1520 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



PUBLIC DOMAIN 



Conditions on the unreserved and unappropriated public domain 

 are in decided contrast to those on the classes of Federal lands just- 

 discussed. The best available estimates show that 25 million acres 

 of the 173,318,246 acres of the public domain and the Oregon and 

 California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands is 

 forested. Of the forested land 91 percent has moderate or high 

 protective influence, as is shown in table 7. 



TABLE 7. Watershed-protective influence of forests on public domain and other 



Federal lands 1 



1 Including Oregon and California and Coos Bay land grants. 



The condition and management of these lands are discussed in 

 detail in the sections of this report entitled "The Public Domain and 

 Other Federal Forest Lands" and "Forest Ranges." These lands 

 are without administration or purposeful management. They suffer 

 from all the evils of improper grazing use, and where timber cutting 

 takes place no provision is made to prevent devastation. Fire pro- 

 tection is entirely lacking on a large part of the watershed lands, and 

 where given is adequate. 



Slightly more than 19 million acres of these lands, because of 

 location and character, might logically be added to existing national 

 forests. An additional area in excess of 3 million acres might well 

 be given national-forest status as new units or held for inclusion in 

 the national forests at a later stage in the national-forest acquisition 

 program. Administration of these lands as portions of national 

 forests would increase the stability of the livestock industry and thus 

 greatly encourage better handling of intermingled or nearby private 

 land, thus making watershed management more effective generally. 

 The bulk of these lands should be included in public grazing reserves 

 and given such administration as would preserve and improve the 

 watershed values. 



The proper administration of these lands would promote improve- 

 ment of watershed conditions in the West perhaps more than any 

 other single measure. 



