262 



FOREST LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



A bill to provide for the establishment, protection and administration of 

 public forest reservations, and for other purposes, was introduced in the Senate 

 of the 1 'nitrd States in June, 1892. It is unnecessary to set out the bill here, as 

 it did not actually become law, but the report thereon which was submitted by 

 Mr. Paddock, from the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, contains matter 

 of much value and importance as embodying an authoritative expression of 

 opinion on the condition of the forest lands of the United States. It is given 

 in full :- 



The Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, having had under consideration 

 the bill (S. 3,235) to provide for the establishment, protection, and administration 

 of public forest reservations and for other purposes, submit the following 

 report : 



(1) The United States Government retains somewhat less than 70,000,000 

 acres of public domain which is designated as timber or woodland, mostly 

 situated on the slopes and crests of the western 'mountain ranges. 



So little regard to the character and condition of the public lands has been 

 given that it is impossible without much labor to determine how much wood- 

 land is comprised in them. An estimate was made in 1883, which places the 

 woodlands at 73,000,000 acres, of which of course an unknown quantity has 

 since been disposed of. There an; still some woodlands undisposed of in Minne- 

 sota, Wisconsin, probably a small amount in Michigan, Louisiana, Mississippi, 

 Alabama, and perhaps Florida, but the bulk lies on the Rocky Mountains, Pacific 

 Coast, and Sierra Mountain ranges, mostly of coniferous growth (pines, spruces, 

 firs, cedars, and redwoods) and mostly in subarid regions. 



(2) This property is at present left without adequate administration, nor 

 is there in existence any practicable system of management by which the timber 

 on it can be utilized without detriment to the future condition of the forest 

 growth. 



The public lands are all held for the purpose of disposal to private holders, 

 hence no further administration or management of the same beyond that incident 

 to their disposal has ever been attempted. In the case of timber lands, however, 

 it was recognized to a small extent that there was some additional value to them 

 that needed consideration and special legislative measures. These measures have, 

 however, been rather detrimental than otherwise to the future of this property, 

 besides discriminating unjustly and imposing conditions which cannot practically 

 be enforced. 



In California, Washington and Oregon the law permitted the purchase of 

 160-acre tracts each by private citizens for their own use. The object of this 

 law, which was evidently to encourage small holdings of timber lands in con- 

 nection with agricultural lands and insure consequent protection and manage- 

 ment of the same, has never been attained. It is alleged that millions of acres 

 have been taken up under this act without intention to hold them for the use of 

 the entryman, and immediately transferred to lumber companies, often foreigners, 

 and immense tracts are being thus held for the same wasteful lumbering opera- 

 tions that have exhausted the forests of the east. 



In the Rocky Mountain States timber lands could not be sold, but the 

 citizens were authorized " to fell and remove timber on the public domain for 

 mining and domestic purposes from mineral lands." In addition, railroad 



