OUR NATIONAL FORESTS
Our National Forests include 147 distinct and separate bodies of
timber in twenty-seven different states and in Alaska and Porto
Rico. They cover more than 156,000,000 acres. If they could be
massed together in one huge area like the state of Texas, it
would make easier the task of handling the forests and fighting
fires. The United States Forest Service, which has charge of
their management and protection, is one of the largest and most
efficient organizations of its kind in the world. It employs
expert foresters, scientists, rangers and clerks.
The business of running the forest is centred in eight district
offices located in different parts of the country with a general
headquarters at Washington, D.C. These districts are in charge of
district foresters and their assistants.
The district headquarters and the States that they look after
are:
No. 1. Northern District, Missoula, Montana.
(Montana, northeastern Washington,
northern Idaho, and northwestern South
Dakota.)
No. 2. Rocky Mountain District, Denver, Colorado.
(Colorado, Wyoming, the remainder
of South Dakota, Nebraska, northern
Michigan, and northern Minnesota.)
No. 3. Southwestern District, Albuquerque,
New Mexico. (Most of Arizona and New
Mexico.)
No. 4. Intermountain District, Ogden, Utah.
(Utah, southern Idaho, western Wyoming,
eastern and central Nevada, and
northwestern Arizona.)
No. 5. California District, San Francisco, California.
(California and southwestern Nevada.)
No. 6. North Pacific District, Portland, Oregon.
(Washington and Oregon.)
No. 7. Eastern District, Washington, D.C.
(Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, New
Hampshire, Maine, and Porto Rico.)
No. 8. Alaska District, Juneau, Alaska.
(Alaska.)
Each of the National Forests is under the direct supervision of
a forest supervisor and is split up into from 5 to 10 or more
ranger districts. Each ranger district is in charge of a forest
ranger who has an area of from 100,000 to 200,000 acres in his
charge.
The National Forests are, for the most part, located in the
mountainous region of the West, with small scattered areas in the
Lake States, and the White Mountains, Southern Appalachians and
Ozarks of the Eastern and Southern States. Many of them are a
wilderness of dense timber. It is a huge task to protect these
forests against the ravages of fire. Fire fighting takes
precedence over all other work in the National Forests. Lookout
stations are established on high points to watch for signs of
fire. Airplanes are used on fire patrol over great areas of
forest. Where railroads pass through the National Forests,
rangers operate motor cars and hand-cars over the tracks in their
patrol work. Launches are used in Alaska and on some of the
forests where there are large lakes, to enable the fire fighters
and forest guardians to cover their beats quickly. Every year the
National Forests are being improved and made more accessible by
the building of permanent roads, trails and telephone lines.
Special trails are built to and in the fire protection areas of
remote sections. A network of good roads is constructed in every
forest to improve fire fighting activities as well as to afford
better means of communication between towns, settlements
and farms. The road and trail plan followed in the National
Forests is mapped out years in advance. In the more remote
sections, trails are first constructed. Later, these trails may
be developed into wagon or motor roads. Congress annually
appropriates large sums of money for the building of roads in
the National Forests. Over 25,000 miles of roads and 35,000
miles of trails have already been constructed in these forests.
Communication throughout the National Forests is had by the use
of the telephone and the radio or wireless telephone. Signalling
by means of the heliograph is practiced on bright days in regions
that have no telephones. Arrangements made with private telephone
companies permit the forest officers to use their lines. The
efficient communication systems aid in the administration of the
forests and speeds the work of gathering fire fighters quickly at
the points where smoke is detected.
Agricultural and forestry experts have surveyed the lands in the
National Forests. Thus they have prevented the use of lands for
forestry purposes which are better adapted for farming. Since
1910, more than 26,500,000 acres of lands have been excluded from
the forests. These lands were more useful for farming or grazing
than for forestry. Practically all lands within the National
Forests have now been examined and classified. At intervals
Congress has combined several areas of forest lands into single
tracts. Government lands outside the National Forests have also
been traded for state or private lands within their boundaries.
Thus the forests have been lined-up in more compact bodies.
Careful surveys are made before such trades are closed to make
sure that the land given to Uncle Sam is valuable for timber
production and the protection of stream flow, and that the
Government receives full value for the land that is exchanged.
The National Forests contain nearly five hundred billion board
feet of merchantable timber. This is 23 per cent. of the
remaining timber in the country. Whenever the trees in the forest
reach maturity they are sold and put to use. All green trees to
be cut are selected by qualified forest officers and blazed and
marked with a "U.S." This marking is done carefully so as to
protect the forest and insure a future crop of trees on the area.
