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Sierra Club Bulletin 



upbuilding and industrial welfare of the country. In addition, when 

 parks are created from parts of the forests, the portions remaining as 

 forests should not be left in a form difficult or impossible to administer. 



CLEAR-CUT POLICY NECESSARY 



The importance of a clear-cut policy is evidenced by the efforts fre- 

 quently made to secure the creation of national parks out of areas con- 

 taining great bodies of timber, extensive grazing lands, and other re- 

 sources, the withdrawal of which from use would be uneconomic and 

 prejudicial to the local and general public interest. In most cases the 

 desire for a specific park, where economic use of the resources also is 

 essential, has led to the proposal for an administration of the area, after 

 the creation of the park, identical with the present forest administration. 

 Several such measures now are before Congress. Their enactment 

 would result in a mere division of the public properties into parks and 

 forests, having no distinction except in name ; handled alike but by du- 

 plicate organizations in different departments. Still more serious is the 

 fact that the cutting up of the forests would greatly cripple administra- 

 tion of the remaining lands. It would doubtless mean the abandonment 

 of large areas which should remain under public ownership and control 

 for timber production and watershed protection. It would greatly re- 

 duce efficiency in forest-fire protection and in the handling of current 

 business, increase the expense of protection and administration, and 

 cause endless confusion to users, who in many cases would have to deal 

 with two departments in developing resources when, for instance, log- 

 ging and grazing units overlap. 



The protection of the scenic features and the development of the rec- 

 reational use of the lands are being taken care of in the national forests. 

 Some of the most unusual scenic areas in the forests are best suited to a 

 full park administration. The bulk of the forest areas, however, should 

 continue in their present status, where they will be fully protected and 

 developed for recreation purposes as a part of the forest administra- 

 tion. The extensive road building, made possible by the $10,000,000 re- 

 cently appropriated, will open them up rapidly. 



An added cause of confusion is the fact that national parks and na- 

 tional forests are administered by two executive departments. While 

 there is an effort to co-operate, nevertheless difficulties arise which could 

 be wholly avoided if they were under one department. Unquestionably 

 the administration of the forests should remain in the Department of 

 Agriculture, because of the close relationship of the work of the Forest 

 Service to the activities of other bureaus of the same department, such 

 as the Bureau of Plant Industry, Bureau of Animal Industry, Office of 

 Public Roads and Rural Engineering, Bureau of Soils, Bureau of Bio- 

 logical Survey, and the Bureau of Entomology. Obviously, there are in 

 the forests many problems relating to live-stock, plant growth, preda- 

 tory animal and insect control, soil conditions, and road and trail work. 

 These great bureaus are directly and intimately concerned with these 



