A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1091 



Although Wyoming received 4,139,000 acres of Federal grant land, 

 the total forest land now owned by the State is 120,000 acres in 

 scattered locations. The State land board has jurisdiction. Timber 

 on school sections within or adjacent to national forests has been 

 marked for cutting by national forest officers. Otherwise there has 

 been no consistent attempt at forest management. Areas of State- 

 owned forest land not included in the national forests are largely 

 unprotected. 



The States of Arizona and New Mexico have still in State ownership 

 approximately 153,000 acres of forest land remaining from their 

 Federal land grants. Cutting on State land is handled by the Forest 

 Service at State expense, in the same manner as on national forest 

 land. 



Only about 2,000 acres of commercial timberland remains to the 

 State of Nevada from Federal grant land. 



In Utah the State has exchanged its forest lands for farm and graz- 

 ing lands or has sold them as rapidly as possible. Its past policy has 

 not recognized that any of its grant lands have a permanent value for 

 forest purposes and should be managed to that end. Its authorities 

 are now anxious that the Federal Government take over the respon- 

 sibility for the handling of all remaining State forest land within its 

 boundaries. 



In Washington and Oregon, as in other land-grant States, con- 

 tinued use of Federal grant land for timber production was not con- 

 templated. The nature of the grants tended to make considerations 

 of management for timber production very remote and apparently 

 impracticable. In Washington the enabling act stipulated as a con- 

 dition of sale of grant lands the securing of such a high price that the 

 State still has most of the timberland, and it has had the advantage of 

 rising prices in its sales of stumpage. Efforts to consolidate have 

 been in part successful and will be continued. It is reasonable to 

 expect that eventually the original grants will be put into such shape 

 that they can be managed as State forests. There is little reason to 

 criticise these States for failing in the past to consolidate the forest 

 areas of the grant lands into State forests under management. The 

 opportunity for the profitable management of State forests did not 

 exist. 



In the Lake States there is no accurate record as to the part of 

 original Federal grant lands w^hich should be classified as forest land. 

 Forest lands which came by Federal grant have been under forest 

 management only when located within State forests. The latter 

 embrace about 1,434,000 acres of grant lands. These have had the 

 advantage of fire protection, which is steadily increasing in effective- 

 ness and has saved them from being despoiled of their forests as were 

 nearly all the lands which went into private ownership. 



The small total of 5% million acres of forest land left today in State 

 ownership out of over 200 million acres of land of all classes granted 

 to the States is impressive. The enormous publicly owned domain 

 would have returned to present and future generations vastly greater 

 values than have ever been obtained, if a much larger part of it had 

 been kept in public forests under good management. Short-sighted- 

 ness in both Federal and State Governments must now be acknowl- 

 edged, however much the wholesale disposal of grant lands may have 

 meant to States in the pioneer days in the way of cash for education 

 and for the development of transportation. 



