Progress of Land Classification in 

 the National Forests 



E. A. SHERMAN, '96 

 Assistant Forester, in charge of Lands, U. S. Forest Service. 



The growth of the National Forests in the public land states 

 of the west was largely a spasmodic mushroom growth. The 

 first Forests were created under the authority of the Act of 

 1891, which provided merely for reservation without adminis- 

 tration. A sudden increase in these areas, through Presidential 

 proclamation, was at first set aside by Congress but resulted 

 in the passage of the Act of June 4, 1897, which provided for 

 the administration and protection of the areas reserved. The 

 great body of timber land under Government ownership today 

 was withdrawn during the ten years following the passage of 

 that Act, the National Forest area, inclusive of Alaska, reach- 

 ing its maximum April 20, 1910, with a total of 167,710,956 

 acres, gross. 



This vast acreage represented approximately 160 Forests 

 which had been carved out of the public domain with a full 

 free hand. Many of the earlier Forests created in the North- 

 west were established without field examination. These, how- 

 ever, did not represent in the aggregate more than about 30,- 

 000,000 acres, and embraced the first Forest reserves created 

 under the administration of the General Land Office of the 

 Department of the Interior. Afterwards all areas were ex- 

 amined in the field by officers from the Bureau of Forestry, 

 then in the Department of Agriculture, and, excepting for the 

 work of boundary examinations at that time, in no way con- 

 nected with the administration of the Government's Forests. 

 The work was done quickly. The examiners were young, en- 

 ergetic, honest, and thorough. What they lacked in field ex- 

 perience they made up in enthusiasm and earnestness. Each 

 examiner was expected to cover about a township a day while 

 in the field, and for several years these boundarymen waged a 

 strenuous campaign of cruising and exploration, having for 



