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Show NEW RECORD MADE IN FOURTH DISTRICT OF FOREST SERVICE RECEIPTS FOR EIGHTEEN MONTHS ARE LARGEST IN HISTORY naa annua .ana- ' ' 7 f Increased Force Occupied in Survey and Classification Classifica-tion of Big Domain. THE year 1915 Eot only produced a new record for the Fourth district dis-trict of the national forest service, ser-vice, -with headquarters in this city, but was largely responsible for a new eighteen months' record, when the receipts from forest resources were the greatest in the history of the district for any similar period. According to the records of the local forest otiice, this is not onlv true for the twelve months ended June 30, 1915, but also for the six mouths ended December 31. One condition that contributed to this record is the fact that the largest timber tim-ber sale in the Fourth district, one for 90,000,000 feet, was consummated for the Wasatch national forest late in the year. Records of the forest service for the nation show that more people use the Fourth district forests commercially ' than those of any other district of the entire United States. Of the 23,000 or 24,000 grazing per-i per-i mits for the entire forest service of,the country, the'local district has over 8000, ' or fvoin 37 to 3S per cent. Although the aggregate amount of timber sold is least of any of the districts, the uiim-j uiim-j ber of sales is the greatest. Expenditures Heavy. Disbursements or salaries and expenses ex-penses of the district forest office in Ogden have been slightly heavier for the past twelve months than for any previous year, due to the increased force needed in the survey and classification classi-fication of lands, the grazing studies of range capacity and its best management and tho mapping necessary to present the facts gathered. But from these facts the citizen must 1 not conceive the impression that the national forest service is conducted for I the sole purpose of obtaining money in return for the forest resources. In the two and a half years the low has been ' in effect providing for final survey of , forest homesteads by the government, j two and a half years the law has been ; surveyed by forest officers in the forests for-ests of the local district. Estimating the cost to homesteaders of such surveys sur-veys at an average of $150 each, the settlers have been saved over $50,000, which on account of the distance of most forest homesteads from markets and consequent scarcity of cash incomes, i means more to a settler than to a city j business man. or wage-earner. Farms Segregated. Under another federal statute of 1912 for tho benefit of prospective settlers, examination and classification of forest lands Has gone steadily forward. Before, Be-fore, the oponing of the next field sea-sou- the, preliminary classification will have been completed of the lands of all except the Nevada national forests in the local districts. More detailed examination exam-ination is necessary of lands that - in the preliminary examination indicated agricultural possibilities. This second examination has been given five forests the Teton in western Wyoming; tlie Boise, Palisade and Pocatello in Idaho, and tho Cache, partly in Idaho and partlv in Utah. When the detailed examinations havo been approved by the secretary of agriculture agri-culture the public will he notitied through the press. Lists of the lands ns agricultural may then be obtained from the local forest, supervisor. Prospective Pros-pective settlers can then ascertain what ! lands, if any, are available for settle-! settle-! ment in any' locality, nud their legal or approximate boundaries. Information Gathered. The preliminary classification of the forests has assembled facts as to what hinds are wooded, open or barren, and which have agricultural possibility, aud the maps which present the general features fea-tures of these characteristics, aud the altitude, slope and drainage of the lands, will help greatly in forest administration. ad-ministration. As a result of the preliminary classification class-ification a relatively small amount of land within the national forests has been found suitable for farming, since much that is subject to tillage has net, because of altitude, a climate iu which crops can be grown successfully. Between four anil five million acres of timber land in the local district have been covered by surveys which give close estimate of the quantity of merchantable mer-chantable timber of different "kinds and include maps showing tho lay of the ground and best routes for taking the timber to suitable mill sites. Timber Inventory. From these surveys information can bo furnished concerning " chances" to engage in sawmill, tie, pole or other tim ber operations. For example, on the Kaibao forest, bordering on the Grand canyon, is a chance for the largest sawmill saw-mill operations on the national forests. Here, it is estimated, are two billion board feat of timber, enough to keep a mill cutting a hundred thousand a day running for fifty years; enough to build 130,000 farm houses using an average of 12,000 board feet each; ot, assuming assum-ing a per capita consumption of 450 board feet, and population of 400,000, enough to supply all the timber -used in Utah at the present rate for eleven years. Attention will next be directed more especially to the examination, of small timber tracts suitable for sawmill operations opera-tions for local demand. From these tracts by good milling, surprisingly acceptable material 1b often got. as, for example", the spruce structural timbers and lumber from the Fillmore forest used exclusively