WORK OF THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE 5 



had to be so managed that watersheds would be adequately pro- 

 tected. All the resources of the forests needed to be given careful 

 consideration and plans devised for their best development. Tech- 

 nical problems were involved which the officials of the Department 

 of the Interior felt to be outside their province. They, therefore, 

 at first requested the aid of the experts of the Department of Agri- 

 culture as advisers and soon recommended the transfer of admin- 

 istration of the reserves to the latter Department where a Bureau of 

 Forestry already was in existence. 



The transfer of administration of the reserves took place in 1905. 

 In 1907 the name "forest reserves" was changed to "national forests", 

 by act of Congress to indicate that the resources of these areas are 

 not locked up as "reserves" for a distant future. 



Figure 2. — Bonita ranger station on the Lolo National Forest, Mont, 

 dwelling, cook house, and office, and other buildings. 



showing the 



THE PURCHASE OF FOREST LANDS 



By the time the national-forest movement began virtually all of 

 the public domain within States east of the Great Plains, except 

 some inferior remnants, had passed to State or private ownership. 

 Indeed, within the present limits of the Thirteen Original States 

 there was no public domain. The poor lands remaining in Federal 

 control in the entire area were inadequate to meet public needs. 



The purchase of additional lands valuable for the protection of 

 the headwaters of navigable streams or for timber production, and 

 their reorganization as national forests were therefore authorized 

 by Congress, first by the act of March 1, 1911, called the Weeks law, 

 and later by the amendatory act of June 7, 1924, known as the Clarke- 



