MANY USES OF THE FORESTS 



A MOST every conceivable use to 

 which land may he put is repre- 

 sented in the permits reported by 

 the Forest Service for special 

 projects on the national forests. Some 

 of the uses shown range, alphabetically, 

 from apiary through brickyard, cannery, 

 cemetery, church, cranberry marsh, fox 

 ranch, marine railway, rifle range, and 

 turpentine still, to wharf and whaling 



' There are 15,000 permits in force for 

 such special uses, which are distributed 

 geographically from Alaska to the Mex- 

 ican line, and east to Florida. This fig- 

 ure does not include any of the 27,000 

 permits in force for grazing cattle and 

 sheep on the forests; nor the (5,000 

 transactions for the sale of timber, and 

 the more than 38,000 permits issued last 

 year for the free use of timber by set- 

 tiers, miners, and others in developing 

 their homesteads and claims ; nor the 

 nearly 300 permits for water-power de- 

 velopment. 



California led all the national forest 

 states in the number of these special 

 use permits, followed by Arizona, Colo- 

 rada, Montana, and New Mexico in the 

 order named. The largest single class 

 of permits was for special pastures, or 

 corrals, to be used for lambing grounds, 

 shearing pens, and the like. Next came 



rights of way for conduits, ditches, and 

 flumes, practically all of these being 

 free. Various agricultural permits come 

 third, telephone lines fourth, with more 

 tna n a thousand permits for (i, :>()() miles 

 of lmCi an( j drift fences for the control 

 of graz i ng animals, fifth. In both of 

 thege latter dasseSi too> practically all 

 of the permits are free . R ese rvoir"s for 

 whirfi more than 600 f fee pgrmits were 



^J 01 " the occu P atio of ore l j ia 

 100-000 acres, come sixth. The rest of 



the uses are not classified, though there 

 are a lar g e number of apiaries, camps. 

 summer hotels, and schools. The use 

 of the government's lands for schools 

 is given free; for hotels a charge is 

 made. 



The principle which governs the 

 charge is based, according to the Forest 

 Service, on whether or not the use of 

 land is sought by the permittee for a 

 commercial purpose. If it is the intent 

 of the user to make money from a re- 

 source which belongs to the whole peo- 

 pie, the Service holds that he should give 

 a reasonable return for that use. If, on 

 the other hand, farmers want to use 

 government land for their own tele- 

 phone lines, irrigation works, and 

 schools, the government gives them that 

 use without cost. 



Railroads and Forest Fires 



Xew Jersey is said to have the greatest proportion of railroad mileage of any .State in 

 the country, or one mile of railroad to every three square miles of territory. This makes 

 an unusual risk of forest fires set by railroads. 



Building Forest Trails 



The heavy storms in southern California during the past rainy season wiped out many 

 miles of trails in the national forests of that part of the State. They are now being rebuilt 

 for the coming summer, for use in fire protection. They are also of great use to tourist-. 

 campers, and prospectors. 



Perhaps a Bad Fire Season 



In many parts of the West snow is leaving the mountains earlier than usual. Foresters 

 say that this may mean a bad fire season, and they are making plans for a hard campaign. 



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