PEDEKAL FOIiEST POLICY. 



191 



the Fifty-first Congress, through the earnest insistence of Secretary of the Interior John W. 

 Noble, 'who was fully imbued with the necessity of some action such as was advocated by the 

 association, the following section was added to the act entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture 

 laws, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1891: 



Sec 24. That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or 

 Territory having public lands bearing forests, any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber 

 or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public 

 proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limit thereof. 



Acting upon this authority, Presidents Cleveland and Harrison established seventeen forest 

 reservations, with a total estimated area of 17,500,000 acres previous to 1S94. 



These forest reservations, together with the national parks which were established before, to 

 be sure for quite different purposes, made thus the forest lands reserved by the Government 

 aggregate over 20,000,000 acres as follows : 



JSTo.a 



1 



2 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



11 



12 



13 



14 



15 



16 



17 



Forest leservations. 



Yellowstone National Park timber-land reserve ( Wyo ) . 



White River Plateau timber-land reserve (Colo.) 



Pecos Elver forest reserve (N\ Mex.) 



Sierra forest reserve (Cal.) 



Pacific forest reserve (Wash ) 



Pikes Peak timber-land reserve (Colo.) 



Bull Itim timber land resei ve (Oreg ) 



Plum Cieek timber-land reserve (Colo.) 



South Platte forest r eserv e (Colo.) 



San Gabriel timber-land reserve (Cal ) 



Battlement Mesa foiest reser\ e (Colo.) 



Afognak forest and fisli culture reserve ( Alaska) 



Grand Canyon forest reserve (Ariz ) 



Trabuoo Canyon forest reserve (Cal ) 



San Bernat d mo forest reserve ( Cal. ) 



Ashland forest resen e (Oreg.) 



Cascade Range forest reserve (Oreg.; 



Established. 



Area. 



Sept. 10, 

 Oct. 16, 

 Jan. 11, 

 Feb. 14, 

 Feb. 20, 

 Mar. 18, 

 June 17, 

 June 23, 

 Dec. 9, 

 Dec. 29, 

 Dec. 24, 



do .. 



Feb. 20, 

 Feb. 25, 



do . 



Sept. 28, 

 . . do . . 



1891 

 1891 

 1892 

 1893 

 1893 

 1892 

 1892 

 1892 

 1892 

 1892 

 1892 



1893 

 1893 



1893 



Acres. 



1, 239, 040 



1, 198, 080 

 311, 040 



4, 096, 000 

 967, 680 

 184, 320 

 142, 080 

 179, 200 

 683, 520 

 555, 520 

 858, 240 

 Unknown. 



1,851,520 



49, 920 



737, 280 



18, 560 



4, 492, 800 



Total acreage of forest reserves ' 17, 564, 800 



NATIONAL PARKS. 



18 

 19 

 20 

 21 



Yellowstone National Park. . . 



Xosemite National Park 



Sequoia National Park 



General Grant National Park 



Mar. 1, 1872 

 Oct. 1, 1890 



do 



. . . « do 



2, 142, 720 

 967, 680 

 161, 280 



560 



a The numbers refer to those used on map, Plate II. 



The reservations were established usually upon the petition of citizens residing in the respec- 

 tive States and after due examination, the forestry association acting as intermediary. 



Meanwhile the legislation devised for the administration of the forest reserves, existing or to 

 be established, specially urged by Representative McEae, chairman of Public Lands Committee, 

 failed to be enacted, although in the Fifty-third Congress it was passed by both Houses, but failed 

 in conference. 



Secretary Hoke Smith, of the Department of the Interior, impressed with the importance of 

 devising some adequate system of protection and management of the forests, both within the 

 reserves and in the public domain, and urged by the committee of the Forestry Association, 

 under date of February 15, 1806, requested the National Academy of Sciences, the legally 

 constituted adviser of the Government in scientific matters, to investigate and report u upon the 

 inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forested lands of the United States.' 7 He especially 

 desired an official expression as to the desirability and practicability of preserving the forests 

 from fire and maintaining as forested lands portions of the public domain now bearing wood 

 growth 5 as to how far the influence of forests on climate, soil, and water conditions warranted a 

 policy of forest conservation in regions where the public domain is principally situated; and what 

 specific legislation should be enacted to remedy existing evils. 



Under date of February 1, 1897, the academy submitted to Secretary Francis a preliminary 

 report recommending the creation of thirteen additional forest reserves with a total area of 

 21,379,840 acres. These reserves were proclaimed, as recommended, by the President February 22, 

 1897. On May 1, 1897, the president of the academy submitted his complete report, embodying 



