Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1922-03-16

possible to draw the line to exclude
parts not in government ownership.
For that reason the boundaries of the
forests frequently meandered back
and forth, following the vagaries of
private alterations. In many instanc-
es large tracts of land, principally in
private ownership, within the interior
of the forests were excluded
1.-THE sundry civil act of June 4,
1897, provided also a measure for
eliminating these private holdings. 1t
gave the owners the right to surrender
their lands and select in lieu thereof
an equal area of unreserved public
lands. Congress very wisely repealed
that act on March 8, 1905, when it was
found that cutover and worthless
lands were being rendered the gov
ernment, and valuable government
lands were being selected in lieu
thereof
1.-The bill, S. 400, differs from the
old lieu selection act, which gave
rights to select lands upon the basis
of actual acreage, in that it prescribes
that exchanges may be made only
upon an equal value basis. In this
way the government is enabled to con-
solidate for administration the lands
which comprise the natural units val
liable for timber production and
stream-flow protection, and to give
in exchange equal values of national
forest land or timber
"Since the repeal in 1905 of the old
lieu land exchange act it has become
apparent that means should be found
to eliminate these private holdings
within the national forest boundaries,
and congress has been steadily called
upon to pass measures both for the
relief of certain individuals and laws
applicable to certain named national
forests. The first of these was the act
of February 28, 1911, which authorized
exchanges upon the Kansas national
forest upon the basis of equal area
and equal value.
Several other similar laws for GER
tain ramed national forests were en-
acted prior to the year 1915 This
basis was found impracticable, how
ever, in that it was exceedingly diff
cult to find tracts of equal area and
equal value which would be acceptable
either to the private owner or to the
government. On September s, 1916,
the policy was adopted of fixing values
alone as the basis of exchange. Since
that time nine such laws have been
passed for certain named national
forests. Four of these were enacted
during the year 1921, and one was ap-
proved by the president on February
2, 1922.
During this congress "a such bills
have been introduced-abou evenly
divided between the house and the
senate. The house has considered and
passed 10 such measures, and there
are three upon the house calendar. !
There are 1853 national forests, and no
doubt other similar bills will be pre-
sented for consideration
Since the wording of most of the
measures is quite uniform, the COM
mittee approves the enactment of a
general measure, applicable to all the
lands within the exterior boundaries
of national forests, thus leaving for
consideration of congress only the
cases which involve unusual features.
Within the present exterior bound
aries of the national forests there are
about 1S0000,00O acres, little over
25,000,000 of which are not in govern
ment ownership. While the character
of these private lands has not been
classified, the forest service estimates
that somewhere about 10000, 900 acres
would serve it's best use in govern
ment ownership. The remainder is
largely land which is agricultural or
mineral in character, and therefore
chiefly valuable for development by
private enterprises"