FEDERAL FOKKST 1'OUCY. 



the Fifty-first Congress, through the earnest insistence of Secretary of the Interior .lolrn \V. 

 Noble, who \v;is fully imbued with the necessity of sonic, action such as was advocated by I he 

 association, the following section was added to the act entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture 

 laws, and for other purposes," approved March :\, IS'.ll : 



Si:c. LM. That the President of the I'nitud Stairs may, from timr to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or 

 Territory having public lands bearing; forests, any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber 

 or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or nut, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public 

 proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the, limit thereof. 



Acting upon this authority, Presidents Cleveland and Harrison established seventeen forest 

 reservations, with a total estimated area of 17,500,000 acres previous to 1894. 



These forest reservations, together with the national parks which were established before, to 

 be sure for quite different purposes, made thus the forest lands reserved by the Government 

 aggregate over ^0,000,000 acres as follows : 



NATIONAL PARKS. 



a The numbers refer to those use<l on map, Plat* II. 



The reservations were established usually upon the petition of citizens residing in the respec- 

 tive States and after due examination, the forestry association acting as intermediary. 



Meanwhile the legislation devised for the administration of the forest reserves, existing or to 

 be established, specially urged by Representative Mcliae, chairman of Public Lands Committee, 

 failed to be enacted, although in the Fifty-third Congress it was passed by both Houses, but failed 

 in conference. 



Secretary Hoke Smith, of the Department of the Interior, impressed with the importance of 

 devising some adequate system of protection and management of the forests, both within the 

 reserves and in the public domain, and urged by the committee of the Forestry Association, 

 under date of February 15, 1806, requested the National Academy of Sciences, the legally 

 constituted adviser of the Government in scientific matters, to investigate and report "upon the 

 inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forested lands of the United States." He especially 

 desired an official expression as to the desirability and practicability of preserving the forests 

 from tire and maintaining as forested lands portions of the- public domain now bearing wood 

 growth; as to how far the influence of forests on climate, soil, and water conditions warranted a 

 policy of forest conservation in regions where the public domain is principally situated; and what 

 specific legislation should be enacted to remedy existing evils. 



Under date of February 1, 1897, the academy submitted to Secretary Francis a preliminary 

 report recommending the creation of thirteen additional forest reserves with a total area of 

 21 ,379,840 acres. These reserves were proclaimed, as recommended, by the President February 22, 

 1897. On May 1, 1897, the president of the academy submitted his complete report, embodying 



