4 Department Circular 2b0, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



Even before New Mexico became a part of the United States, large 

 areas of its forests had passed into private hands through grants 

 by the Spanish Crown and the Mexican Government. Most of these 

 grants were later confirmed by our own Congress. Except where 

 homesteaders settled or where claims were taken up under the 

 timber and stone act or other acts of Congress, the remainder of 

 these forest areas continued in the public domain. From those pri- 

 vate lands that were accessible the timber was stripped with no 

 thought of a future supply (Fig. 2) ; and because grazing was un- 

 regulated on the public domain, competition there resulted in the 

 overgrazing of the most desirable areas. 



Fig. 2. — Heavy slash left after clear cutting on private land, with no provision for 

 growing more timber. The cut-over area is a real fire trap. Contrast with regulated 

 cutting on National Forest (Fig. 3). 



These conditions were not peculiar to New Mexico; they were 

 found throughout the West. In California and the Northwest great 

 bodies of timber were being destroyed by fire and by destructive log- 

 ging. Congress finally recognized the need for protecting from de- 

 struction the remaining timber on the public domain and for insur- 

 ing a regular flow of water in the streams that rise in those regions. 

 Therefore, in 1891, Congress authorized the President to set aside 

 forest reserves and the first one was created by President Harrison. 

 Later these reserves came to be known as National Forests, and they 

 are now administered by the Forest Service, a bureau of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