Timber is furnished at low rates to local farmers, settlers, and
stockmen for use in making improvements. Much fire wood and dead
and down timber also is given away. The removal of such material
lessens the fire danger in the forest.
Over a billion feet of timber, valued at more than $3,000,000, is
sold annually from the National Forests.
One generally does not think of meat, leather and wool as forest
crops. Nevertheless, the National Forests play an important part
in the western livestock industry. Experts report that over
one-fifth of the cattle and one-half of the sheep of the western
states are grazed in the National Forests. These livestock are
estimated to be worth nearly one-quarter billion dollars. More
than 9,500,000 head of livestock are pastured annually under
permit in the Federal forests. In addition, some 4,000,000 to
6,000,000 calves and lambs are grazed free of charge.
[Illustration: SEED BEDS IN A FOREST NURSERY]
The ranges suitable for stock grazing are used to pasture sheep,
cattle, horses, hogs and goats. The Secretary of Agriculture
decides what number and what kind of animals shall graze on each
forest. He regulates the grazing and prevents injury to the
ranges from being overstocked with too many cattle and sheep. The
forest ranges are divided into grazing units. Generally, the
cattle and horses are grazed in the valleys and on the lower
slopes of the mountain. The sheep and goats are pastured on the
high mountain sides and in the grassy meadows at or above
timberline.
Preferences to graze live stock on the forest ranges are for the
most part granted to stockmen who own improved ranch property and
live in or near one of the National Forests. The fee for grazing
on forest ranges is based on a yearlong rate of $1.20 a head of
cattle, $1.50 for horses, $.90 for hogs and $.30 a head for
sheep.
At times it is necessary, for short periods, to prohibit grazing
on the Government forest ranges. For example, when mature timber
has been cut from certain areas, it is essential that sheep be
kept off such tracts until the young growth has made a good start
in natural reforestation. Camping grounds needed for recreation
purposes by the public are excluded from the grazing range. If a
shortage of the water supply of a neighboring town or city
threatens, or if floods or erosion become serious due to fire or
overgrazing of the land, the range is closed to live-stock and
allowed to recuperate. Where artificial planting is practiced,
grazing is often forbidden until the young trees get a good
start.
The total receipts which Uncle Sam collects from the 30,000 or
more stockmen who graze their cattle and sheep on the National
Forests amount to nearly $2,500,000 annually. As a result of the
teachings of the Forest Service, the stockmen are now raising
better livestock. Improved breeding animals are kept in the herds
and flocks. Many of the fat stock now go directly from the range
to the market. Formerly, most of the animals had to be fed on
corn and grain in some of the Middle Western States to flesh them
for market. Experiments have been carried on which have shown the
advantages of new feeding and herding methods. The ranchers have
banded together in livestock associations, which coöperate with
the Forest Service in managing the forest ranges.
It costs about $5 to sow one acre of ground to tree seed, and
approximately $10 an acre to set out seedling trees. The seed is
obtained from the same locality where it is to be planted. In
many instances, cones are purchased from settlers who make a
business of gathering them. The Federal foresters dry these cones
in the sun and thresh out the seed, which they then fan and
clean. If it is desired to store supplies of tree seed from year
to year it is kept in sacks or jars, in a cool, dry place,
protected from rats and mice. Where seed is sown directly on the
ground, poison bait must be scattered over the area in order to
destroy the gophers, mice and chipmunks which otherwise would eat
the seed. Sowing seed broadcast on unprepared land has usually
failed unless the soil and weather conditions were just right.
For the most part, setting out nursery seedlings has given better
results than direct seeding. Two men can set out between five
hundred and one thousand trees a day.
The National Forests contain about one million acres of denuded
forest lands. Much of this was cut-over and so severely burned
before the creation of the forests that it bears no tree growth.
Some of these lands will reseed themselves naturally while other
areas have to be seeded or planted by hand. In this way the lands
that will produce profitable trees are fitted to support forest
cover. Because the soils and climate of our National Forests are
different, special experiments have been carried on in different
places to decide the best practices to follow. Two method of
reforestation are commonly practiced. In some places, the tree
seed is sown directly upon the ground and, thereafter, may or may
not be cultivated. This method is limited to the localities where
the soil and moisture conditions are favorable for rapid growth.
Under the other plan, the seedlings are grown in nurseries for
several years under favorable conditions. They are then moved to
the field and set out in permanent plantations.