216 DEP.\IITMENTAL EEPOETS. 



be carried on as rapidly as the resources of the Service will permit. 

 Studies of the more important species occurring on the reserves will 

 be pressed forward. Those species which are of commonest occur- 

 rence or of most importance to correct forest management will be 

 studied first. 



WOKKING PLANS. 



Working plans will continue to be made for private tracts. Sev- 

 eral working plans, which will be completed during the coming year, 

 have already been begun. They are as follows : 



Two working plans for small tracts in New York, on which the 

 actual carrying out of the recommendations to be made will be started 

 by the Service. The present stand and distribution of the timber will 

 be shown by forest maps, and the future stand will be estimated from 

 growth figures collected on the tracts. The execution of these plans 

 will afford practical examples of forest management for residents in 

 the vicinity. 



A working plan for a tract of 100,000 acres in northern New York, 

 which the owners wish to manage so as to obtain the largest returns 

 from continued cutting and on which present returns are not the first 

 requirement. 



Three working plans for small tracts in California. The protec- 

 tion of the forest from fires is here most important, and the results 

 of this work will be of the greatest value to timber-land owners in 

 that region. 



The working plan for the tract of 1,300,000 acres in western Wash- 

 ington begun last year. The chief object of this work will be to out- 

 line an efficient fire-protection system and to perfect plans for future 

 lumbering, so as to obtain continued cuts of timber. 



A working plan for a tract of about 7,000 acres on an island in 

 Lake Michigan. The work will include the making of a forest type 

 map showing the distribution and character of the timber, an estimate 

 of the present stand, plans for the removal of mature timber and for 

 improvement cuttings and thinnings in second growth, and a plant- 

 ing plan for open and burnt areas. The situation of this tract, on 

 a small island, renders the question of fire protection particularly 

 easy. 



In addition to these working plans, which are already under way, 

 a working plan will be made for a tract of land in Kentucky and 

 Virginia, which the owners wish to hold mainly for the permanent 

 production of mining timbers. The forest is as yet practically uncut, 

 and the opportunities for successful forest management are very 

 great. 



Working plans will be made for at least two large tracts of long- 

 leaf pine land in Arkansas, including studies of fire protection and 

 less wasteful methods of lumbering. A working plan will also be 

 made for a tract of longleaf and loblolly pine land in South Carolina. 



A detailed plan for protection of forest lands from fire will be made 

 for one of the large railroad companies in California and Oregon. 

 The essential features of this work will be the adoption of a system 

 of fire patrol and the prevention of fire from starting by improved 

 methods of logging and by burning brush and slash left after logging. 



In addition to these working plans for timber tracts attention will 

 be given, as in the past, to working plans for wood lots. The oppor- 



