68 NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL FREE USE. 



Free use of timber may be allowed in connection with other usos of 

 the National Forests regardless of the ability of the permittee to 

 purchase; if the timber will be used in improvements trie benefit of 

 which will be essentially public rather tnan individual, or if the 

 stumpage value of the timber used is less than the value of these 

 improvements for protective purposes, or for administrative purposes 

 considering both the actual use of the improvement and the increased 

 value of the Forest through better regulation. Ordinarily, improve- 

 ments under these provisions should be constructed witli the under- 

 standing that they will become the property of the United States at 

 the termination of the permit. A clear line can usually be drawn 

 between improvements which are necessary and of benefit only to 

 the permittee in conducting his business and those which result in 

 the improvement and better regulation of the Forest. 



Free use may be refused in the discretion of the supervisor to 

 permittees who repeatedly violate the provisions of their permits 

 and interfere with the efficiency of the free use administration. Free 

 use may reasonably be refused where the final cost to the permittees 

 is as great as if the material were purchased, whether or not agents 

 are employed to obtain the material. Free use of timber from alleged 

 invalid claims may be granted for fuel only, pending the final deter- 

 mination of title to the claims. 



The appraisement of free use material will not be 

 riai aluati011 fmate " less than for sales in the same locality on the Forest 



from which the timber is to be taken. 



Supervisors will issue at the beginning of each fiscal year a schedule 

 schedule of rates ^ standard rates for free use material based upon 



the current timber sale rates. The rate for the same 

 class of material may be varied in different districts if the conditions 

 warrant. In general, posts will be valued at a specified rate per 

 post, and poles at a specified rate per linear foot. Cordwood will 

 never be measured on the basis of board feet. Dead timber will be 

 valued at the same price as green in National Forests where the prices 

 are equal in sales. 



The free-use privilege will be restricted so far as possible to diseased, 

 . defective, dying, and dead and down timber, the use 



of which will be encouraged. Green timber, however, 

 may be obtained except as provided for in the regulations or the 

 supervisor's instructions, when it is necessary for the particular needs 

 of the applicant. Every possible attempt will be made to improve 

 and protect the Forest by locating free use where the timber can best 

 be spared or where it constitutes a menace, by confining the cutting 

 in green timber so far as possible to inferior trees and inferior species, 

 and where necessary or advisable for economic reasons or to insure 

 reproduction by limiting the cut of green timber or prohibiting it 

 altogether. 



The duration of permits, which will not exceed the time necessary 

 to remove material, will be fixed by the issuing officer, but all permits 

 must terminate on or before June 30 of each year. 



The small amount of material actually needed by transients may 



be taken without a permit. In cases of great 

 ei^rgency^sef and emergency material may be taken without a permit, 



but the fact should at once be reported to a Forest 

 officer with the request that a permit be issued. 



