500 DEPARTMENTAL EEPOBTS. 



the pine has been lumbered under rules prescribed by the Forester 

 and approved by the Secretary -of the Interior, shall constitute a 

 National forest reserve. 



Field work under the act was begun early in August, 1902, and 

 occupied an average of four men throughout the remainder of the 

 year. The task before the Bureau was to ascertain what lands within 

 the Chippewa reservations were best suited to the purposes of a 

 National forest reserve, to select and draw up rules for conservative 

 lumbering upon them, and to mark for reservation from cutting the 

 5 per cent of merchantable timber which the act provides shall be left 

 standing as seed trees. The Bureau is charged also with the inspec- 

 tion necessary to enforce its rules for conservative lumbering. This 

 work, which has been prosecuted with difficulty because of the remote- 

 ness of parts of the Indian reservations, their large size, and the 

 faultiness of existing surveys and land classifications, has been car- 

 ried on successfully throughout the year. A first selection of lands 

 to constitute the Minnesota National Forest Reserve, embracing 

 104,459 acres, has been made by the Forester and approved by the 

 Secretary of the Interior. The study necessary to a second selection 

 comprising the remaining area has been made, and the official 

 announcement awaits only the completion of Indian allotments within 

 it by the Department of the Interior and the delineation of the flowage 

 line for the Leech Lake and Lake Winnibigoshish reservoirs by the 

 War Department. The 10 sections to be reserved from sale and set- 

 tlement under the provisions of the act have also been selected and 

 the selections have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior. 



The necessary study was made to determine the best methods of 

 reserving the 5 per cent of merchantable timber. The forest was 

 actually measured upon a sufficient area to furnish a close estimate of 

 the stand, and measurements upon felled trees were made to secure 

 reliable volume tables upon which the selection of the 5 per cent for 

 seed trees and a diameter limit for lumbering were based. Rules 

 were drawn up to govern the lumbering and have been approved by 

 the Secretary of the Interior, and the trees to be left standing have 

 been marked upon over 6,000 acres. 



In the Black Hills Forest Reserve, in South Dakota, material was 

 gathered for a forest map supplementary to the working plan for the 

 reserve, which was completed in 1901. The field work occupied one 

 man for five months and consisted of a careful classification of the 

 forest into its important types. 



West Point Military Reservation. 



As the result of the request of the Secretary of War upon the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture for technical advice governing the handling of 

 military wood and timber reservations, a working plan for the reser- 

 vation of the United States Military Academy at West Point was pre- 

 pared during the past year. The forest comprises about 2,300 acres, 

 and consists of a sprout growth of broad-leaved trees. Little cutting 

 has been done for fifty years, but ground fires have annually burned 

 ofE the vegetable mold and so injured the trees that the forest gener- 

 ally is in poor condition. 



The purpose of the working plan is to prevent further damage by 

 fire and gradually to improve the quality of the forest by judicious 

 cuttings. The importance and value of the tract as a part of the equip- 

 ment of the United States Military Academy and the urgent demands 



