FOREWORD.

National Forests are open to all persons for all lawful purposes. The timber, water, pasture, and other resources are for the use of the people, and the minerals are open to exploitation just as on unreserved public land. This manual tells how these resources may be obtained under reasonable conditions without delay.

Persons who wish to make any use of the resources of a National Forest for which a permit is required should consult the nearest Forest officer.

Twenty-five per cent of all receipts from National Forests are given to the Counties in which they lie, to be used for schools and roads. An additional 10 per cent is expended by the Secretary of Agriculture upon roads and trails constructed primarily for the benefit of settlers within the Forests.

Regulations are printed in this type.

11

THE USE BOOK.

PART I.-ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS.

RELATION OF FOREST OFFICERS TO THE PUBLIC.

Supervisors, rangers, and other Forest officers carry out the administrative policy prescribed for the National Forests by Congress, as embodied in the regulations made by the Secretary of Agriculture. As officers of the Government it is their duty to enforce these regulations without fear or favor.

Forest officers are also agents of the people, with whom they come into close relations, both officially and as neighbors and fellow citizens. They must answer all inquiries fully and cheerfully and be prompt, active, and courteous in the conduct of Forest business. It is their duty to assist the public in making use of the resources of the Forests. They aim to prevent misunderstanding and violation of Forest regulations by timely and tactful advice rather than to follow up violations by the exercise of their authority.

It is essential that Forest officers should win the respect and confidence of those with whom they come in contact. The Forest Service will not tolerate discourtesy or inefficiency in any of its members. Even the best, however, can not always give satisfactory service under adverse conditions. Forest officers can always render more and better service where they receive straightforward and friendly treatment. It is therefore within the power of Forest users to aid greatly in the efficient performance of the public business by according to Forest officers the same frankness, consideration, and courtesy which the Forest officers are expected to show them.

If there is just cause for complaint regarding the conduct of any Forest officer, the matter should be taken up in writing either with the immediate superior of the officer complained against or with the Forester at Washington, D. C.

PURPOSE AND LOCATION OF NATIONAL FORESTS.

The National Forests are large tracts of land, mainly mountainous and timbered, set apart to insure a perpetual supply of timber for home industries, to prevent destruction of the forest cover which regulates the flow of streams, and to protect forest and range from monopoly or abuse, to the injury of local residents and the public generally. The first Forest was created by President Harrison in 1891, under the name of the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve. Later forest reservations were called forest reserves, until in 1905 Congress changed the official designation to National Forests.

Congress has said that National Forests may be set aside from public lands covered wholly or in part with timber or undergrowth, whether of merchantable value or not. Some National Forests are heavily timbered and are set aside mainly for the value of the timber; others are located in thinly wooded regions mainly to protect and conserve the water supply, without which the country would be uninhabitable.

The National Forests are located chiefly in the Western States. In all there are 163 Forests, comprising a gross area of 187,000.000 acres, of which about 11,000,000 acres are alienated land held by States and individuals. Their names and areas are shown in a table in the back of this book.

Mountain lands are now being purchased, under the provisions of the Weeks law, from private owners in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions of the East. Eventually these will become National Forests.

HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS.

As early as 1799, and again in 1817, Congress provided for the purchase of timberlands to supply the needs of the Navy. Other acts from time to time made similar provisions for setting apart forest land for specific purposes, but the first attempt to secure comprehensive administration of the forests on the public domain was in 1871, when a bill was introduced in the Forty-second Congress, which, however, failed of passage.

In 1876 $2,000 was appropriated "to employ a competent man to investigate timber conditions in the United States," and on June 30, 1886, an act was approved creating a Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture. On July 1, 1901, this division became the Bureau of Forestry, which, in turn, under the act of February 1, 1905, became the Forest Service.

With the increasing realization that the Nation's forest and water resources must be protected the necessity for retaining permanent Federal control over selected forest areas was recognized by a brief section inserted in the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095):

(1103) SEC. 24. That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof.

The mere creation and setting apart of forest reserves, however, without provision for their use, was both ineffectual and annoying to local interests dependent upon their resources. Consequently the Secretary of the Interior, in 1896, requested the National Academy of Sciences to recommend a national forest policy. This resulted in the passage of the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 11), under which, with subsequent enactments, National Forests are now administered. This act was as follows:

(34) All public lands heretofore designated and reserved by the President of the United States under the provisions of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, the orders for which shall be and remain in full force and effect, unsuspended and unrevoked, and all public lands that may hereafter be set aside and reserved as public forest reserves under said act, shall be as far as practicable controlled and administered in accordance with the following provisions:

No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions, or of the act providing for such reservations, to authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than for forest purposes.

