserving 

 the material for local economic development and for permanent 

 industry. . . . 



"During the last 11 years the number of permits for free tim- 

 ber to settlers has been multiplied 13 times and the number of 

 sales 27 times. The amount cut annually by settlers under these 

 permits is more than four times what it was in 1905, while that 

 under commercial sales has increased eight-fold. Nearly 51,000 

 lots were disposed of during the last year. Probably not less 

 than 45,000 persons or corporations obtained timber directly from 

 the national forests. 



More than half of the timber now cut annually is used in the 

 vicinity of the forests. This includes all that taken free and 

 under sales at cost, and approximately 45 per cent of the com- 

 mercial cut. Hundreds of mining districts throughout the West, 

 from small projects requiring an occasional wagonload of props 

 or lagging to the great copper district of central Montana, which 

 consumes about 380,000 pieces of mining timber annually, are 

 supplied. Railroads also are furnished a large part of the ties 

 and other material required for their lines in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain regions. A million and a half ties now are cut from the 

 forests yearly. 



The national forests also meet the demands of the general 



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