BITTER ROOT FOREST RESERVE 



By Richard U. Goode, 



U. S. Geological Survey 



As a result of inadequately framed laws, of the indifference 

 of those charged with the execution of these laws, and of the 

 reckless greed of private enterprise, the forests of this country, 

 which at one time were of vast and apparently inexhaustible 

 proportions, are gradually wasting away. In 1860 there were 

 about 20,000 saw-mills, in 1870 about 26,000, and in 1880 about 

 the same number ; in 1890, however, the number was reduced to 

 about 21,000, this reduction being largely due to the fact that 

 the supply of available material was becoming scarcer and more 

 inaccessible. 



Practically, it has been impossible to place any restraint upon 

 those desiring to use the timber on the public lands for any pur- 

 pose whatever. One law provides that citizens may cut and 

 remove for building, agricultural, mining, and other domestic 

 purposes any trees growing on mineral lands, while another per- 

 mits residents to take timber from non-mineral lands — and the 

 land is usually held to be mineral or non-mineral as may suit 

 the particular case. There are numerous other laws on the 

 statute books under which timber may be taken under some 

 show of legality, and in taking out the matured trees no atten- 

 tion has usually been given to the preservation of the young 

 growth, and much that could not be used has been destroyed. 

 Added to the above causes have been the forest fires, started 

 either through accident or design, so that the question has begun 

 to assume such a serious aspect that prompt measures have been 

 deemed necessary by those interested in the preservation of the 

 forests. 



As a result of this agitation, a commission of the National 

 Academy of Sciences was appointed in 1896 for the purpose of 

 making an investigation of the subject. This commission sub- 

 mitted a report recommending the establishment of thirteen 

 forest reservations, containing an aggregate area of 21,379,840 

 acres, or about 33,400 square miles. In conformity with this 

 recommendation President Cleveland, under date of February 