The Secretary of the Interior shall make provisions for the protection against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public forests and forest reservations which may have been set aside or which may be hereafter set aside under the said act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and which may be continued; and he may make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will insure the objects of such reservations, namely, to regulate their occupancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction; and any violation of the provisions of this act or such rules and regulations shall be punished (by five hundred dollars fine or twelve months' imprisonment, or both) as is provided for in the act of June fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, amending section fifty-three hundred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

On the theory that the management of land, not Forests, was chiefly involved this law gave the Secretary of the Interior authority over the Forests, and provided that they should be surveyed, mapped, and classified by the United States Geological Survey and administered by the General Land Office. But the complex technical problems arising from the necessary use of forest and range soon demanded the introduction of scientific methods and a trained force, which could not be provided under the existing system. The advice and services of the Bureau of Forestry were found necessary, but under the law could be but imperfectly utilized. The necessity of consolidating the various branches of Government forest work became apparent, and was urged upon Congress by the

President and by the executive officers concerned. Finally, the act of February 1, 1905 (33 Stat., 628), transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture entire jurisdiction over the National Forests, except in matters of surveying and passage of title to land. This act was as follows:

The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture shall, from and after the passage of this act, execute or cause to be executed all laws affecting public lands heretofore or hereafter reserved under the provisions of section twenty-four of the act entitled "An act to repeal the timber-culture laws, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof, after such lands have been so reserved, excepting such laws as affect the surveying, prospecting, locating, appropriating, entering, relinquishing, reconveying, certifying, or patenting of any such lands.

THE FOREST SERVICE AND THE NATIONAL FORESTS.

ESTABLISHMENT.

The Secretary of Agriculture is empowered by Congress to "make such rules and regulations, and to establish such service as will insure the objects of such reservations (National Forests), namely, to regulate their occupancy and use, and to preserve the forests from destruction." Under the provisions of this act the Secretary has made and published regulations relating to the protection and use of the National Forests, and has established the Forest Service to carry such regulations into effect.1

PURPOSES OF ADMINISTRATION.

The regulations and instructions for the use of the National Forests given in this manual are in accordance with the organic acts and with the various supplementary and amendatory laws passed since June 4, 1897. They embody the general policy laid down for the Forest Service by the Secretary of Agriculture in his letter to the Forester dated February 1, 1905:

"In the administration of the forest reserves it must be clearly borne in mind that all land is to be devoted to its most productive use for the permanent good of the whole people and not for the temporary benefit of individuals or companies. All the resources of forest reserves are for use, and this use must be brought about in a thoroughly prompt and businesslike manner, under such restrictions only as will insure the permanence of these resources. The vital importance of forest reserves to the great industries of the Western States will be largely increased in the near future by the continued steady advance in settlement and development. The permanence of the resources of the reserves is therefore indispensable to continued prosperity, and the policy of this depart ment for their protection and use will invariably be guided by this fact, always bearing in mind that the conservative use of these resources in no way conflicts with their permanent value.

"You will see to it that the water, wood, and forage of the reserves are conserved and wisely used for the benefit of the home builder first of all, upon whom depends the best permanent use of lands and resources alike. The continued prosperity of the agricultural, lumbering, mining, and live-stock interests is directly dependent upon a permanent and accessible supply of water, wood, and forage as well as upon the present and future use of these resources under businesslike regulations enforced with promptness, effectiveness, and common

sense.

In the management of each reserve local questions will be decided upon local grounds; the dominant industry will be considered first, but with as little restriction to minor industries as may be possible; sudden changes in industrial

The public lands are held in trust for the whole people, not for the people of the States within which they are located. The Government has in its lands all the rights of an individual proprietor to maintain its possession and prosecute trespassers. It may deal with them as an individual may deal with his lands. It may sell or withhold them from sale or settlement. It may absolutely prohibit or fix the terms on which they may be used. The constitutional declaration that Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or the property belonging to the United States" (Art. IV, sec. 3) places in Congress authority and discretion to exercise the above rights and powers; and Congress may therefore reserve or authorize the President to reserve public lands as National Forests without the consent of the State within whose borders they lie. (From decision of United States Supreme Court, Light v. United States, 220 U. S.. 523, and cases therein cited.)