Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-02-06
NATIONAL FORESTS.
An Act to Protect Public Forest
Reservations.
THE HOUSE TAKES PROMPT ACTION.
Bill Which Empowers the Secretary of
the Interior to Cut and Sell
Timber.

The small company Of forwardlook-
ing people who, in the face of almost
universal apathy, had been for years
urging the necessity of some rational
system Of management for the forests
on our national domain, felt greatly
encouraged ten years ago when Presi-
dent Arthur was moved to mention the
subject in one Of his annual messages.
We have no systematic forest policy
yet, not even the beginning of such
policy, but we are no longer surprised
or unduly elated over the fact that men
in places of high authority consider the
matter worth talking about, at least.
President Cleveland, like his imme-
date predecessors, in his message to
Congress, which assembled last month,
strongly advised that some adequate
protection should be provided for the
areas of forest which had been reserved
by proclamation, and he also recon-
mended the adoption of some compre-
hensive scheme Of forest management.
He condemned the present policy of the
government of surrendering for small
considerations immense tracts of tim
Der land which ought to be reserved as
permanent sources of timber supply,
and urged the prompt abandonment of
this wastefrl policy for conservative
one, which should recognize in a prac-
tical way the Importance of our forest
inheritance as vital element of the
national prosperity.
The House Of Representatives., too.
has taken prompt action upon Mr.. Nc
Rae's bill, entitled, An Act to Protect
Public Forest Reservations. The pro-
visions of the bill are simple. Tt
authorizes the employment Of the
army to patrol these reservations, as
has been done effectively in the Yellow
stone Park and in the Yosemite Valley,
and it empowers the Secretary Of the
Interior to make regulations in regard
to their occupancy, to utilize the tim
Der of commercial value they contain.
and to preserve the forest cover from
destruction. It also empowers the Sec
rotary of the Interior to cut and sell
timber on non-reserved lands under
the same rules as those made for the
forest reservations, provided that it
shall be first shown that such cuttings
shall not be injurious to the public in
terests. The bill had some unfortunate
features, but any system which regu-
lates the use of public timber is better
than the indiscriminate plumber that
has been going ON hitherto, and the
authorization to use the military for
protective purposes is altogether COM
mendable. The bill was amended,
however, so as to strike out, if we I'M
derstand it correctly, the provisions re-
lating to non-reserved lands, and it
restricts the sale of timber ON reserya-
lions to trees that are dead or mature,
thus limiting skilled forest practice,
instead of authorizing trained foresters
than all, it grants free supplies of timber
from the reservations to miners and
settlers.
1t is to be hoped when this measure
comes before the Senate that its origi-
nal features will be restored. In it's
expose the timber ON the reservations
to new dangers. We are Judging, it is
true, from newspaper accounts, and
the published text of the bill may show
that the amendments are not SO bad as
they seem. If military protection is
assured. that is one step forward, but if
such protection is made possible only
when the War Department shall con-
slider it worth while, it is very short
step, indeed. No doubt, any measure
which gives the assurance of efficient
policing of the reservations, or efficient
ly controls the cutting of public timber,
is to that extent gain, but we GER
tainly want something more definite
and decisive than the McRae bill as it
now stands.
And, while measures of this sort are
being prepared and pressed for passage.
why shall we not take immediate steps
to examine this magnificent forest
property of ours in a more thorough
manner than has yet been done, so
that we can obtain facts to guide us in
framing future laws. or. at least, to
enable us to administer them intelli-
gently? Seven years ago we argued the
withdrawal of all these lands from sale
until a comprehensive report should
have been made by some commission
capable of deciding what lands to sell
and what to hold forever in forest, and
we then proposed that, pending such a
report, they should all be put under
military protection. Why not provide
for such commission now and begin
the investigation at once? This work
would not interfere with the adoption
of any protective policy, and certainly
we can get no laws which go farther
and deeper, and furnish a complehen-
sive system of forest management until
we have secured possession Of forests
to manage. The appointment of such
a commission need not be deferred until
the passage of protective law. It's
creation would be entirely independent
of other action. The work of the COM
mission certainly would not obyiate the