SERVICE NOTES FOR APRIL. 



These notes contain instructions and necessary information for forest officers, and 

 will therefore be carefully read and kept on file for reference. 



LAW. 



OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR. 



Granting of Easements through National Forests 



In reply to a joint letter of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, requesting to be advised whether upon a proper construction of the provisions 

 of the agricultural appropriation act of March 4, 1911 (ch. 238, 36 Stat., 1253), the con- 

 veyance or granting of rights of way thereunder devolve upon the Secretary of the 

 Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture when the lands to be affected thereby lie 

 within the confines of Forest Reservations, in an opinion prepared by Assistant 

 Attorney General Ernest Knaebel and approved by the Attorney General, it was 

 held "that the authority to grant the easements contemplated by the legislation 

 referred to is vested in the Secretary of Agriculture, when and in so far as the lands 

 to be affected constitute portions of the National Forest." 



Law Cases in District 1 



At the February term of the district court for the district of Montana indictments 

 were returned against Earl Bush, E. Marott, L. E. Woodworth, and H. M. Lathem 

 for leaving unattended a camp fire in the Deerlodge National Forest. The defend- 

 ants pleaded guilty, and were fined $15 each. 



George Robinson, charged with having maliciously injured a Forest Service tele- 

 phone line after having forcibly entered a ranger station and stolen the ranger's rifle, 

 was bound over for the action of the grand jury at the July term of the United States 

 district court for Minnesota. 



Law Cases in District 2 



The case against John A. Donnel, grazing tresspass, referred to the Department 

 of Justice, was settled by the payment of $19.20 and costs. 



The Federal grand jury, on March 20, 1912, failed to indict Victor Nunez and Jose 

 Lial, charged with willful grazing trespass, and Michael Caylor, for willful destruction 

 of Forest Service notices on the Pike National Forest. 



On December 13, 1911, the Federal grand jury at Denver returned an indictment 

 against J. H. Neal for willful cutting of timber on the Leadville National Forest. 



For setting and leaving unattended camp fires on the Black Hills National Forest , 

 Louis Povlovich and five others were bound over to the grand jury which will meet 

 at Deadwood in May. 



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