1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



9 1 



Beyond the question of revenue, the ad- 

 vocates of the measure urge the advisa- 

 bility of preventing over-grazing, the leas- 

 ing system inducing provision for future 

 grazing. The objections raised are the 

 tendency to create a monopoly of grazers 

 dominating the public lands, thus prevent- 

 ing settlers from taking up lands as readily 

 as at the present time. 



A report was presented in the House 

 by Mr. Moody, of Oregon, from the Com- 

 mittee on Public Lands recommending the 

 passage of the bill providing for the reser- 

 vation of certain public lands in the Cascade 

 Mountain Range, in Oregon, as a public 

 park and timber preserve. The proposed 

 park will include Crater Lake, the crater 

 of an extinct volcano a thousand feet deep, 

 with sides so precipitous that approach to 

 the lake can be made only on one side. 

 This is regarded as one of the scenic won- 

 ders of the world. 



By joint resolution of the Senate and 

 House of Representatives an extra edition 

 of 3^,000 copies has been ordered printed 

 of the "Primer of Forestry, Part I.," by 

 Mr. Gifford Pinchot. 



The sale of timber on the public lands 

 is the subject-matter of an important bill 

 introduced in the U. S. House of Repre- 

 sentatives lately by the Public Lands Com- 

 mittee. The bill is designed to meet the 

 necessity created by a recent decision of 

 the assistant attorney-general for the De- 

 partment of the Interior, declaring that 

 existing laws do not authorize the sale of 

 timber on public lands'. 



The bill permits the sale of "so much 

 of the timber growing upon the public 

 lands as may be necessary to supply in a 

 legitimate manner the necessities of those 

 depending upon public timber in settling 

 country, developing and maintaining its 

 resources, industries and public improve- 

 ments and in providing means of transpor- 

 tation." Penalties are provided for viola- 

 tions of the laws, and " the Secretary of 

 the Interior is authorized to make all 

 proper rules and regulations for carrying 

 the provisions of the act into effect." 



This bill by collecting the various stat- 

 utes, and relieving them of their present 

 ambiguity and uncertainty, will doubtless 



prove of great benefit to the Western 

 timber states. 



The United States Senate has passed 

 the bill introduced by Senator Hansbrough 

 granting to the State of North Dakota 

 30,000 acres of land to aid in the main- 

 tenance of a school of forestry. 



The House of Representatives Com- 

 mittee on Public Lands, on March loth, 

 adopted the following resolution offered 

 by Mr. Mondell, of Wyoming: 



" Resolved, That, in order to dispose 

 of legislative suggestions which, at the 

 present time the committee or the Con- 

 gress is not prepared to act upon, and to 

 facilitate the consideration of other im- 

 portant matters before the committee, all 

 bills having for their object the general 

 cession of the public domain to the states 

 and territories, or the general leasing of 

 the public grazing lands, be disposed of 

 bv laying same upon the table." 



Representative Lacey introduced in the 

 House of Representatives a bill to set 

 apart certain lands in Arizona, under the 

 title of the Petrified Forest National Park. 

 The bill provides that the park shall be 

 under the exclusive control of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, who shall prescribe 

 such rules and regulations, and establish 

 such service as he may deem necessary for 

 the care and management of the same. 

 Such regulations shall provide specially 

 for the preservation from injury or spoila- 

 tion of the mineralized or fossilized forma- 

 tions or deposits, natural curiosities, and 

 wonders within the park. 



Among other bills introduced in the 

 House recently have been the following 

 relating to forestry and the public lands : 

 A bill to amend Chapter 313, of the 

 United States Statutes at Large, entitled 

 " An Act to Prevent Forest Fires on the 

 Public Domain," providing that any per- 

 son willfully or maliciously setting on fire 

 any timber, underbrush or grass upon the 

 public domain, or allowing fire to burn 

 unattended near timber or inflammable 

 material, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor. The maximum penalty at- 

 tached is five thousand dollars fine ami 

 two years imprisonment. Failure to 

 totally extinguish a fire started makes the 



