MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



WEST IS SATISFIED 



WITH FOREST POLICY 



Secretary Wilson has satisfied himself at 

 first hand that the people of the west are not 

 at outs with Uncle Sam's forest policv. lie 

 has returned from his western trip, and his 

 conclusions are positive and definite. So much 

 has been said in Washington and in the east 

 and middle west about the great dissatisfac- 

 tion alleged to exist in the west that the secre- 

 tary resolved to give the western people an 

 opportunity to make their showing at first 

 hand. 



He announced in advance that he would ap- 

 pear at certain specified places at fixed times, 

 and he publicly requested that all persons hav- 

 ing criticisms of or particular interest in the 

 forest policy of the government meet him pub- 

 licly. Various meetings were held, particu- 

 larly in Idaho, where the opposition to the 

 forest policy has been supposed to center. 

 And when it came down to brass tacks, the 

 secretary found that the people of the west 

 really care for no change in policy. 



Present Lines Satisfactory. 



Two chief grounds of objection have been 

 urged, particularly on the part of Senator 

 Heyburn and the malcontents for whom he 

 has been supposed to speak. One is that the 

 national forests contain a great amount of 

 land which is good for other purposes, notably 

 grazing. The other is that the fees for graz- 

 ing are too high. The secretary met these 

 objections with proposals to make quite 

 sweeping changes, providing such were de- 

 sired. 



Regarding the forest areas, he told the 

 westerners something like this: "The lines of 

 these national forests were hastily drawn. We 

 know that they are not right in every instance. 

 They include many acres of land which is 

 good for grazing and they fail to include much 

 forest area. I am perfectly willing to recom- 

 mend to the president that the lines be 

 changed, and that the grazing land be ex- 

 cluded from the national forests." 



Thereupon the secretary displayed maps 

 showing where the new forest lines could go 

 in such a way as to exclude grazing lands. 

 Then he asked the people whether they want- 

 ed that change made. The result in each meet- 

 ing was a very heavy majority in favor of 

 maintaining the present lines. In no meeting 

 was there more than an insignificant minority 

 in favor of the change, and the average vote 

 was about seven or eight to one. 



The reason for this could be nothing else 

 than that the grazing land within the forests 

 is well administered on the whole, and so well 

 conserved that it assures good feed for all ani- 

 mals which are permitted upon it. 



No Desire to Bid for Grazing. 



The complaint regarding grazing charges 

 the secretary met in such a way as to show 

 what a canny Scot he is. He put it thus: "We 

 have looked upon the grazing charges as very 

 moderate; too low, if anything. Hut it is pos- 

 sible that we are mistaken. ]f wr are, we will 

 make a change. The fairest way will be to let 

 you fix the price yourself. 



"The bureau of Indian affairs in the inte- 



A Useless Tenant of the Woods. 



rior department has just entered upon a policy 

 of auctioning its grazing privileges to the 

 highest bidders. We are willing to do the 

 same thing. Under this arrangement you will 

 pay what you think is right, and no more." 



This proposal knocked the complaints all 

 in a heap. It was as effective as were Dewey's 

 guns in Manila bay. The western stockmen 

 do not wish to be pitted against one another 

 for the forest privileges. With the outside 

 range overgrazed, there is a constant demand 

 for opportunity to feed stock within the for- 

 est areas. The number of animals upon which 

 fees can be collected by the forest service is 

 limited only by the number which it permits 

 within the forest area. 



For that good grazing the stockmen would 

 pay more if they had to, for they know that, 

 compared with the range, it is worth very 

 much more. And to sell the grazing privi- 

 leges by auction would certainly mean higher 

 prices. The reply of the stockmen on this 

 point was absolutely unanimous. They urged 

 the secretary to let the present method stand. 

 and said that the policy suited them all right. 



GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS. 



Sixteen trespass agents from the northern 

 portion of the state, including the upper penin- 

 sula, had a conference in Lansing with the 

 public domain commission to assist the latter 

 in selecting the 110,000 to 1MO.OOO acres of land 

 to be set aside as the state's forest re.^ervc. 

 The job is to be no easy one because of the 

 conditions under which it must be done. 



To avoid friction the commission lias or- 

 dered that all sales of slate lands be discon- 

 tinued for the present. If 10.000 acres are 

 M't aside for forestry reserve purposes in some 

 county and it was discovered that some one 

 had obtained title to a section in the reserve, 

 the work would have to be done over again. 



The new law provides that no more than !."> 

 per cent of the required acreage shall be taken 

 from one county and none of it can be land 

 suited to agricultural purpose-. 



To further assist the commission, Deputy 

 and Commissioner Carton has made out a new 

 set of questions to be answered by examiners 

 of state lands which will show what the lands 

 were actually good for. The system provides 

 the land department with facilities in assisting 

 the average men to pick a farm without hav- 

 ing seen it. These questions will tell if the 

 surface is hilly, rolling or level, lakes and riv- 

 ers near the property, conditions and situation 

 of roads and highways, description of soil, 

 amount and kind of growth now upon the land 

 and the nearness of railroad stations and 

 towns. 



In the reforestation efforts of the Public 

 Domain Commission, on the new reserves to 

 be selected under the new law, it is not the 

 intention of the commissioners to attempt to 

 establish large reserves in any of the counties, 

 but simply to plant enough of the young trees 

 to furnish an object lesson to the people and 

 furnish individual land owners with the seed- 

 lings to start beds of their own. 



"No definite program has been mapped out 

 by the commission." says Secretary A. C. Car- 

 ton, "but the members think more can be 

 accomplished by educational work than by 

 attempting to plant big state reserves. This 

 is the opinion of the agricultural experts and 

 our opinion agrees with their view. The state 

 has one reserve, six by twelve miles in size, 

 and another six by six, and that is more land 

 for forestry than we can handle with the pres- 

 ent appropriation, but we do hope to aid 

 county supervisors in inducing farmers to start 

 small reserves, in fact there is now more de- 

 mand for the small trees than can be supplied, 



