4. MISC. PUBLICATION 290, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
along the Alaskan shore, where valuable Sitka spruce and hemlock 
growth clothes the lower flanks of the coastal mountains, are the 
Tongass National Forest, extending from the southern tip of the 
Territory northward, and the Chugach National Forest, which is 
within sight of Mount McKinley. 
Timber, water, forage, wildlife, recreational features, and other 
resources of the national forests are for use of the people. The 
timber contributes to the industrial enterprises through a yearly cut 
of more than a billion board feet of lumber. The vegetative cover 
protects against erosion watersheds that are the source of about one- 
third of our potential water power, and helps insure pure and abun- 
dant water supplies to hundreds of towns and cities. The forage fur- 
nishes seasonal grazing for about 12,350,000 head of livestock of all 
ages. Fish in thousands of miles of mountain streams and big-game 
animals numbering approximately 1,700,000 head provide enjoyment 
for those who love the out of doors, and in addition there are many 
small fur bearers and game birds. Roads and trails and other 
improvements have made accessible superb vacation places and 
created in the forests a vast playground for increasing millions of 
recreation seekers. 
FORESTS CREATED FROM PUBLIC DOMAIN 
About 50 years ago the forests on the public domain seemed: in 
a fair way to be eventually destroyed by fire and reckless cutting. 
Nothing was being done to protect them or even to use them in the 
right way. They were simply left to burn or else to pass by means 
of one or another of the land laws into the hands of private owners 
whose interest in most cases impelled them to take from the land 
what they could get easily, and then abandon it. 
Congress recognized the situation that was developing and in 1891 
authorized the President to set aside forest reserves, as the national 
forests were for some years called, in order to protect the remaining 
timber on the public domain from destruction and to imsure a reg- 
ular flow of water in the streams. The first forest reserve—the 
Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve—was created by President 
Harrison that same year. Later Presidents have created others, 
until at present there are about 160 national forests with a total 
net area of about 175,000,000 acres located in 85 States and 2 Terri- 
tories. There are still millions of acres of public domain that should 
be in national forests. 
The original act made no provision for administering the forests, 
and the withdrawal of the land involved from all forms of settlement 
met with vigorous disapproval, especially in the West, where most 
of the reserves were situated. These defects, however, were largely 
removed by Congress on June 4, 1897, in a law outlining a system of 
organization and management for the reserves and placing their 
administration under the Secretary of the Interior. 
Government administration of the reserves required the applica- 
tion of scientific forestry. Timber cutting had to provide for the 
growing of a new timber crop. The ranges had been seriously in- 
jured by unrestricted grazing and it was necessary to devise methods 
for increasing the forage crop. Both timber use and grazing use 
