THE USE BOOK. 15 



the immense growth of irrigation interests in the West, 

 the necessity for retaining permanent Federal control 

 over selected forest areas was recognized by a brief 

 section inserted in the act of March 3, 1891, which 

 authorized the President to establish forest reserves, 

 now called Kational Forests. (Appendix, p. 213.) The -^ 

 jirst ^exercise of this power was in the creation of the *j 

 "Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve, proclaimed ' 

 Ey President Harrison March 30, 1891. 



The mere creation of National Forests, however, . 

 without provision for their administration, was both 

 Ineffectual and annoying T to local interests dependent 

 upon their resources. Consequently, the Secretly of c 

 the jnterior, in 1896, requested the National Academy { 

 of Sciences to recommend a National forest policy. 

 "This resulted irTthe passage of the act of June 4, 1897 

 ^Appendix, p. 214), under which, with several subse- 

 quent amendments, National Forests are now adminis- 



OiT~the theory that the management of land, not of 

 forests, was chiefly involved, this law gave the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior authority over the Forests and pro- 

 vided that theireurveying, mapping, and general clas- 

 sification should be done by the United States Geolog- 

 aticFThe execution of administrative work 



3yjhe General Lan3 Office. 



But the technical and complex problems arising from 

 the necessary use of forest and range soon demanded the 

 introduction of scientific methods and a technically 

 trained force, which could not be provided under the 

 Txisttng system. The advice and services of the Bureau 



