The National Forests 



THE PEOPLE'S PROPERTY 



C. M. GRANGER 



THE PEOPLE of the United States 

 own 180 million acres in national 

 forests. A third of the Nation's com- 

 mercial timber, a sixth of its commer- 

 cial timberland, a large part of the 

 summer ranges for western livestock, 

 and 70 percent of the big game of the 

 West are on that land and nearly all 

 the important sources of western water 

 and most of the recreation areas. 



There are national forests in 38 

 States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico; there 

 are purchase units the seeds of na- 

 tional forests in two other States. 

 Within the outer boundaries of the for- 

 ests are nearly 230 million acres, of 

 which the Nation owns 180 million. 



The national forests are adminis- 

 tered by the Forest Service under the 

 general direction of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture. Other bureaus in the De- 

 partment of Agriculture and elsewhere 

 in the Government furnish technical 

 advice on special problems, such as the 

 control of insects and tree diseases and 

 forecasting of fire weather. 



The drawing at the top of this page shows 

 the entrance to a national forest. 



Most of the national forest areas and 

 resources are in the West, but the for- 

 ests east of the Great Plains have great 

 local and regional importance because 

 of their resources and their value as 

 demonstration areas for working out 

 the solution to forest problems. 



The national forests came into be- 

 ing in 1891 when the people of the 

 United States decided to stop giving 

 away the Nation's timberland as fast as 

 they could and keep some of it per- 

 manently as the people's forests, and 

 Congress adopted an act that empow- 

 ered the President to set aside forest 

 reserves for the purpose of "securing 

 favorable conditions of waterflows, 

 and to furnish a continuous supply of 

 timber for the use and necessities of 

 citizens of the United States." 



Beginning with Benjamin Harrison, 

 the various Presidents have established 

 national forests by proclamation under 

 the act, but most of the national forests 

 were proclaimed by three Presidents 

 Harrison, Cleveland, and Theodore 

 Roosevelt. 



The only large areas of public land 



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