98 SURVEYS OF FOKEST RESERVES. 



Since there are no suitable areas of grass lands in the reserves, 

 grazing is not likely to assume importance in the future. At present 

 it has none beyond the pasturage of the domestic stock of residents, 

 and no measures further than the general rules applicable in all similar 

 cases are required to deal with it. 



The forest force required to administer the reserve, on the scale 

 recommended for other reserves in a previous portion of this report, 

 should consist of 1 ranger, who should also be charged with the care 

 of such additional reserves as are required by the present condition of 

 the forests of northern Idaho, and of 3 guards and 15 fire watchers. 

 The guards should be stationed, 1 at the foot of Priest Lake, 1 near the 

 mouth of Keeder Creek, and 1 near the head of the upper lake. Each 

 should be required to provide himself with a light rowboat carrying 

 sail, in lieu of one of the two horses prescribed for other localities. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



The first requirement for successful forest management in this reserve 

 is the consolidation of the Government holdings. As already noted, 

 railroad lands occupy a total of 290,230 acres, scattered throughout the 

 reserve, while very considerable areas are claimed or held as mining or 

 agricultural land. The settlement of this matter will require prolonged 

 and delicate negotiations with the Northern Pacific Eailroad. The 

 railroad has a very complete knowledge of the value of its lands. A 

 similar knowledge must be acquired by the Government before it can 

 deal upon equal terms. 



Water transportation within the reserve is unusually good. Logs, 

 ties, and poles will eventually be moved in large quantities by way of 

 Priest Eiver and the Great Northern Eailroad. Such demand as may 

 exist at present tor the timber of the reserve has little or no impor- 

 tance except as it may be concerned through settlers with the future 

 development of the region. Immediate action which will place this 

 timber on the market is therefore unnecessary; and it is undesirable in 

 View of the delicate questions of reproduction involved. Further study 

 of the reserve is plainly indicated before its resources can be opened to 

 use. For the present active measures should consist in the study of 

 the forest and the preparation of a working plan and the protection of 

 the area against fire. Local demand for the timber on the reserve 

 should make itself felt before action is taken to supply it. 



When the time comes to place this timber on the market, from a fifth 

 to a third of the mature standing timber will probably be available for 

 use, under conservative and skillful treatment, without injury to the 

 forest. The exact amount will depend upon the form of management 

 adopted, which, in turn, will be decided by the amount of ripe timber in 

 each locality, the reproductive power and sylvicultural character of the 

 trees, and the nature of the demand. Careful account must also be 

 taken of the fact that the soil in many parts of the reserve is extremely 

 thin, and that in others it becomes arid by exposure to the sun. All 

 these considerations indicate a form of management called localized 

 selection, which has the advantage, important in this case, of permitting 

 the selection and felling of those trees which are most desirable for the 

 lumbermen over considerable areas at the same time. 



