CREATION AND ORGANIZATION 17 



under which, with subsequent amendments, the Na- 

 tional Forests are now being administered. Under 

 this act the Reserves remained in the hands of the 

 General Land Office, Department of the Interior. 

 It charged this office with the administration and 

 protection of the Forest Reservations. Later the 

 Geological Survey was charged with surve3''ing and. 

 mapping them, and the Division of Forestry was 

 asked to give technical advice. It is very evident 

 that the Division of Forestry containing all the 

 trained scientific staff had no relation to the govern- 

 ment forestry work except as the offices of the De- 

 partment of the Interior might apply for assistance 

 or advice. It is true that an important step had 

 been taken, but the complete separation of the ad- 

 ministration by the General Land Office and the 

 force of trained men in the Division of Forestry was 

 a serious defect. 



The Act of June 4 might be called the Magna 

 Charta of national forestry. The U. S. Geological 

 Survey undertook the task of surveying, classify- 

 ing, and describing the Forest Reservations. At a 

 cost of about one and one-half million dollars over 

 70,000,000 acres of Forest Reserves were mapped 

 and described. The General Land Office undertook 



