OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 83 



Agricultural and forestry experts have sur- 

 veyed the lands in the National Forests. Thus 

 they have prevented the use of lands for forestry 

 purposes which are better adapted for farming. 

 Since 1910, more than 26,500,000 acres of lands 

 have been excluded from the forests. These lands 

 were more useful for farming or grazing than 

 for forestry. Practically all lands within the 

 National Forests have now been examined and 

 classified. At intervals Congress has combined 

 several areas of forest lands into single tracts. 

 Government lands outside the National Forests 

 have also been traded for state or private lands 

 within their boundaries. Thus the forests have 

 been lined-up in more compact bodies. Careful 

 surveys are made before such trades are closed 

 to make sure that the land given to Uncle Sam 

 is valuable for timber production and the protec- 

 tion of stream flow, and that the Government 

 receives full value for the land that is exchanged. 



The National Forests contain nearly five hun- 

 dred billion board feet of merchantable timber. 

 This is 23 per cent, of the remaining timber in the 

 country. Whenever the trees in the forest reach 

 maturity they are sold and put to use. All green 

 trees to be cut are selected by qualified forest 



