ACTIVITIES S9 



a favorable report to the Secretary of Agriculture must pre- 

 cede the purchase of the tract considered. 



^ Following is a description of the methods employed in be- 

 ginning this work as contained in the annual report of the 

 Director of the Survey for 191 1 : 



On the initiative of the Survey a conference was arranged 

 between representatives of the Department of Agriculture 

 and of the Department of the Interior, and an agreement was 

 reached concerning procedure in the administration of this 

 new law, so far as the Forest Service and the Geological Sur- 

 vey are concerned, to the end that the examinations of land 

 by the two bureaus might be coordinated. In this agreement, 

 which was approved by the two Secretaries on May 3, 1911] 

 it is set forth that the examination by the Geological Survey 

 will include the determination of the relation of the head- 

 water streams to the navigable streams to which they are trib- 

 utary, the local observation of the headwater stream or streams 

 draining the tract or tracts in question with reference to run- 

 off characteristics and to nature and amount of suspended 

 material, the classification of the surface formations of the 

 tract with reference to permeability and storage capacity and 

 to resistance to erosion, and the securing of such additional 

 topographic data, in cooperation with the Forest Service, as 

 are needed by the two bureaus in their examination of the 

 tract. 



The greater part of the examinations necessitated by this 

 act were completed within the first two years after the passage 

 of the act, but other examinations have since been made from 

 time to time. 



Investigation of the Character and Value of Public Lands 

 Made Necessary by the Public Land Laws. As has been 

 seen in the preceding sections, the surveys and investigations 

 made by the Survey, though they extend over the whole coun- 

 try, have in large measure related to what may be termed the 

 public land region of the United States. Indirectly, therefore, 

 the Survey's general work has had and continues to have a 

 far-reaching influence upon the development of the public 



