American Forest Congress 383 



There are now in existence a total of sixty-one forest 

 reservations with an aggregate area approximately of 

 63,263,929 acres, located in fourteen States and Terri- 

 tories, as follows: Two in Alaska, eight in Arizona, 

 ten in California; six in Colorado, one in Idaho, one 

 in Idaho and Washington ; one in Idaho and Montana, 

 five in Montana, two in Nebraska, three in New 

 Mexico, one in Oklahoma, four in Oregon, two in 

 South Dakota, one in South Dakota and Wyoming, 

 eight in Utah, three in Washingfton, two in Wyoming, 

 and one in Wyoming and Montana. 



To provide for the care and maintenance of the 

 forests on this vast area, and to provide such rules and 

 regulations and the enforcement thereof as would 

 best subserve that purpose, and at the same time to 

 overcome to some extent at least, the prejudice ex- 

 isting among the settlers and others to the withdrawal 

 of such areas from the public domain, was the work 

 that devolved upon the General Land Office. In fur- 

 therance of this object rules and regulations govern- 

 ing forest reserves were issued by the General Land 

 Office June 30, 1897, and approved by the Secretary 

 of the Interior, in which it was clearly shown that 

 while such reservations were created for the purpose 

 of protecting the timber thereon, and conserving the 

 water supply, the right of the public to secure timber 

 therefrom, to graze live stock thereon, or to make any 

 legitimate use of the reservations would not be pro- 

 hibited, but only regulated in such a manner as would 

 provide not only for present but for the future. 



It then became necessary to provide for the enforce- 

 ment of these rules and regulations, but owing to the 

 limited appropriation at the disposal of the Depart- 

 ment, very little progress was made during the first 

 year in that respect. During the summer of 1897 six 



