National Forest Resources of Utah 3 



acquired by private individuals in one way or another, until the area 

 of public domain left is so small as to render economical forest ad- 

 ministration impossible. In the Oquirrh Mountains, west of Salt 

 Lake Valley, the mineral deposits have been so extensive that a vast 

 series of mining claims covers practically the whole range. In other 

 scattered ranges the timbered area is very small, since climatic 

 conditions are such that considerable areas more than 8,000 feet high 

 are exceptionally dry and in spite of their elevation bear only small, 

 broken stands of timber. 



Even inside national forest boundaries not all the area is admin- 

 istered by the Forest Service, as there are "school sections," mining 

 claims, homesteads, and lands acquired by private interests prior to 

 the creation of the forests. Of the 7,991,300 acres included within 

 Utah national forest boundaries, 

 536,230 acres (6.7 per cent) belongs 

 to the State, private individuals, 

 and corporations. ^ 7»9<Jwk 



HISTORY 



The national forests of Utah 

 were not created in a single day or 

 -ear. They had their beginning 

 m 1897, when President Cleveland 

 set aside the Uinta Forest Reserve, 

 covering the greater part of the 

 Uinta Range. In 1899 and 1901 

 President McKinley issued procla- 

 mations which marked the begin- 

 ning of the Fishlake Forest and the 

 Nebo division of the present Uinta 

 Forest. Under President Roose- 

 velt the proclamations became 

 more frequent and included greater 

 areas, so that by 1906 at least a nucleus of all the national forests in 

 the State to-day had been established. Since that time there have 

 been minor additions and eliminations — areas which upon more care- 

 ful examination proved to be more valuable for agriculture than for 

 forests, and there have also been consolidations and other changes 

 in boundaries for the more economical administration of national 

 forest areas. On June 30, 1925, national forest land in Utah totaled 

 nearly 73^ million acres, distributed among eight national forests 

 almost entirely within the State, and two others the major portions 

 of which lie in Idaho. The headquarters and areas of these forests in 

 Utah are as follows: 



Fig. 2.— National forest areas in the Western 

 States. The black circles indicate the national 

 forest areas; the figures, millions of acres in the 

 national forests 



Forest 



Headquarters 



Area in 

 Utah 



Forest 



Headquarters 



Area in 

 Utah 



Ashley 



Vernal, Utah 



Acres 

 979, 739 

 282, 803 

 795, 884 

 1, 362, 600 

 504, 291 

 723, 897 



Minidoka- - 



Powell 



Uinta 



Wasatch 



Burley, Idaho.. . 



Acres 

 70, 155 



Cache 



Logan, Utah 



Panguitch, Utah 



1, 050, 462 



Dixie. 



Cedar City, Utah 



Provo, Utah . 



1, 076, 978 

 608, 261 



Fishlake 



Richfield, Utah . 



Salt Lake City, Utah 



La Sal 







Manti 



Ephr aim, Utah- 



7, 455, 070 







i 



