2 Circular 211, Dept. of Agriculture 



bandry and forage-plant production. Grazing \ 

 the national forests is already largely supplemental to 

 ranching, through its provision of summer feeding 

 grounds for local farm livestock; and under the ad- 

 ministration of the Department of Agriculture it will 

 grow more so as settlers increase in number. The 

 present grazing policy and the agricultural lands polir ^ 

 of the Forest Service promote settlement. Water 

 conservation has in view the interests of irrigation 

 farmers. Forestry and agriculture are interwoven 

 and akin. 



The keynote of national-forest administration is 

 service. The object aimed at is best use of the many 

 resources of the forests in the interest of the public 

 welfare. From the standpoint of material wealth, the 

 forests have their greatest importance as sources of 

 supply of wood, water, and range forage. They have 

 also a great and growing value to the country as 

 places of recreation. Not only are they open to all 

 persons for all lawful purposes; the prime object 

 always held in view is to make them more useful to 

 more people. Naturally they are of greatest benefit to 

 the local residents near them and to the States in 

 which they lie; but they are useful also to the whole 

 country in ways that are not always realized. 



Most of the national forests are located in the 

 mountainous regions of the country, where the pres- 

 ervation of tree growth is of great importance. From 

 the hardwoods of the southern Appalachians to the 

 spruces of the White Mountains in New England, 

 from the pinon and juniper stands where tree growth 

 begins in the southern Rockies of New Mexico to the 

 pine and fir forests of the Canadian line in Montana 

 and Idaho, from the brush-covered foothills of the 

 San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains in south- 

 ern California to the vast softwood stands of the 

 Olympics and Cascades in northern Washington, the 

 national forests lie mainly on the mountain slopes. 

 Even along the Alaskan shore, where the Tongass 

 and Chugach Forests form a tattered ribbon 600 miles 

 long from the southern tip of the Territory to within 



