Other provisions of the act which affected the transfer were that forest
supervisors and rangers should be selected, so far as possible, from
qualified citizens of the state or territory in which each forest was
situated, and that all money received from the sale of any products or
the use of any land or resources of the national forests should be
covered into the treasury and constitute a special fund for their
protection, administration, improvement and extension. Five days later a
statute gave forest officers the power to arrest trespassers; and on the
3rd of March the lieu land selection law was repealed. This law had
opened the way for grave abuses through the exchange of worthless land
by private owners within the forests for an equal area of valuable
timber lands outside.
The law has been modified since by the change of the old name "Forest
Reserves" to "National Forests." The act of June 11, 1906, opened to
homestead entry lands within national forests found by examination to be
chiefly valuable for agriculture. The administration and improvement of
the national forests are now provided for directly by congressional
appropriation. The power to create national forests conferred on the
president by the act of March 1891 has been repealed for the states of
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, but for no
others.
The Forest Service began in earnest the development of all the resources
of the national forests. Mature timber was sold wherever there was a
demand for it and the permanent welfare of the forests and protection of
the streams permitted, but always so as to prevent waste, guard against
fire, protect young growth and ensure reproduction. Regulations were
adopted which allowed small sales to be made without formality or delay,
secured for the government the full value of timber sold, and eliminated
unnecessary routine. Care was taken to safeguard the interests of the
government and provide for the maintenance of good technical standards.
The conduct of local business was entrusted to local officers. Large
transactions with general policies were controlled from Washington, but
with careful provision for first-hand knowledge and close touch with
the work in the field. Business efficiency and the convenience of the
public were carefully studied. In short, an organization was created
capable of handling safely, speedily and satisfactorily the complex
business of making useful a forest property of vast extent, scattered
through sixteen different states of an aggregate area of over 1,500,000
sq. m. and with a population of 9,000,000.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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