THE FOREST SERVICE: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT 
DEALS WITH FOREST PROBLEMS. 
‘* Forest Service ” has been the name since July 1, 1905, of that 
branch of the Department of Agriculture which was previously 
called the ‘‘ Bureau of Forestry,” and, earlier still, the ‘* Division of 
Forestry.” 
Since February 1, 1905, the Forest Service has been charged, under 
the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, with the administration 
of the National Forests. About the management of the National 
Forests, therefore, the work of the Service nowcenters. The Forests, 
whose area on October 1, 1907, was 158,809,459 acres, are of vital 
importance for their timber and grass and for the conservation of 
stream flow. They are so managed as to develop their permanent value 
as a resource by use. Opposition toward them, based on the belief 
that preservation would prevent use, has changed with the under- 
standing of their real object to approval and support. The last valid 
objections to their establishment and maintenance have been removed 
by the Agricultural Settlement law of June 11, 1906, and by a clause 
in the agricultural appropriation act for the year 1906-7. By the first, 
agricultural land in National Forests, if classified as chiefly valuable for 
agriculture, listed in the local land office, and opened by the Secretary 
of the Interior, may be taken up by home builders.* Many small tracts 
of agricultural lands, scattered here and there along creeks and valleys, 
have unavoidably been included within Forest boundaries, though the 
utmost care secured the elimination of all large bodies of such land 
when the boundaries were drawn. ‘the need of such a law as that of 
June 11 was clearly seen, and its passage was secured. 
The so-called ‘*ten per cent clause” of the agricultural appropria- 
tion bill provides that States having Forests are to receive 10 per 
cent of the gross receipts from the Forests within their boundaries, 
to be distributed among the counties in which the Forests le and 
devoted to public schools and roads. Many counties have much of 
their area, in some cases more than half, in National Forests, and this 
land is withdrawn from the possibility of private ownership and taxa- 
tion. By the new law the loss to the counties from the withdrawal 
of taxable land is offset. 
The business management of the National Forests is in itself a large 
undertaking. The business on the National Forests is destined to 
grow rapidly and to assume far-reaching economic importance. In 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, approximately $1,500,000 was 
received, chiefly from grazing and timber sales. The returns from 
timber Biles alone, over $500,000, more than doubled the returns of the 
a ence tie mvachita ivational Forest, Oklahoma, has been Nedianaece a game pre- 
serve by authority of an act of Congress (33 Stat., 614), and all agricultural land 
within its boundaries will soon be needed to carry oat the provisions of this act, the 
act of June il, 1906, permitting agricultural settlement, does not apply to that forest. 
(Cir. 36] 
(7) 
