TIMBER SALES, TIMBER SETTLEMENT, FREE USE. 21 



Fire protection. 



Since fire protection is one of the most important duties of the Forest Serv- 

 ice, provision is made in all contracts that the purchaser place himself and 

 employees, as well as the employees of contractors, at the disposal of authorized 

 Forest officers in fighting fires. Reimbursement for such services will be made 

 at the wages in vogue for fighting fire on the Forest in question, unless the fire 

 threatens the timber purchased or property of the operator, or is started in 

 connection with the operation. Under these conlditions the purchaser is ex- 

 pected to furnish his available employees to assist the Government in fire fight- 

 ing without charge. Efficient spark arresters are required on wood and coal 

 burning boilers or locomotives. (Reg. S-10.) Inflammable material must be 

 cleaned up in the vicinity of logging engines, and other precautions taken to 

 insure against fire spreading from this source. Snags and diseased trees upon 

 the sale area must usually be felled, whether merchantable or not, in order to- 

 remove fire menace and to check the spread of timber infection or insect pests. 



WHEN CUTTING MAY BEKIX. 



As soon as the contract is executed and the first payment made a portion of 

 the timber will be designated for cutting and the purchaser may begin opera- 

 tions at once. 



ADVANCE CUTTING. 



Applications for permission to begin cutting in advance of the execution of 

 the contract will be approved or recommended only to prevent serious hardship 

 and delay or unnecessary expense to the purchaser. (Reg. S-8.) 



The permit for advance cutting does not give the applicant the right to take 

 all the timber which he has applied for at the rate of the highest bid, but 

 merely to take such timber as he cuts before the completion of the advertise- 

 ment. In no case will he be allowed to cut timber in excess of the amount 

 covered by his deposit. If the only bid received is from the applicant for ad- 

 vance cutting, and if this is accepted, the supervisor will allow cutting to con- 

 tinue after the expiration of the advertisement undl the contract is presented 

 for execution, provided the deposits are sufficient. The bid must be submitted 

 and a contract providing for payment at the highest price bid executed imme- 

 diately, otherwise cutting will be suspended until these requirements are met. 



PRIVATE SALE OF ADVERTISED TIMBER. 



Contracts to dispose of timber which has been advertised but for which no 

 satisfactory bid was received or sale consummated may be made at any time, 

 through private negotiations, by the officer having authority to sell the amount 

 of timber involved. The price must not be less than the highest price offered, 

 if any bid was received, and in no case less than the minimum named in the 

 advertisement. (Reg. S-9.) 



UXADVERTISED SALES TO SETTLERS AND FARMERS. 



Sales to homestead settlers and farmers under Regulation S-9 will be made 

 without advertisement, in any amount desired, at the price fixed annually for 

 each National Forest region of similar conditions by the Secretary as equiva- 

 lent to the actual cost of making and administering such sales. 



Only material to be used by the purchaser for domestic purposes exclusively 

 on homesteads or farms will be sold under this regulation. Such uses include 

 the construction or repair of farm buildings of any character, fences and 

 other improvements, and fuel. Sales under this regulation will not be made to 

 agents employed by the person or persons who will use the timber cut, to 

 manufacturers or others who propose to sell the material to settlers or farmers, 

 or to parsons who have on their own lands a sufficient and reasonably accessible 

 supply of material suitable for the purposes required. Such sales will, further- 

 more, be restricted to mature dead and down timber which may be cut with- 

 out injury to the Forest, as close utilization of inferior species and grades of 

 material as practicable for the purposes of the purchaser will be required. 



