SURVEYS WITHIN FOREST RESERVES
The act of March 3, 1899, contains the following provision:
And provided further, That hereafter all standard, meander, township, and section lines of the public land surveys shall, as hereto fore, be established under the direction and supervision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, whether the lands to be surveyed are within or without reservations, except that where the exterior boundaries of public forest reservations are required to be coincident with standard, township, or section line such boundaries may, if not previously established in the ordinary course of the public land surveys, be established and marked under the supervision of the Director of the United States Geological Survey whenever necessary to complete the survey of such exterior boundaries.
This law, which was not affected by the transfer of the administration of the forest reserves to the Department of Agriculture, makes the surveying of forest-reserve lands identical, in all but the establishment of boundaries, with that of the public domain. Where survey to permit the patenting of valid claims is desired, application should be made to surveyors-general, and action thereon will be governed by the usual considerations.
(For special privileges allowed in the Black Hills Forest
Reserve, S. Dak., see Appendix, p. 109.)
CREATION OF FOREST RESERVES -- ADDITIONS AND ELIMINATIONS.
Section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891, provides:
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.
In the act of June 4, 1897, it is provided that --
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.
* * * * *
Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, with the approval of the President, after sixty days' notice thereof, published in two papers of general circulation in the State or Territory wherein any forest reservation is situated, and near the said reservation, any public lands embraced within the limits of any forest reservation which, after due examination by personal inspection of a competent person appointed for the purpose by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be found better adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes than for forest usage, may be restored to the public domain.
The President is hereby authorized at any time to modify any Executive order that has been or may hereafter be made establishing any forest reserve, and by such modification may reduce the area or change the boundary lines of such reserve, or may vacate altogether any order creating such reserve.
It us usually by Executive order, thus authorized, that forest reserves are created, revoked, or modified in boundary; although, as a matter of course, Congress may take such action and has done so in a few cases. The power of the President under these acts is clearly described in the following decisions of the Department of the Interior:
A very large discretion is evidently lodged in the President by these statutory provisions. His judgment is to be guided and controlled only along general lines. In the said legislation of 1891 practically no limit is placed upon the exercise of his authority to establish forest reservations from time to time except that the lands reserved must be "public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth." In the act of 1897 his authority is further limited only to the extent of the declaration therein of the purposes of such legislation, and that the inclusion in forest reservations "of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes" is not intended to be authorized thereby. Recognizing that lands "better adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes than for forest usage" had already been and might thereafter be included in such reservations, that act made provision for their elimination when ascertained as therein directed.
The language quoted in the two instances immediately preceding is worthy of particular notice. It is not simply lands that are merely agricultural in character that are not to be included in forest reservations, or, if included, may be restored to the public domain, but "lands more valuable * * * for agricultural purposes than for forest purposes," or "for forest usage." The language used, it is evident, was carefully and wisely chosen. In determining whether any particular tract or body of land ought to be included, ought to be eliminated therefrom, its value to the reservation for forest purposes or for purposes of a reservation generally, and the effect of its omission or elimination therefrom are to be weighed against its value for agricultural purposes. Its relative position in the proposed of existing reservation may be of much importance in such determination.
If immediately within the reservation boundary, for instance, its separation from the reservation might be a matter of small concern, but if at some distance within the reservation, and especially if many tracts would be thus eliminated, the consequences thereof might, and probably would, be very injurious, affecting not only the integrity of the reservation but its maintenance and control, and perhaps eventually rendering abortive the purposes for which it was established. Considerations like these may render the nature of the soil of such tracts or bodies of land or their condition as to the growth of trees or other vegetation thereon of minor importance in the determination, and when the tract is small, consisting of but 40 acres, and far within the limits of the lands reserves, as in the present instance, the mere fact that it might be nearly or even entirely devoid of timber and distinctly agricultural land would not under ordinary circumstances, if otherwise subject to inclusion in a forest reservation, justify its exception or elimination therefrom. (E.S. Gosney, 30 L.D., 44.)
It was not intended by the act of June 4, 1897, to exclude from reservation small tracts, here and there, within the limits of a forest reservation, because of the fact that said tracts were not covered with timber. (Jared Woodbridge, 29. L.D., 531.)
While land embraced within a forest reservation may be excluded, because shown to be more valuable for agricultural than for forest purposes, until formally restored to the public domain, such lands are not subject to general disposition, and not rights can be acquired by the attempted entry thereof. (Jared Woodbridge, 29 L.D., 531.)
The boundaries of the earlier reserves were not always carefully drawn. Reports and recommendations were submitted to the Secretary of the Interior, for recommendation to the President, but special commissions, municipal organizations, and officials of the General Land Office. They seldom resulted either in the inclusion of all suitable lands in a forest reserve or the exclusion of all lands unsuited for reserve purposes. Vigorous protests then arose from dissatisfied interests, and the original boundaries had to be changed, a process not yet complete.
In 1903 the need of better choice of reserve boundaries led to the establishment of a force of trained men devoted exclusively to this work, under a uniform and complete system of field study and report. the results were satisfactory, and the system remains in effect. Before any new forest reserve is created, or any change is made in the boundary of an existing reserve, a member of the Forest Service familiar with the work and with western conditions makes a careful investigation not only of the lands, but also of the interests involved. The claims of all industries and classes of residents are weighed, in order that no injustice may be done. The region is carefully mapped and photographed, and the boundary of the reserve is drawn to include only suitable reserve land. Possible agricultural areas are always excluded unless they are small and isolated.
In some cases areas temporarily withdrawn from entry, pending examination, contain much unsuitable land, and their withdrawal is viewed with alarm by local residents. It should be remembered that such withdrawals are not final, and that unsuitable portions will be restored to the public domain.
All communications relative to the creation or modification of forest reserves should be addressed to the Forester, Forest Service, Washington, D.C.
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USDA Forest Service History Collection