1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



133 



was not for one moment supposed by 

 those who drew r these descriptions that 

 they were to be permanent. They were 

 merely the best that could be done to 

 define the area to be reserved for forest 

 purposes. Because of a failure to ap- 

 preciate this, the reservation system has 

 been as bitterly attacked on the score 

 of including improper lands as upon 

 any other. With an extension of our 

 knowledge by means of accurate topo- 

 graphical surveys of the regions re- 

 served and to be reserved, we shall in 

 time arrive at a proper delimination 

 of the reservations. These reservations 

 should in general be made in accordance 

 with the topography of the country, 

 conforming to the mountain ranges or 

 drainage areas rather than to the arbi- 

 trary township, range, and section lines 

 of the public-land surveys. When their 

 boundaries are finally determined, they 

 should be marked with monuments of 

 the most durable character. Only when 

 this is done is it possible to prevent un- 

 authorized stock grazing, timber cut- 

 ting, and other despoliations within the 

 reserves. 



The extension of the reserves may be 

 expected by means of presidential proc- 

 lamations, and it is my hope that we 

 shall ultimately obtain the passage of a 

 law reserving from all disposition public 

 lands more valuable for timber growth 

 and forest uses, including water con- 

 servation, than for agricultural, min- 

 eral, or other purposes, and that such 

 lands shall be administered under a 

 sound, economic forest policy. This 

 was the proposition originally advanced 

 by the American Forestry Association 

 in a bill drawn by its executive com- 

 mittee as far back as 1887 and repeat- 

 edly urged upon different Congresses. 

 This could be accomplished in a very 

 simple way. Require every would-be 

 entryman of the public lands to file a 

 non-timber affidavit that is, an affida- 

 vit which should set forth that the lands 

 which he desires to enter are not valu- 

 able for timber, for es purposes, or the 

 conservation of water because of the 

 wood growth. Thus we should set 

 aside by a gradual process of exclusion 

 all the lands of the United States valu- 

 able in any way for forest purposes. 



Of course, if the entryman made a false 

 affidavit his entry would be subject to 

 cancellation at any time prior to the 

 issuance of the patent. 



I have called attention to the necessity 

 for accurate surveys of the exterior 

 boundaries of the forest reservations. 

 Such topographic interior surveys are 

 equally necessary in order that the offi- 

 cers charged with their care and admin- 

 istration may know the points at which 

 to construct fire lines, utilizing all natu- 

 ral advantages in the best way. Road 

 building, and trail cutting, too, are 

 fundamental in any permanent develop- 

 ment of great forest properties. Only 

 by means of the roads and trails may 

 fires be promptly extinguished and held 

 in check and the products of the forests 

 economically marketed. The impor- 

 tance of this work in any successful 

 management of the national forest re- 

 serves can not be overestimated, and 

 until rapid communication over a net- 

 work of trails on each reserve is possi- 

 ble we must not blame the forest 

 administration for fires. The methods 

 of fire protection inaugurated on the 

 reservations, and the reforesting, whether 

 by natural reproduction, by intelligent 

 cutting, or by planting, will instruct 

 private owners in the regions where 

 these reservations are located. 



Along the lines of forest reproduction 

 on the reservations, at first somewhat 

 rudely carried out because of the cost, 

 we shall see in the future great develop- 

 ment in forestry proper, which will in- 

 crease when there is a market for 

 the product. At present many of these 

 reservations are too remote to get the 

 timber to market. For many years to 

 come, the best policy for the govern- 

 ment in disposing of the timber product 

 of its reservations now appears to be 

 by sales of this product at auction to 

 the highest bidder of such portions of 

 the timber as may be cut without injury, 

 or to the benefit of the reservation. In 

 connection w r ith the sale of timber from 

 government reservations a system of 

 sales must be maintained for the pur- 

 pose of supplying settlers and local de- 

 mands prior to the sales of the regular 

 lumbermen. Whether this shall be by 

 means of a system of licenses author- 



