The Use of the National Forests

WHAT THEY MEAN.

One of the unfortunate things in many of the discussions about National Forests is that the facts concerning them are sometimes mistaken or misrepresented. This is because their real working is not understood. For example, a common argument used by those who oppose them is that when a National Forest is made all the resources of the region are at once locked up, industry checked, settlement prohibited, and future growth made impossible or very difficult. Since a National Forest really does none of these things, but works just the other way, it is well to have a thorough understanding of what the actual effect is.

Before a National Forest is made we have a forest-covered area of public mountain land upon which the various land laws apply. These open lands may be taken up and patented under the timber and stone act, under all the mineral laws, and possibly some of them under the homestead law, if they are suitable for cultivation. Under whatever law it is taken up, the land and all its resources pass out of the hands of the people forever. Consider now what happens when this open public domain is declared a National Forest.

TO THE HOME SEEKER.

What happens to the home seeker? When a National Forest is created the home maker is not interfered with in the least. In the first place, before the Forest is created, agricultural lands are carefully excluded from the boundaries. It often happens, however, that there are little patches of agricultural land so located within the boundaries that it is impossible to cut them out. Such lands are open to settlement. Congress has extended the homestead law, slightly modified, to the National Forests. The home seeker can travel all through a Forest, pick out the agricultural land he wants for a home, apply for it, have it listed, settle upon it when listed, enter it, build his home, cultivate his fields, patent it, and spend the rest of his days there. The only thing he must be careful about is to obey the law and take the land for a home, and not for other purposes.

A National Forest, then, does not in the least shut out real settlement. It encourages it. The more settlers, the, more men on hand to fight fires, the better protection the Forest will get, and the better and fuller will be the use of all its resources.

TO THE PROSPECTOR AND MINER.

What happens to prospecting and mining? They go on just as if there were no National Forest there. The prospector is absolutely free to travel about and explore just as much as he pleases and wherever he pleases, without asking anybody's permission. When he strikes mineral he can stake out, locate, record, and develop just as many claims as he thinks are worth while, precisely as he would on the public domain. If he wants to get patent to any of them, he can do so. The only thing he must be careful about is to obey the law and not take up claims merely for the timber on them or to get possession of the land for purposes not connected with mining. Claims can be developed and turned into paying mines just as anywhere else. A National Forest does not affect this work in the least, except that it keeps timber in the country for the use of the mines when they need it and as long as they need it.

Prospecting and mining are absolutely unchecked. The resources of the National Forests must be used and the country opened up. Therefore the more mining and prospecting, the better.

TO THE USER OF TIMBER.

What happens to the timber and wood? The timber and stone act does not apply in a National Forest. The title to lands valuable chiefly for timber can not pass from the Government.

But are the timber and wood locked up? Very far from it. The timber is there to be used, now and in the future. It is given away, for domestic use, to the man with a home and to the prospector developing his claim. They get it for the asking, free of charge. When wanted for commercial purposes, timber is sold to the small man and to the big man—sold promptly and at a reasonable cost. The small man can buy a few thousand feet; the big man can buy many million feet, provided it is a good thing for all the people to let him purchase a large amount, but not otherwise. The local demand is always considered first. There is no chance for monopoly, because the Secretary of Agriculture must by law sell as much or as little as he thinks best, to whom and at whatever price he thinks will best serve the interests of all the people.

Thus the timber is there, first of all, to be used. The more it is used, the better. Far from being locked up, it is, on the contrary, opened up, and opened up on fair terms to all alike. When it is on the open public domain it is often very hard and sometimes impossible for the small man to get it and hold it, because he is shoved aside by the big timber corporations with which he can not compete. On National Forests the Government holds the timber with a special view to its use by the small user. At the present time nine-tenths of the timber sales on National Forests are for amounts less than $500.

In 1906 75,000,000 board feet were given away and 700,000,000 board feet were sold.

Plate II. Wise Use. The Land Logged with Care and Protected From Fire. The Timber and Wood Keep Coming.

TO THE USER OF THE RANGE.

What happens to the range? Most of the timber land in the West is good range for live stock. This range has to be included in the National Forests, because it goes with the timber and can not be separated from it.

Is it shut out from use? Quite the contrary. It is grazed by cattle, sheep, and horses just as it always has been. It is one of the resources and is there to be used. At present it is used by about 1,500,000 cattle and horses and 6,000,000 sheep. The Government protects it from being burned up or from being overcrowded and over-grazed, prevents disputes between the owners of stock, and sees that each owner gets the use of that range to which he has the best right. The small man with a home in or near a National Forest always gets the first chance.

TO THE USER OF WATER.

What happens to the water? Nothing, except that the flow is steadier. The creation of a National Forest has no effect whatever on the laws which govern the appropriation of water. This is a matter governed entirely by State and Territorial laws.

TO THE OTHER USERS.

How can the land itself be used? The land itself can be used for all purposes. The main thing is that the land, as well as what grows upon it, must be used for the purpose for which it is most valuable. On it may be built stores, hotels, residences, power plants, mills, and many other things. All these are advantages to National Forests, because they help to get the fullest use out of the land and its resources. Railroads, wagon roads, trails, canals, flumes, reservoirs, and telephone and power lines may be constructed whenever and wherever they are needed, as long as they do no unnecessary damage to the Forest. Improvements of this kind help to open up the country, and that is what is wanted.

TO THE TAXPAYER.

What happens to county taxes? People who are unfamiliar with the laws about National Forests often argue that they work hardships on the counties in which they lie by withdrawing a great deal of land from taxation. They say that if the lands were left open to pass into private hands there would be much more taxable property for the support of school and road districts. The National Government of course pays no taxes. But it does something better. It pays those counties in which the Forests are located 10 per cent of all the receipts from the sale of timber, use of the range, and various other uses, and it does this every year. It is a sure and steady income, because the resources of National Forests are used in such a way that they keep coming without a break. Congress saw that the money returns would soon be large, and it provided that the amount paid should not exceed 40 per cent of the counties' tax receipts from other sources.

Taxes from private timber lands, on the other hand, are ordinarily only temporary returns, because after the lands are logged they are usually left to burn up and become vacant and barren, quite valueless for purposes of taxation. Thus a county which is partly covered by a National Forest is better off than one which is not. In 1906 the National Forests paid the county school and road funds over $75,000. This amount will be almost doubled this year.

THE WHOLE RESULT.

Taking it altogether, then, it will be seen that a National Forest does not act like a wall built around the public domain, which locks up its lands and resources and stops settlement and industry. What it really does is to take the public domain, with all its resources and most of its laws, and make sure that the best possible use is made of every bit of it. And more than this, it makes these vast mountain regions a great deal more valuable, and keeps them a great deal more valuable, simply by using them in a careful way, with a little thought about the future.