70 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



forms but one great park, the necessity for the establishment of 

 a suitable and convenient post or camp for the troops ; for the 

 adoption of a comprehensive system of patrols in the valley and 

 the park; for the protection of both parks against destructive 

 fires ; the construction of an adequate system of free public roads 

 leading to the valley; the building therein of ample hotel and 

 other accommodations for visitors, as well as the safe-guarding 

 of the valley from the granting of unwise and extravagant con- 

 cessions — all these things seem to call imperatively for immediate 

 action on the part of the National Government ; and I cannot too 

 strongly urge upon Congress the importance of at once adopting 

 measures which will set at rest any question as to the purpose of 

 the United States to accept the retrocession by the State of Cali- 

 fornia of the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, 

 and thus preserve the entire country embraced in these parks for 

 public use and recreation forever. 



"It is further recommended that, for administrative purposes 

 in the management of the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, a parcel of 

 land of approximately one mile in length and two miles in width, 

 immediately south of the Yosemite National Park and abutting 

 the Big Tree Grove on the north, be included within the metes 

 and bounds of the Yosemite National Park and made a part 

 thereof." 



It would be quite appropriate to also bring the Fresno Big 

 Tree Grove, some miles south of the Mariposa Grove and over 

 the Mt. Raymond divide, under the same management. 



Early in December Senator Perkins of California introduced 

 into the Senate a bill embodying the recommendations of the 

 President regarding the Yosemite. 



Forest Reserves. ^"^^'^ """'^^^ Forestry and Irri- 



gation, A. F. Potter, of the Forestry Service, 

 summarizes the present extent of the California forest reserves, 

 the work being done upon them, the amount of grazing allowed, 

 and the character of the new reserves added since January i, 

 1905. The old reserves, chiefly in the mountains of Southern 

 California and along the Sierra Nevada from Lake Tahoe south- 

 ward, amounted to less than 10,000,000 acres. The new Cali- 

 fornia forest reserves are six in number, are located in Northern 

 California, and swell the total amount in the State to 14,250,000 

 acres. Mr. Potter states that this is "an acreage almost double 

 that included in any other State or Territory. There still remains 

 withdrawn from entry a large area from which it is probable 

 several additional reserves will be created, so that ultimately the 

 National Forest Reserves of California will include about 16,- 

 000,000 acres of land." 



The general situation of the new reserves was given in the 

 pages of the Bulletin in the numbers for February and June, 

 1903. The land had then been recently withdrawn from sale and 

 entry preparatory to expert examination, and the reserves were 



