614 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Detailed possibilities of the potentialities of Indian forest lands 

 for the production of tree crops are not available. The following 

 general conclusions, however, are self-evident, and represent the best 

 judgment of those familiar with Indian forest resources: 



(a) Indian timber is being harvested faster than it is being replaced 

 by growth. 



(6) The amount cut annually may be subject to some fluctuation 

 in the immediate future, but must inevitably decline from the most 

 recent 5-year average. 



MANAGEMENT OF INDIAN FORESTS 



LAND AND ALLOTMENT POLICY 



The general policies of the Indian Service since its organization 

 have been subject to more or less change due both to administrative 

 judgment and to the changing nature of the Indian problem itself. 

 Since the problem of handling Indian forests is but one phase of the 

 Indian question, forest policies cannot determine general policies. 

 On the contrary, the exact opposite is true. The uncertain status of 

 Indian lands is the crux of the present unsatisfactory situation. Not 

 only is there no assurance that areas of Indian forest land now held 

 in tribal ownership will have that status a decade from now, but the 

 probability is that, in view of decisions of the Supreme Court, many 

 thousands of acres of heavily timbered tribal land which is mainly, if 

 not entirely, valuable for the growth of timber will be allotted to 

 individual Indians. 



The land policy of the Indian Service is and has been dependent 

 almost in its entirety upon the then existing policy as to how Indian 

 land was to be held in ownership, and especially with regard to the 

 removal of measures originally designed to restrict the assumption of 

 the Indian of the responsibility of property ownership and the extent 

 to which he was able to forego his ancient method of living and assume 

 economic independence in direct competition with the whites. 



Originally all Indian lands, whether reserved by treaties or set 

 aside by Executive orders, were held in common by the several tribes. 

 Relatively early in the history of the Indian Service many allotments 

 of land to individual Indians were made in fee, with a restriction on 

 alienation, except with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior. 

 Later on, under authority of the General Allotment Act of 1887, 

 known as the Dawes Act, and numerous later acts of general scope or 

 which pertained to specific reservations, many millions of acres of 

 land have been assigned to individual Indians. Allotment acts have 

 generally provided that the United States would hold the lands in 

 trust for the allottee for a period of 25 years from the date of allot- 

 ment, and at the end of that time would convey the land to the 

 allottee or his heirs "in fee, discharged of such trust and free of all 

 charge or incumbrance whatsoever." Trust periods have in many 

 cases been extended, and many thousands of fee patents have been 

 issued before the expiration of the trust period. 



The primary purpose of the allotment (2, p. 1045) is theoretically 

 to provide a home for the Indian, and by encouraging and aiding 

 him in achieving economic independence by the pursuit of agricul- 

 tural and stock-raising activities dissolve the tribal relationship and 

 thus solve the Indian problem. There can be no doubt, in view of 



