Douglas Island news., 1906-09-19
Forest Reserves

The IOreSC T6SSENSS Ok <AAoSho ho'S evidently been misunderstood. The idea has been general that the"reserve" put fence around the timber with the authority of Uncle Sam'to keep out in- truders. F. E. Olmstead, assistant forester, inspector, and what not, rep resenting your Uncle Samuel, writes letter to the Wrangell Sentinel that Is indeed interesting. He says:
 When l was in Wrangell recently you were good enough to promise the publication of brief letter about forest reserves, and am now glad to send you few notes on the subject In so doing I want simply to bring out what man is entitled to do on reserve, and have no intention in this letter of trying to justify the present policy of the government. found there was a general misunderstanding in your town about the reserve ousl- ness and also a general impression that the reserve locked things up pretty tightly. l want to correct this impression if l can.
 In the first place, about the timber. l talked with several who understood that no timber at all could be cut on the reserve. As matter of fact, lots of it is now being cut and we want to dispose of all we possibly can. The more the better. It's good thing to get the old mature timber out and give the young stuff chance to go ahead and grow to merchantable size. The government holds the timber for the use of the people, ane it is there to be cut and used by anybody who wants it. It is not locked up and held there to be looked at. It seems to be the general belief, also, that the forest ser vice put such restrictions into all con tracts that as a result the logger could not afford to go into the thing with the hope of making anything.
 This is not the intention,for we mean to sell tim Der at such figure that 1t can be cut and marketed at profit, and also under such conditions only as will allow the logger to come out ahead. l believe many of the present restric- tions are unnecessary and should be done away with As we are extremely anxious to sell all the timber we possl. bly, can, it is hardly reasonable to sup pose that we would put restrictions on which would prevent the sale. The chief aim of the service is to fix mat ters so that the miner, lum herman and others can get timber promptly with out going into the unnecessary red tape. Prospectors, settlers and others living in or near to the reserve can get what timber they need for development and other domestic purposes free of charge. On the other hand, 1t Is eH- pected that timber and wood cut for commercial purposes will be paid for at reasonable rate. Anybody can use drift wood.
 Forest reserve lands are open to all kinds of entries except those made un- der the law for trading and manufac- turing sites. Mining locations can be made anywhere without restriction ,and the prospector can follow his calling without let or intolerance of any kind. Reserves are also open to homestead entries.
 All the resources of forest reserves are for use and for use especially by those who are building up the country. To bring about the best kind of use the country must he settled up, and we want the reserve lands utilized just as soon as possible. We want everything utilized also without delays, petty re- strietions and red tape.