8 



withdrawn from the possibility of private ownership and taxation. By 

 the new law the loss to the counties from the withdrawal of taxable 

 land is offset. 



The business management of the reserves is in itself a large under- 

 taking, destined to grow rapidly and to assume far-reaching economic 

 importance. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1906, nearly $800,000 

 was received, chiefly from grazing and timber sales. The returns 

 from timber sales alone, over $200,000, exceeded the returns under 

 the closer restrictions of the earlier administration nearly threefold. 

 Grazing, which formerly had been free, has brought in over $500,000 

 under the permit system inaugurated in Januar^^, 1906. 



The free use of timber and stone which, at the discretion of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, is granted to settlers and others who may 

 not reasonably be required to purchase, as well as to school and road 

 districts, churches, or cooperative organizations of settlers, very greatly 

 aids the development of the regions in and near the reserves. 



It is the active policy of the Forest Service to manage the forest 

 reserves upon a sound technical as well as business basis. Only 

 improvement in the standard of the technical management can secure 

 steady and constant increase in returns without depleting the forest. 

 To this end careful investigation is essential. This includes special 

 study of the habits and requirements of trees as a basis for the regu- 

 lation of cutting of every kind. Special attention is given to finding 

 new uses for species at present valueless or little used, as well for the 

 trees already classed as commercial. Studies are made of damage by 

 fire and the best means of preventing it, and, in cooperation with 

 the Bureau of Entomology, of the prevention and control of insect 

 ravages. In these and in many other ways the basis of knowledge 

 necessary for the best forest work is being laid. 



Aside from the care and perpetuation of the national forests, the 

 Forest Service has to do with the practical uses of forests and forest 

 trees in the United States, especially with the commercial management 

 of forest tracts, woodlots, and forest plantations. It undertf^kes such 

 forest studies as lie beyond the power or the means of individuals to 

 carry on unaided. It stands ready to cooperate, to the limit of its 

 resources, with all who seek assistance in the solution of practical 

 forest problems, particularly where such cooperation will result in 

 setting up object lessons to serve as encouraging examples for the 

 general benefit. 



Cooperative State studies are carried on with States which request 

 the advice of the Service. Examples of this work are the studies of 

 forest conditions in New Hampshire, which appropriated $7,000 

 toward the total cost, and California, which appropriated $25,000. 

 Maine, Maryland, and Massachusetts have also called upon the Service 

 for expert assistance. 



