xxxii INTRODUCTION 



is returned to the National Forest in which it is 

 located. To-day the National Forests contain 

 about one fifth of the standing timber in the United 

 States, an amount which will undoubtedly have a 

 great effect upon the supply of timber available 

 for future generations, especially since under pres- 

 ent lumbering methods the privately owned timber 

 lands are being practically destroyed, while the Na- 

 tional Forests are actually being improved by sci- 

 entific management. Four fifths of the standing 

 timber is privately owned, and this is usually of 

 much higher quahty than the publicly owned tim- 

 ber. 



The Use of Forage and Water Resources Was 

 Regulated. The forage and water resources of the 

 public domain have been subject to similar abuse. 

 Before the National Forest policy was put into 

 effect the large ranges of the West were used indis- 

 criminately by all. The range was subject to con- 

 siderable abuse because it was used very early in 

 the spring before the forage was mature, or too 

 late in the fall, which prevented the forage from 

 ripening its seed and reproducing for the next sea- 

 son. Not the small, local stockmen, however, but 

 the large sheep and cattle companies, many con- 



