SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 47 



cess or failure liere will necessarily be conspicuous and important. In 

 the Bitterroot Keserve only the eastern side of the mountains should 

 be occupied at present, since only here is cutting going on. The, over- 

 sight of the lumbering region in the southern part of the Lewis and 

 Clark and a general suiiervision of the remainder of that reserve and of 

 the Flathead should be included in this charge. In the Washington 

 Reserve questions of j)rotection are chiefly important at i^resent. In 

 the Cascade Ueserve sheep and tire are important; cutting less so. 

 In southern California, where the local population is thoroughly favor- 

 able to the reserves, tire must be the matter of chief concern. 



AGBICUtTUEAL LAND. 



Tlie procedure recommended on page 38 for restoring small bodies of 

 agricultural land to the public domain is based on the use of a par- 

 agraph similar in effect to that next below in each proclamation of the 

 President defining the boundaries of a forest reserve: 



Excepting from the force and effect of these provisions all hinds within the bouuda- 

 ries hereinbefore described which are more valuable for agriculture than for forest 

 purposes, and which, prior to January 1, 1905, shall be shown to be such to the sat- 

 isfaction of the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with rules and regulations 

 to be established by him for that purpose. 



The law specifies that such lands may be restored to the public 

 domain after advertisement for sixty days. The advertisement of the 

 provisions just described would, it is believed, comply with the law in 

 this respect, and the lands excepted would be subject to the rules and 

 regulations governing the public domain as soon as the Secretary had 

 accepted and approved of their agricultural character. By such accept- 

 ance they would, in fact, be restored to the public domain in accord- 

 ance with the law. The regulations mentioned in the last paragraph 

 should provide : 



1. Any 40- acre tract within a forest reserve, upon the application of 

 an actual or intended settler in accordance with existing laws and regu- 

 lations, accompanied by an affidavit of the eutryman to the uonforest 

 character of the land and by the affldavit of the resident forester that 

 the tract so selected is more valuable for agriculture than for forest 

 purposes, may, upon the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and 

 not until then, be entered in the usual way. 



2. To be "more valuable for agriculture than for forest purposes" a 

 40-acre tract must be capable of yielding agricultural crops, either with 

 or without irrigation, and it may have not to exceed one half of its sur- 

 face covered in whole or in ])art with seedlings, young or old trees, 

 stumps, or stubs of merchantable kinds of trees, either living or dead. 



3. The affidavit of the forest ofQcer must specify the number of acres 

 of seedlings, young or old trees, stumjjs, or stubs, and whether living 

 or dead, contained upon each 40 acre tract, and what crops, in his judg- 

 ment, may be raised upon it. It must contain a full legal description 

 of the tract, a statement of the watershed within which it is situated, 

 the date of the examination, and, in the case of an actual settler, a list 

 of improvements and a statement upon information and belief of the 

 time of residence of the present occupant. Should it be deemed wise 

 to put in force a system of licenses such as that briefly described on 

 page 38 special regulations drawn with great care woulcl be required. 



The regulations just indicated are drawn with special reference to 

 the Black Hills reserve, and should be modified to conform to the con- 

 ditions of any other reserve to which they may be applied. 



