INTRODUCTION xxv 



Forests with a total of 155,166,619 acres. Thus 

 the average National Forest comprises about one 

 million acres of government lands. The many 

 private holdings scattered through the Forests make 

 the average gross area of each Forest much greater. 

 These Forests are located in Alaska, Arizona, Ar- 

 kansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Mich- 

 igan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, 

 New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, 

 Porto Rico, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and 

 Wyoming. Besides these Forests there have been 

 acquired or approved for purchase under the Weeks 

 Law over 1,500,000 acres in the States of Georgia, 

 Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

 These lands are now under protection and will 

 gradually be consolidated into National Forests. 

 More lands are constantly being acquired in the 

 Eastern States in accordance with the Weeks Law. 

 Few people have any conception of what a gigan- 

 tic empire the National Forest domain is. If con- 

 solidated into one large compact area, the 155 mil- 

 lion acres of National Forests would cover an area 

 larger than the combined areas of thirteen well- 

 known Eastern States, viz.: Maine, Vermont, 



