Other Federal Forests 



385 



fuel, logs, and lumber for houses and 

 barns, forage for livestock, fish, game, 

 and furs. Additionally, the commercial 

 forests provide the Indians with sub- 

 stantial sources of income through sale 

 of stumpage, through employment in 

 industries that the timber supports, 

 and in the protection and management 

 of the timberlands. 



The policies of the Bureau of Indian 

 Affairs, in directing the utilization of 

 Indian forests, therefore, have five 

 main aspects : The maintenance of the 

 land in a perpetually productive state 

 through the promotion of sound for- 

 estry practices and adequate protec- 

 tion; regulation of the cut to insure 

 method and order in harvesting and 

 to promote continuous production; 

 development, so far as is possible, of 

 Indian forests by Indian people, so 

 that the Indians may receive not only 

 the value of the stumpage but also 

 such profits as may be yielded ; sale of 

 timber not developed or used by the 

 Indians through competitive bids ; and 

 preservation of scenic, recreational, 

 and esthetic values and management 

 of the forest so as to retain its beneficial 

 effects in regulating runoff of water 

 and minimizing erosion. 



In the management of the Indian 

 forests, however, the Bureau of Indian 

 Affairs must recognize that these for- 

 ests are part of the economic base of 

 the Indians to whom they have been 

 allotted or for whom they have been 

 set aside. Forest management must be 

 correlated with the general economy of 

 the Indians and must occasionally be 

 adjusted to meet the immediate needs 

 of individuals or tribes. The large num- 

 ber of small allotments add greatly to 

 management problems. To achieve the 

 objectives and to obtain the applica- 

 tion, so far as is possible, of sound 

 forestry practices, professional foresters 

 direct the utilization of the forest re- 

 sources on all the larger timbered areas 

 and give general supervision to small 

 sales. 



Indian forests have contributed sub- 

 stantial amounts of lumber and other 

 products to the economy of the Nation 



802062 49 26 



and have added materially to the in- 

 come of the Indians. From 1910 

 through 1947 more than 14.5 billion 

 feet of timber, valued at $57,700,000, 

 was cut from these lands. In the cal- 

 endar year 1947, these yields (in thou- 

 sand board feet) were recorded: 

 Commercial cutting under contract, 

 407,822; sales for local use, 17,067; 

 free use by Indians, 87,580. The total 

 was 512,469 thousand board feet. The 

 stumpage value totaled $2,501,313. 



THE NATIONAL PARKS AND MONU- 

 MENTS are Federal lands set aside, re- 

 served, and administered "to conserve 

 the scenery and the natural and his- 

 toric objects and the wildlife therein 

 and to provide for the enjoyment of 

 the same in such manner and by such 

 means as will leave them unimpaired 

 for future generations." They are in- 

 tended to include not only superlative 

 scenery but historical, geological, and 

 biological areas of national interest and 

 significance. Because they are com- 

 prised, in large measure, of wild lands, 

 they contain substantial acreages of 

 forests, and some of the parks (as the 

 Sequoia in California and the Great 

 Smoky Mountains in North Carolina 

 and Tennessee) were established pri- 

 marily to preserve outstanding exam- 

 ples of particular forest species or 

 types. 



The national parks and monuments, 

 including historical and military parks, 

 parkways, and similar units, as of June 

 30, 1947, contained 20,775,082 acres 

 of Federal lands. Of this area, about 

 6,960,000 acres bear forests in the 

 usual sense. Because of wide dispersal 

 of the parks and monuments through- 

 out the Nation, the forests therein vary 

 greatly as to type and composition. 

 Represented, among others, are the 

 "rain forests" of the Olympic Penin- 

 sula, the mixed-conifer stands of the 

 central Sierra region, including the 

 giant sequoias, the piny on- juniper types 

 found in the arid Southwest, and the 

 old-growth hardwood and hardwood- 

 conifer mixtures of the Appalachian 

 region. 



