The copper era and Morenci leader. [volume] (Clifton, Ariz.) 1911-1929, 1915-05-14
HOUSTON |NSPECTS
. NATIONAL FORESTS


, WASHINGTON:- Secretary of Agri
culture Houston has begun an ex
tensive tour of the national forests
| to find out for himself to what ex
tent their timber, forage, water
! power, recreational and agriculture
, resources are being developed for the
public under present methods and tt
make a study of the administrative
problems of the forest service. Dur
J ding May he will visit the forests in
! several of the western states, spend
! ing almost the entire time of his
trip in the wilds, seeking first-han6
impressions of the conditions under
which the forest service works.
Conditions during the spring and
Isummer are likely to be usually ardu
Ious, according to forest service Off
cials, in that dangerous fire season
lis Indicated for many of the forests
by the abnormally slight precdpita-
ton of the winter. Unlses the def
Iciency is made up, the forests will
lbe dry and inf1ammable earlier in the
season than usual and the water sup
Iply of many extensive regions will be
How. Numerous irrigation, reservoir,
and power projects are wholly or in
part dependent on national forest
protection of watersheds, and it is
beginning to be generally understood
that aside from actual farming on
national forest land, the agricultural
interests of the west are much con-
cerned in the conservation of water
supplies accomplished by the forest
service through lessened fire damage
and regulated grazing. In. southern
California the interest in maintain
ing a forest cover on the mountains
from which local water supplies are
derived is SO keen that for number
of years local funds have been raised
and paid over to the department of
agriculture in order to provide for
more intensive protection than the
federal appropriations make possible.
Under the methods employed in
handling the livestock grazing bust
ness of the national forests, agricul.
tural Development is benefited not
only through the prevention of injury
to watersheds but also through the
opportunities opened for ranch de-
velopment. AS new settlers locate
near the forests room is made for
thei rstock by cutting down, If nee
essary, the number of stock allowed
the larger permittees. More than
IL, 100000 cattle, sheep, and hogs, in.
lcluding young stock, will find forage
this year on the national forests.
The revenue from this source is
lSAp9SISO " oAC0ou @1sAVV,ooV II
1915.
| One of the difficult administrative
problems now being rapidly worked
out, is that of agricultural develop
ment of lands more valuable for farm
than for forest purposes. Extensive
land classification has been made
possible by a special appropriation of
Congress for this purpose. renewed
each year since 1912. Up to date,
about 10000 agricultural homesteAds
have been listed within the national
forests opening to agricultural de-
lvelopment nearly 100000 acres of
land. In addition, a certain amount
of agricultural development is pro-
vided for under special use permits,
where for any special reason listing
does not afford a practicable means
| of meeting settlers needs.
More than 81. 900 special use per-
mits of all kinds have been issued
to the public since 1905, granting
free or for a reasonable charge per-
mission to conduct all sorts of enter
Iprises on national forest land. They
include apiaries, barns, boat houses,
botanical gardens, cemeteries,
cottages, golf links, hotels, mines,
minerals springs, observatories, or
chards, quarries, railroads, ranches,
residences, restaurants, rifle ranges,
roads, sanitariums, sawmills, slaughter
houses, telegraph and telephone lines,
tennis courts, tramways, tunnels,
water power plants, wells, weirs, and
wharves. The total income from
special use permits in 1914 was over
$4,000.
Farmers, prospectors, and local set
tiers of all classes, who needed timber
for their own use in the construction
of houses, barns, fences, and the like,
were given free more than 10000, 900
feet of national forest timber during
1914, while about 100000 feet was
sold to settlers, ranchers, and others
at cost prices. The timber sale
business of the national forests
amounts to about $1,250,0O0 annually,
more than 1,500,000,000 board feet OF
stumpage having been sold to lumber
operators last year.
The forests contain most of the
picturesque wilderness in the country,
and their correctional resources are
practically unlimited. More than g.
600 cottages have been built on the
forests by summer residents under
the permit system, which has been
supplemented by law providing that
tracts of five acres or less may be
leased for periods not to exceed
thirty years. This law, under
which leasing regulations have just
been promulgated by the secretary
OF agriculture, is expected to stimu- |
late recreational development of the |
forests. Already a large number of
applications to lease national forest
land for summer residence sites has
been received, and even communities
are beginning to take ADVANTAGE of
the forests situated near them by
obtaining tracts for use as picnic. |