RESTRICTING THE FREE USE OF TIMBER ON OUR 

 NATIONAL FORESTS. 



By L. L. White. 



Nearly every National Forest that has been created has been 

 looked upon by the people living adjacent with considerable doubt 

 and dissatisfaction in the early stage of administration. This feel- 

 ing of mistrust, due to misconception and lack of knowledge of the 

 real purpose of the Forests, was inevitable in many communities. 

 It was therefore early apparent that certain administrative provis- 

 ions must be made which would assist in dispelling the misguided 

 ideas of the public, and in bringing about a realization of the 

 benefits which the Forest policy was intended to subserve. Sev- 

 eral measures were adopted for this purpose but probably the 

 most effective has been the adoption of a liberal policy with regard 

 to the free use of National Forest timber. 



Under the present regulations a permittee is entitled to $20.00 

 worth of timber per annum, or more in case of unusual need. 

 The exact amount depends on the current local valuation of timber 

 and various materials. The only restrictions placed upon the busi- 

 ness to those entitled to it is that all material shall be used by the 

 permittee and none of it shall be sold or used as a commercial 

 commodity. It is further required that all green saw timber shall 

 be logged by the permittee unless he is physically incapable of 

 doing this work, and that all logging operations shall conform to 

 the rules and regulations governing regular timber sales. Or in 

 other words, the work shall be, from a forester's view, economi- 

 cally and silviculturally well done. In the use of dead timber the 

 operations require but very little supervision, but it is obvious that 

 all green timber should be marked for cutting and the logging 

 should receive careful supervision. When the magnitude of this 

 business is considered, there being more than 2,000 free use per- 

 mits issued annually on some individual Forests, the difficulty of 

 supervising the work with a limited ranger force can readily be 

 seen. It is a matter of general knowledge among Forest officials 

 that the standard of the free use timber work in such Forests as 

 have a large amount of this business is unsatisfactorv and below 



