476 Forestry Quarterly. 



vations. More than 1,500 miles of telephone line, about 50 cabins, 

 and many miles of fences and trails were constructed during the 

 succeeding 12 months. These means of protection proved of 

 great value during the fire season of 1910 and 191 1, 



Prior to 1910 no general policy as to dealing with Indian tim- 

 berlands had ever been formulated. It had been the custom to 

 act upon each individual question as it was presented. So long 

 as nearly all timber questions related to large sales on tribal lands 

 or to group sales from allotments this system could be used with- 

 out serious difficulty; but it was apparent that as the segregation 

 of individual holdings multiplied the detail connected with sales 

 of timber from allotments and as the settlement of the western 

 States increased the demand for small sales from tribal lands the 

 work connected with the handling of all detail at Washington 

 would be insurmountable. It was for this reason that the writer 

 prepared the general regulations and instructions for officers in 

 charge of forests on Indian reservations, which were approved 

 by the Department of the Interior on June 29, 191 1, and issued 

 in a small booklet for general distribution to special forest officers, 

 superintendents, forest guards, farmers and others in the Service. 



One of the important innovations of these regulations was the 

 establishment of the rule that individual Indians who are per- 

 mitted to cut timber from tribal lands for sale must pay a stump- 

 age charge for the benefit of the tribe. Under the conditions 

 obtained in the past the practice of allowing the more progressive 

 Indians a rather free hand in cutting tribal timber for sale may 

 have been excusable as a means of enabling and encouraging 

 Indians to procure a living. The rapid rise of stumpage values 

 and the need of protecting the interests of all the Indians against 

 the desire for gain which civilization is sure to arouse in the 

 more aggressive required that the exploitation of tribal timber be 

 placed upon a business basis as far as practicable. 



The regulations require that all cutting shall be done under a 

 permit or a regular contract. A considerable discretion as to 

 small sales is left with the local officials. General instructions as 

 to advertising, making of contracts, marking and scaling, were 

 incorporated in the regulations. The sawmill feature of forestry 

 work in the Indian Service has no counterpart in the forestry- 

 work of the United States Department of Agriculture. The 



