In the 10-year period, about 1,500,000 acres of Federal land in 

 National Forests and National Grasslands should be exchanged for 

 suitable private land to consolidate ownership. During this same 

 time, about 500,000 acres which are important for recreational de- 

 velopment and use, and about 950,000 acres of inholdings important 

 for other purposes should be purchased. The recreational lands are 

 needed to provide access to lakes, streams, and reservoirs; to provide 

 sites for improved recreation areas or the protection zones around 

 them; and to consolidate National Forest ownership in wilderness 

 and wilderness-like areas. The other category of lands includes 

 key tracts for other National Forest programs such as watershed 

 management, wildlife or range management, and fire protection, as 

 well as land management and land rehabilitation. During this period 

 the consolidation of land ownership within the Boundary Waters 

 Canoe Area in Minnesota will be completed. 



This statement of objectives does not attempt to estimate the acreage 

 which, at the urging of local interests, might properly be included 

 in new National Forest units. The acreage that might be so involved 

 in any such developments would be in addition to the figures set forth 

 here. 



There must also be accomplished in the 10-year period (a) develop- 

 ment of an improved and more adequate land status record system 

 with provision for continuous maintenance and (b) establishment and 

 marking of public property corners and the surveying and posting 

 of over 200,000 miles of property lines between National Forest and 

 other lands which now are inadequately located and marked. 



The uses of National Forest lands for many special purposes, in- 

 cluding the extraction of mineral resources, will continue to increase 

 at a rapid rate. The supervision of these uses will need to keep pace 

 in order that such uses can be properly correlated into multiple-use 

 management of the National Forest System, and to prevent unauthor- 

 ized use. The program for the determination of surface rights which 

 has been underway since the approval of the Act of July 23, 1955, 

 will be completed. 



Administrative Structures and Equipment 



To facilitate the resource management and development work, con- 

 struction and maintenance of administrative and fire control improve- 

 ments will need to be provided at an increased rate in the short-term 

 period. This will consist of completing the present backlog of housing 

 needs for field officers and of administrative and fire improvements, 

 and the construction of additional housing and improvements. New 

 construction needs include 2,640 dwellings and related improvements, 

 2,500 service buildings, and 455 lookout structures. Completion of 

 the communications system needed for protection and management 

 of the National Forests will require 2,000 additional radios and re- 

 placement of 9,000 radios and 3,000 miles of telephone lines. The 

 increasing use of aircraft as an efficient and economical means of trans- 

 portation for protection and management of wild lands will require 

 an additional 25 landing fields, reconstruction of 37 existing fields, 

 and construction of 1,820 heliports and helispots. 



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