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The National Geographic Magazine 



by surprise b}- this action, which it was 

 ill prepared to understand. It was com- 

 monly thought in the West that the effect 

 of the proclamation was to put these 

 lands under the ban of an executive in- 

 terdict against use, and that they were to 

 be held by the nation as vacant and 

 idle wilderness. 



But during the next few months pub- 

 lic opinion concerning the reserves un- 

 derwent a remarkable change. Their 

 true purpose and their real value were 

 recognized. Congress had, by the act 

 of June 4, 1897, helped clear the air by 

 laying down as a guiding policy for the 

 administration of all forest reserves, that 

 they should exist only "to improve and 

 protect the forest within the reservation, 

 or for the purpose of securing favorable 

 conditions of water flows, and to furnish 

 a continuous supply of timber for the 

 use and necessities of citizens of the 

 United States ; but it is not the purpose 

 or intent of these provisions, or of the 

 act providing for such reservations, to 

 authorize the inclusion therein of lands 

 more valuable for the mineral therein, 

 or for agricultural purposes, than for 

 forest purposes." The same act required 

 the Secretary of the Interior to protect 

 the forests against fire and depredations 

 and empowered him to make such regu- 

 lations for their use and preservation as 

 should be necessary to carry out the ob- 

 jects for which they existed. Thus was 

 definitely formulated the policy which 

 has since guided the executive branch 

 of the government in its administration 

 of the reserves, or national forests, as 

 they are now officiall}' designated. 



From that time on the area of the re- 

 serves grew apace. President McKinley 

 increased the total from 39,000,000 to 

 46,000,000 acres. By July, 1904, the total 

 had risen to 63,000,000 acres ; by July, 

 1906, to 107,000,000 acres, and during 

 the last twelve months there have been 

 added 44,000.000 acres more. Thus has 

 been brought substantially to realization 

 the recommendation of the committee of 

 seven, that "all public lands of the United 

 States more valuable for the production 



of timber than for agriculture or mining 

 shall be withdrawn from sale, settlement, 

 and other disposition and held for the 

 growth and sale of timber." 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS WILL SOON BE 

 SELF-SUPPORTING 



In econonnic usefulness the forests in- 

 crease their importance almost day by 

 da)'. Their value to the country is to 

 be measured not by the income which 

 they furnish, but by their contributions 

 to the material welfare of the West ; 

 but some idea of the growing use of 

 the national forests may be gained from 

 the fact that receipts from timber sales 

 for the fiscal year 1906-07 were about 

 $600,000, as against less than $250,000 

 for the preceding year and less than 

 $86,000 for 1904-05. The receipts from 

 grazing, 1906-07, were $875,000. In 

 the year ending June 30, 1904, the na- 

 tional forests yielded a total revenue of 

 $60,000; in the past year, 1906-07, 

 $1,600,000. It is believed that by 1910 

 the receipts from the national forests will 

 be equal to the appropriations for the 

 forest service. 



As years go by it will become increas- 

 ingly evident that the permanent pros- 

 perity of the entire West has been at 

 stake in the forest-reserve question. 

 With the upbuilding of the country 

 through settlement and the rapid rise in 

 the value of timber consequent upon an 

 ever-growing demand, coupled with a 

 fast-dwindling supply,' the forested pub- 

 lic lands have melted away like snow in 

 spring. In 1905 leadership in the quan- 

 tity of lumber produced passed for the 

 first time to a Pacific Coast state. The 

 output of the mills of Washington and 

 Oregon now enters the New York mar- 

 ket. Within fifteen years the present 

 stand of southern pine will have suc- 

 cumbed to the saw, after which fif- 

 teen years more is likely to finish the 

 far western supply. The Lake states 

 have nearly completed their virgin cut, 

 under methods so suicidal that sandy 

 wastes of worthless brush have been sub- 

 stituted for what might have been well- 



