Publicly owned or managed forest 
lands, 1945 (million acres) 
All Commer-  Noncom- 
forest cial mercial 
Administration: 
Nattonaliforest]2 eso 2 123 73 50 
OthersKederal\ f= ee 54 16 38 
Stale eee h een ee ah eee neeenrces 28 18 10 
Local government |... 10 9 1 
PANG DU DIG e eee cee ee ene ees 215 116 99 
Nearly half of this, however, is noncommercial— 
the dry-site, scrubby, or reserved forests not suited 
or available for growing commercial timber though 
valuable for watershed and other purposes. About 
four-fifths is Federal (fig. 28), the national forests 
being the largest category. 
See 1s ean ae aN 
narionat Forest W/L 
otHer FeveRAL_-LWVWW- Jw 
50 75 
MILLION ACRES 
FicureE 28.—Ownership of the 215 million acres of public 
forest lands. 
National Forests—A Big Undertaking 
The national forests, which today stand as the 
world’s greatest public-forest system, include about 
180 million acres (net) located in 40 States, Alaska, 
and Puerto Rico. About 159 million acres of 
this land is in the United States proper (table 28). 
TABLE 28.—Gross and net area in national forests 
as of June 30, 19461 
Net acreage federally owned 
and under Forest Service 
Location Gross acreage administration 
within estab- 
lished units 
All lands Forest lands 
Million acres Million acres 
20.85 aa 2: 
179.50 135 
Million acres 
1 Exclusive of Puerto Rico units which include 186,000 acres, 
gross, of which about 31,000 is federally owned and ad- 
ministered. 
* Rough estimate. 
Withdrawals of forest land from the western pub- 
lic domain began in 1891. Six years later these 
forest reserves were put under administration, and 
in 1905 jurisdiction was transferred to the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. In 1907 their name was 
changed to national forests, as more descriptive 
of their real character. The Weeks Law (1911) 
provided the first authority for purchase of lands, 
and made possible the establishment of national 
forests in the East. In 1922 a general exchange 
law authorized exchange of public land or timber 
for private land. 
Of the 123 million acres of forest land in the 
national forests of the United States proper, about 
100 million were withdrawn from the public do- 
main. Some 18 million have been purchased; less 
than 4 million have been acquired through ex- 
change, and about 1 million have been private gifts 
or transfers from other Federal agencies. 
National forests are managed under four cardinal 
principles. First is the objective of the public 
good: “the greatest good to the greatest number 
of people in the long run.” Second is the conser- 
vation objective: full and wise use of the forests 
so as to build up and perpetuate them. Third is 
multiple use: integrated management of all re- 
sources—timber, water, range, recreation, and wild- 
life—for maximum public benefits. Fourth is de- 
centralized administration: the aim of providing 
on-the-ground administration in close and constant 
touch with local, State, and regional conditions and 
with only enough centralized control to assure 
that basic policies are effectively carried out. 
Placing national-forest lands—in the aggregate 
about one-twelfth of our total land area—under 
intensive administration and management has been 
hampered by the remoteness and inaccessibility of 
much of the land, by poorly consolidated ownership 
in many instances, and by inadequate funds. Yet 
steady progress has been made. ‘Timber, range, 
water, and other resources are being husbanded 
through protection, controlled cutting or regulated 
use, planting and reseeding, and other measures. 
A basic aim is to bring output up to the full sus- 
tained-yield capacity of the land. 
Progress would perhaps seem larger if today’s 
needs to get a maximum contribution from national 
forests were less pressing. As this report emphasizes 
earlier, the steady depletion of private timber has 
left the national forests, which include 16 percent 
of the commercial forest, with nearly a third of the 
Nation’s saw timber. Prior to 1940, much of this 
88 Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
je ee See 
