1168 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



occasionally bearing timber of commercial size and quality, but 

 inaccessible, who cannot foresee any future private or public market 

 for such land and are willing to donate it outright rather than allow 

 it to go through the proplonged processes of tax reversion. 



In such cases, if the lands are of such character and so situated as 

 to make them valuable for national-forest purposes, donation to the 

 United States can be accomplished under either of two acts now on 

 the statute books. One is the act approved March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 

 11 33),. which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to accept dona- 

 tions of land for any national-forest purpose. The other is the act of 

 June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 653), of which section 7 is as follows: 



That to enable owners of lands chiefly valuable for the growing of timber crops 

 to donate or devise such lands to the United States in order to assure future 

 timber supplies for the agricultural and other industries of the State or for other 

 national forest purposes, the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized, in his 

 discretion, to accept on behalf of the United States title to any such land so 

 donated or devised, subject to such reservations by the donor of the present stand 

 of merchantable timber or of mineral or other rights for a period not exceeding 

 twenty years as the Secretary of Agriculture may find to be reasonable and not 

 detrimental to the purposes of this section, and to pay out of any moneys appro- 

 priated for the general expenses of the Forest Service the cost of recording deeds 

 or other expenses incident to the examination and acceptance of title. Any 

 lands to which title is so accepted shall be in units of such size or so located as to 

 be capable of economical administration as national forests either separately or 

 jointly with other lands acquired under this section, or jointly with an existing 

 national forest. All lands to which title is accepted under this section shall, upon 

 acceptance of title, become national forest lands, subject to all laws applicable to 

 lands acquired under the act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961) and amendments 

 thereto. In the sale of timber from national forest lands acquired under this 

 section preference shall be given to applicants who w r ill furnish the products 

 desired therefrom to meet the necessities of citizens of the United States engaged 

 in agriculture in the States in which such national forest is situated: Provided, 

 That all property, rights, easements, and benefits authorized by this section to 

 be retained by or reserved to owners of lands donated or devised to the United 

 States shall be subject to the tax laws of the States where such lands are located. 

 (See also section 555, title 16, U.S. Code above.) 



During the first several years these acts were in effect, donations 

 were few in number and small in area ; inspired mainly by sentimental 

 considerations. But interest in this method of passing forest land to 

 Federal ownership now is rapidly increasing and over 100,000 acres 

 of timber productive land of good site quality recently have been 

 conveyed to the United States. Present and prospective circum- 

 stances indicate that a large acreage of cut-over timberland will in 

 tune be donated for national-forest purposes without cost to the public 

 other than the small charges for title adjustments and recordation. 



DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM AND 

 PRESENT STATUS 



IN THE WESTERN PUBLIC LAND STATES 



The policy of withdrawing for national-forest purposes unreserved 

 and unappropriated public lands chiefly valuable for timber produc- 

 tion and watershed protection was initiated by the act of March 3, 

 1891 (26 Stat. 1095), and accelerated by the act of June 4, 1897 (30 

 Stat. 11). As a result of the withdrawals made during the past four 

 decades there are now in the western half of the United States 121 

 national-forest units embracing a gross area of 151,012,085 acres, of 

 which 133,161,417 acres are in Federal ownership; the difference of 



