Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1910-05-05
NATIONAL FOREST
EXAMINATIONS EXPLAINED

/ The protests which have been re
t ceived in considerable number by tn
u. S. Department of Agrfcultur
against eliminating from Nationa
/ Forests non-timbered lands chief.
valuable for grazing are regarded b!
Secretary Wilson as indicating tina
many communities fail to realize th'
. limitations within which the Depart
ment must act in carrying out faith
fully the intent OF existing laws. Mos
of the protests set forth the injury
which il is feared may result from
unregulated grazing on the land to be
eliminated. Since. however. the lands
which It is proposed to eliminate are
neither forested now nor regarded as
suitable for the future growing of
trees the Government has no author
ity TO hold them as parts of the Ma
tional Forests after their actual char
acter has been determined.
The policy to be pursued with re-
gard to such lands was recently
agreed upon by the Secretary of Ag-
riculture and the Secretary OF the
Interior jointly and laid before the
President, who gave it his approval.
This policy is not an innovation but
is the same policy which has always
been applied by the Forest Service
in deciding where National Forest
boundaries should be drawn. The
reason why lands formerly included
in National Forests are now being
eliminated is to be found not in a
change of policy, but in the fact that
the actual conditions were ascertain
ed last year. for the first time,
through careful boundary examina-
lions.
The evils feared by those who are
now making protest against the ex-
clusion of the lands in question are
usually of two kinds. In many plae-
es residents find themselves likely to
suffer from an invasion OF the range
by outsiders. If the grazing is UNI
transient stock may not
only eat up the forage but also de-
plete the range through overgrazing,
to the loss and even the eventual
ruin of the local stock owners. Al
though Secretary Wilson recognizes
that this may be the case, he has
pointed out to those who make this
that Government control
Of lands valuable only for grazing
was not contemplated by the laws
authorizing the creation of National
except as far as is neces-
sary to secure practical admnistra-
i've boundaries.
Another ground of protest against
The eliminations is that administra-
ton by the Department of Agrieul-
Lure has already resulted in great
to the water flow, or
that unregulated grazing will result
in polluted streams or serious dam
age to watersheds. In some cases
the increase in water supply which
has followed National Forest admin
is put as high as 25 per
cent. To those who make this point
Wilson is replying that
every effort has been made to safe
guard water supplies; that the elm
nations proposed are only along the
borders of the forests, and the pro-
lection of water flow is recognized
as a legitimate reason for retaining
brushland even though it is not like
y ever to grow timber of commercial
value. 1t is not denied that ia some
cases the elimination of purely graz
ing lands may possibly result in
amount of stream pollution,
put the Department of Agriculture
holds it has no authority to try to
prevent this through National Forest
of such lands. In
he main it is believed that the inter
ssts OF water-users have been well
jared for in making the eliminations.