for the buildings of the Mineral Products company near Marysvale, in south central cen-tral Utah, which require unusual strength. Planting Forests. The foundation of more than one large fortune was laid in the timber business in Utah, and since, according to statistics, nine-tenths of the timber used in this state now comes from the northwest, there seem to be further excellent opportunities op-portunities in the timber lands at home and near by. How great would be the impetus to local business from the larger development of local timber resources it is difficult to estimate. During the past rield season especial attention has been devoted to the trees planted in the past Ave to eight years and the nurseries in which stock is being produced for future planting. . Artificial forestation, while greatly needed in the intermountain region is accomplished with great difficulty on account of the occasional occa-sional seasons of untfsual drought. Also rabbits which bark the young trees must be combat ted in some localities. As a result of the study in Utah and Idaho and in the near-by states with most nearly similar conditions, it is decided to concentrate planting moro generally on areas which give greatest promise; to use a larger proportion of the kind of trees, as in some cases lodgepole pine, which grows most naturally in the region, even though the timber value is not so great; to use a larger proportion of stock grown two years in the seed bed and then transplanted one year to stimulate root development and insure a sturdy plant-; and to prepare . the ground more thoroughly, thor-oughly, sometimes plowing furrows for this purpose. Meat Supply. .National forest ranges must contribute in an ever-increasing way to the meat industry to offset the limitation of many outside ranges by extension of dry farming, farm-ing, and the decrease by other reasons in the total number of livestock In the United States. Important is it, therefore, there-fore, to utilize fully the forage of all ranges, to stock isolated ranges, and to improve those naturally poor or run down. The encouragement of the bedding-out system of handling sheep has markedly lessened useless trampling out of forage in trailing, and, it is said, losses from coyotes are less where sheep bed only a night or two night? In the same place. The system of holding back the sheep from a certain area until it has seeded, and then in subsequent seasons treating other areas similarly, so that all areas of the range have opportunity to seed every two or three years, promises improvement im-provement In forage production that will result in increase over present carrying capacity. Utility of Sheep. Practically all sheepmen asked last spring that this system be applied systematically sys-tematically on the Payette forest, mid in some ot her parts of the district rotated ro-tated grazing of sheep Is now practiced. It has been demonstrated that not only is it possible to utilize the feed on the iarea left until seed ripens without interfering inter-fering with the seeding, but. by actual i test, the sheep at the late date actually help to scatter the seed and to drill it into the ground. So great ts the interest of stockmen in ' progressi-ve methods of handling stock on the range, of gaining the utmost from each allotment and of avoiding looses from poisonous plants, that, beginning next season with the forest ranges of central Utah, the most intensively used of any in the United States-, stockmen and the forest service will co-operate in this work on a more systemat ic plan and la rarer scale than has hitherto been attempted. Aids to Tourists. The forests as recreation grounds have been made more available by the issuance of tourist maps showing the roads, trails. Ashing and hunting grounds and points. of greatest scenic interest. The erectron of trails and other aids in directing persons unfamiliar with the region is also an aid-There aid-There is now a total of 2 so milts of government gov-ernment telephone lines in the na t ion afforests af-forests of this district, more than enough' to span the continent, and an riverac- of nice than lM n-.ihjs- fnr each forest. Albtit the present mileage of telenhone line is inadequate in some of the forests of the zene of worst fire danger, and the heliograph is sometimes incapacitated by the presence of smoke. On the Boise forest the use of wireless telephone is suggested, as mi experiment, during fu-tme fu-tme tire seasons. The telephone lines are av.iiiaMe to e trier? and the traveling public in case of accident or other emergency emer-gency Roads Are Planned. The construction o: forest roads, as yet onlv well bi-ciin. is an imperative nee.: to open up now latent resources of timber, tim-ber, minerals a-nH rant-pi and rr.alffi avail- i v 1.5'?-. : til able opportunities for settlement health and recreation spots and hunting and ishing grounds. By co-operation with slate officers and engineers of the federal office of public roads, it lias been possible to outline a comprehensive plan fJ i-.;-ways which will mt onlv provide mpms of reaching the resources of the national forest monnta in areas c nd com ri but ing m a large way to their development and protection from fire, but ultimately become links of t he mot dif rc-i't construction con-struction of a system of transcontinental highways pa ssing through, regions of paramount sAliic iniftrftSL Top left Planting small trees at Wasatch Wa-satch nursery. Top right Portable field telephone in use on the Wasatch national na-tional forest near Salt Lake City. Below Be-low Bange-finished sheep en route from a national forest to market. |