NOTES ON OUR FOREST SERVICE 



33 



i 



Photo from U. S. Forest Service 



•COOKING POISON TO POISON WHEAT FOR EXTERMINATING PRAIRIE DOGS : DENVER, 



COLORADO 



The little prairie dog is a serious pest in certain localities of the United States. The 

 Biological Survey has shown how they may be destroyed by poison, with the result that the 

 Forest Service is able to check their mischief on the ranges. 



Most of the national forest timber is 

 beyond reach unless heavy outlays are 

 made to obtain means of transportation. 

 Such timber can be sold only to those 

 who command large resources of capital, 

 and even then only at a relatively low 

 price. On the other hand, where the 

 demand for the timber is good and com- 

 petition for its purchase fairly brisk, it 

 is generally necessary to go slowly be- 

 cause of the certainty of future require- 

 ments. In short, the question of the 

 timber that can safely or wisely be sold 

 is a local one. The fact that timber is 

 rotting in the woods in distant regions 

 will not help communities which find 

 their home supply exhausted. 



the national. forests prevent a 

 "timber" trust 



For these reasons the sales of national 

 forest timber are carefully guarded. The 



amount of national forest timber sold 

 during the year was slightly over 386,- 

 000,000 feet, or not much over one-third 

 the amount sold the previous year. The 

 falling off was directly due to the refus- 

 als to make large sales. Under such sales 

 the actual cutting is allowed to extend 

 over several years. The amount of tim- 

 ber cut and paid for during the year, 

 however, more than doubled the cut of 

 the previous year, with a total of not 

 quite 393,000,000 feet. The receipts from 

 timber sales were about $850,000, as 

 against not quite $670,000 for the pre- 

 vious year. In addition there was cut 

 under free use over 130,000,000 feet of 

 timber, valued at about $170,000. 



The timber lands of the West, outside 

 of the national forests, are mainly in 

 strong hands. Were the national forest 

 timber offered on the market to every 

 purchaser, the main scene of western 



