SERVICE NOTES FOR FEBRUARY. 



These notes contain instructions and necessary information for 

 Forest officers, and will, therefore, be carefully read and kept on file 

 for reference. 



OFFICE OF THE FORESTER. 



Forwarding- Maps 



A great many maps are forwarded to the Washington office under separate 

 cover. These maps are received in the mailing room, and it frequently hap- 

 pens that it is absolutely impossible for the mail clerks to determine to which 

 office or section the maps should be sent. Many maps are, therefore, sent to 

 sections for which they are not intended. The attention of all field officers is 

 called to the necessity of carefully marking every map that is forwarded to 

 the Forester. Maps should be marked with reference to letters in which notice 

 is given of their transmission. 



J^AW. 



Jurisdiction over the Luquillo National Forest 



The jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture over the Luquillo National 

 Forest, Porto Rico, was affirmed by the following decision of the Comptroller 

 of the Treasury : 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 

 Washington, D. C., January J t , 1908. 

 The honorable the SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



SIR: In your communication of January 2, 1908, you request my decision of 

 a question which you therein present, as follows 



By public proclamation dated January 17, 1903, the President of the 

 United States reserved and set apart as a u public forest reservation" 

 certain of the public lands in the island of Porto Rico, to be known as 

 " The Luquillo Forest Reserve," and the proclamation recited that the 

 reservation was made by virtue of the power conferred upon the Presi- 

 dent by the act of Congress approved July 1, 1902. (32 Stat, 731.) 

 Because of a more pressing demand for the energies of the Forest Serv- 

 ice and moneys available for forest protection, the Luquillo Forest 

 Reserve has never been put under active administration. Like delay has 

 in some cases been necessary concerning National Forests located within 

 the States. 



The governor of Porto Rico has suggested to me that the public good 

 would be promoted by the appointment of a supervisor to actively admin- 

 ister the Luquillo National Forest. I am of the opinion that there is no 

 obstacle to the appointment of such an officer or to the payment of his sal- 

 ary from the appropriation made by the act of Congress approved March 

 4, 1907 (34 Stat., 1256). But to give the fiscal agent of the Forest Service 

 that protection which I believe a disbursing officer is entitled to, I have 

 decided to ask you to determine whether or not the jurisdiction over the 

 Luquillo Forest Reserve, or National Forest, is in the Department of Agri- 



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