A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 619 



have been court decisions holding that lands which the Indian Service 

 considers primarily valuable for the production of timber crops may 

 be selected by individual Indians for allotment purposes and thus 

 become subject to private ownership irrespective of any policy or 

 purpose of the Interior Department to hold such lands for timber 

 production (or protection) purposes (7, p. 430). 



The science of forestry, or at least that most fundamental phase of 

 forestry dealing with the production and management of forest crops, 

 is unavoidably a long-time proposition. Reasonable assurance as to 

 the stability of land ownership of areas to be put under a scientifically 

 evolved forest-management plan must be given before the postpone- 

 ment of some revenue from timber capital (under selective logging) 

 and the expenditure of money for permanent improvements, refore- 

 station, afforestation, and in some cases fire protection, can be justified. 



These facts have long been recognized by those responsible for the 

 management of the forest properties of the Indians, and must occupy 

 the foreground of any picture of Indian forest policy or practice. 



A further consideration that must be taken into account in any 

 appraisal of the Indian forest problem is that the Indian Service as a 

 whole, and the Forestry Branch in particular, has been undermanned 

 and underfinanced since inception. The annual report of the Bureau 

 of Indian Affairs for 1927 (8, p. 1) reads: 



The Indian Service has not kept pace with the progress elsewhere along health, 

 educational, industrial, and social lines. The appropriations for general purposes 

 for the fiscal year 1923 were $10,316,221.30, and in the 5 fiscal years since they 

 have been increased by about $2,338,463.70, principally for medical and health 

 activities. But the cumulative effect of many years of financial neglect has 

 demanded even larger appropriations, if the Government may perform its full 

 duty to the American Indian. Underrating the requirements of the Indian 

 Service has continued so long that it has become a habit difficult to correct. 



In considering what has been accomplished in forestry activities on 

 Indian lands in the last 22 years, the fact that the Forestry Branch of 

 the Indian Service has never had sufficient funds for needed personnel, 

 equipment, fire prevention and suppression, timber sale administra- 

 tion, and all other kinds of forestry work, must be fully recognized. 

 Although a complete record of the quantity of timber involved and 

 proceeds derived from timber sales from Indian lands has been kept, 

 accurate statistics of other activities of the Forestry Branch of the 

 Indian Service and of the forest properties under its supervision are, 

 generally speaking, not available, solely because, with the limited 

 authorized personnel and funds available, it has not been possible to 

 compile data of this character. 



Finally, the public attitude toward Indian lands must be consid- 

 ered to have had a very considerable influence on management policies. 

 With but few exceptions, interest of the general public in the Indians 

 has kept pace with the appreciation in value of Indian property. 

 To quote (7, p. 431): 



Just as land-hungry adventurers sought homestead and mining claims within 

 national forests (mainly between 1905 and 1918), so did they surge about the 

 borders of Indian reservations whetting their land appetities on various morsels 

 of misinformation with respect to the fortunes lying dormant yea, indeed locked 

 up within the illogical and arbitrary boundaries of Indian reservations. 



It is a sad commentary on human nature, but a fact nevertheless, 

 that a large amount of the interest of the public in general and the 

 big majority of public organizations and individuals in Indian affairs 



