Arizona republican., 1909-05-16
EXAMINING BOUNDARIES
 OF FOREST RESERVES
instructions Sent Out to District Foresters.

ForesterS.
 Albuquerque, May 11.-(Special cor
 respondence of The Republican.)- Through the establishment of six dis trict headquarters in the west, the work of the forest service has ad vanced so far that it is now possible to undertake a thoroughgOing examin ation of National forest boundaries and an inquiry into the character of any interior areas which may appear to be not suitable for national forest purposes. In a letter to the district forester in this city, Forester Pinchot says:
 Plans formulated here last winter
 and approved by the secretary of
 agriculture call for a systematic and
 complete going over of all national
 forest boundaries during the present
 field season. The work which you
 have been constantly doing in this di-
 rection is along the right lines, but
 the plan adopted calls for more con- centrated effort in this work through
 out the service during the coming summer. With the field force at your command and your close knowledge of
 local conditions and of the national
 forest officers, you can so organize
 this effort in your district as to in
 sure a thorough going over of your
 part of the 60.O00 miles of national
 forest Boundaries by competent men,
 whose reports as to the character
 of the land within and without the
 forests and whose recommendations
 ac fn Ia nd xrrhfa -Ia !,
 or included. checked by the informa-
 tion already possessed by the forest
 service, can be relied on.
 'To do this work in one summer
 will make severe demands on you, but
 1t is not beyond the capacity of the
 service as now organized. Please give
 it your best efforts until the work is completed, and bear in mind especially
 that the quality of the work must be unimpeachable
 This work should all be completed
 by the close of the present field sea- son, and each district forester should at that time be able to vouch for the correctness of the proposed bound aries of his forests. If however. there are changes recommended by ex- amlners which you feel are question: able, such cases may go over for checking until the next field season. in order that no mistakes may be made. Possible additions should he noted as carefully in the six states where congressional action is neces- sary to create additions to forests as elsewhere.
 As you know, the policy of the service has always been to exclude from the boundaries of a national forest all agricultural land. except. as congress clearly intended. areas so small that they could be handled more acceptably under the Act of June II, 1906. We want all the land put to It's best use, whatever that may be. good deal of time and money | has been spent by the service in | this most important work. I believe, however that there is still land which would serve | the public interest best outside | of national forests and which | could therefore be excluded to the pub lie advantage. I believe. too. that ad- joining many of the forests are areas which, because of the value of the l timber they support, their importance under a proper forest cover for water shed protection. or because the best public use of the existing forest can be brought about only through their in- cluslon, should be added to the na- -ional forests.
 Tn considering changes of bound lry the character of the land and its future usefulness for forest or agri- cultural purposes, the protection that | t may give to watersheds at the head Il )f streams from which towns. cities, II md irrigation projects draw their SUD- II ply. areas which need reforestation. Il md areas which should be included rom the standpoint of the public wei are generally. should all be carefully Whenever a change of boundary is recommended, the reason ! Or it should be plainly shown. When Il he proper boundary of the forest does lot conform to the exterior limits of he timbered areas the reason should ,e plainly given.
 Tn accordance with the usual prac- | ice, every effort should be made to earn the wishes of citizens as to what | ands should be excluded or included. M f areas are proposed for addition or at the request of citizens. heir petitions should form part of the easons for the change in boundaries. 'etitions which have contributed to he establishment of the present bound Iries should, when practicable, be sub nitted as part of the record
 For this work you will need to lse your very best available help. The organization of the work is, of course, tI n your hands.
 Existing and proposed boundaries. md all land and cover classifications hould always be shown on maps. sup 'orted by reports. So far as possible. he forest service atlas folios should 'e used as the base maps. The pub ication of these folios is being push-