88 CIRCULAR 3 3 3, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



JURISDICTION AND ADMINISTRATION 



Although experimental forests will be set apart and dedicated to research, 

 they will remain an essential part of the national forests in which they are 

 located. They will have something of the same status as areas for which 

 special uses are granted and special activities authorized. Receipts will be 

 credited to the national forests in which they are situated and reported with 

 those of the national forests. 



The responsibility for protection against fire should rest primarily upon the 

 administrative staff of the national forests in which they are situated. Since 

 the investigative work will represent a rapidly increasing investment, espe- 

 cially intensive plans for protection should, as soon as possible, be worked out 

 in cooperation by the administrative force and the staff of the experiment 

 station concerned and put into effect. In this protective scheme the custodial 

 staff of the experimental forest should be made an essential part. 



The permanent improvement plan should also be worked out by the adminis- 

 trative and research staffs in cooperation. Ordinarily, where investigative 

 work on any scale is under way the plan will need to be more intensive than 

 that on the surrounding forest. Supervision of the construction of the im- 

 provement projects agreed upon should be worked out by mutual agreement 

 in accordance with the most effective plan under existing conditions. 



The director of the experiment station should be held responsible for timber 

 cutting and range or other use of the experimental forest, solely to insure 

 the conduct of the work in the manner required for the investigative purpose 

 in view, and to establish clear-cut responsibility. This involves such questions 

 as the making and supervision of timber sales, grazing permits, etc., which 

 will ordinarily be small. In some cases it may be desirable to work out 

 arrangements where members of the administrative force will scale timber, 

 etc. Where there is joint range use of national and experimental forest areas 

 the plans of joint use, including the issuance of permits, will be worked out 

 cooperatively by the supervisor and director. 



Since the primary purpose of experimental forests and experimental ranges 

 is research and an important incidental use is the demonstration of investi- 

 gative results, general or promiscuous public use should be restricted as far 

 as practicable, and if this is impossible, should be carefully regulated. 



NATURAL AREAS 

 PURPOSE 



Permanently to preserve in an unmodified condition areas representative of 

 the virgin growth of each forest or range type within each forest region so far 

 as they are represented within the national forests, to the end that its char- 

 acteristic plant and animal life and soil conditions, the factors influencing its 

 biological complex, shall continue to be available for purposes of science, 

 research, and education. 



NUMBER AND EXTENT OF NATURAL FOREST AREAS 



A sufficient number of natural areas should be established to insure the 

 preservation of virgin areas typical of important forest conditions in the 

 United States and permitting continuity of study to climax types. Probably a 

 dozen such areas will be required in each forest region. If, however, a forest 

 type is adequately represented in some other permanent form of reservation 

 such as a national park, duplication in a national forest may be unnecessary. 



Since undue conflict with industrial or economic needs would threaten the 

 permanence or stability of the natural area, they should, where practicable, be 

 located where there is least probability of such conflict and be confined to the 

 minimum area within which their full purpose can be realized ; but they should 

 not be so restricted as to minimize their scientific value. The area essential 

 to the maintenance of virgin conditions for any material length of time will 

 vary with the type of forest involved or possibly with climatic and topo- 

 graphic conditions, but under average conditions 1,000 acres would be about 

 the minimum. 



Wherever possible a natural area should be established in connection with 

 each experimental forest and in addition to the area required for the latter. 



