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Show FORESTERS LISTEN TO READING OF PAPERS Salt Lake Tribune Thp annual forest for-est service conference, with an attendance at-tendance of practically all of thp officers of-ficers of the forest service, department depart-ment of agriculture, held the opening session yesterday in one of the court: rooms in the federal building. The' conference Is for administrative Instruction In-struction and to obtain uniformity of policy and procedure in field admin islration. Several conferences of this nature have been held by the service in Sali Lake owing to Us favorable lo-1 catlOD With reference to the public land states The sessions are not, open to the public Enuring the forenoon session the' chief topic of discussion was the prog ; ress of land classification as applicable to the determining of boundaries Papers were read by Assistant I 'U trict Foresters C. N. Woods of u.den and F. C. W. Pooler of Albuquerque. X. M., which evidenced the progreSE being made in the work. Out of a total of 156 000.000 acres of national forest land in the United States the classification has been rompb-ie on approximately ap-proximately 115.000,000 acres. Boundary Changes This has resulted in many boundary bound-ary changes, which have excluded the main areas of possible agricultural land. it was Btated that although the total to-tal area eliminated by boundary examinations ex-aminations since the progress of the classification act of congress, August 10, 1912, has amounted to approximately approxi-mately 12.000. 000 acres, n i- apparent thai ihe final results of the work will indicate that the total amount of ac tual agricultural land originally embraced em-braced within national forests did not exceed :i per cent of the gross area. At least S5 per cent of this has already al-ready been made available for settle ment, either as a result of eliminations elimina-tions or the opening of individual homesteads to entry. Assistant Dis-trict Forester C. N. Woods of Ogden presented the situa Don for district 4, with particular ref j erenre to conditions in 1 tah of thel eleven forests in Utah, seven have been completely classified, he slated Intense classification of certain areas! on four remain lo be finished This work will, it is contemplated, commence com-mence the middle of April, and the field work will be entirety completed and approed some time the coming winter. At the afternoon meeting of .he forest for-est ers. papers were read and discus sions had on questions of settlement, entry surveys and land exchanges, by Assistant District Foresters Pooler, Stahl and Fenn of districts 3. 2 and 1, respectivel y Many Tracts Opened. The settlement act of June 11. 1906, provides for the listing and opening to agricultural orjitry of lands within national forests Ivhich are found by the secretary of agriculture to be chiefly valuable for agricultural purposes. pur-poses. This act resulted in many in dividual tracts on the national forests being opened to agricultural entr and eniered under the homestead law The piecemeal examination, however, how-ever, possible under this act was found to be unsatisfactory, and the act was supplement ed by the act of August 10. 1912, which provides for a systematic classification of the national forest areas. The result has been that individual indi-vidual settlement work under the act of June 11, 1906, is now nearly a thing of the past, the land largely being classified and opened to agricultural entry without application. System Extended. The national forests, being in ex ceedinglj rough country generally, agricultural ag-ricultural possibilities being limned and tracts suitable for agricultural purposes being generally few and far between, the general system of land office surveys and subdividing the lands into townships, sections, etc., has not been largely extended to national foresl areas. To allow the settler on the national forest, however, to obtain ob-tain patent to his land an act of con sress was passed by which the fore-t service, at government expense, makes entry surveys of homestead claims on the national forests, and on ihe' strengih of these the applicant is able to offer final proof and secure patent for his land. Range for Livestock. While national forest homesteads are sometimes isolated and commun It y life is not always possible, yet certain cer-tain advantages are offered An obtained for the settler's needs and abundance of timber is usually easily range handy for his livestock Is possible pos-sible Areas within the exterior boundaries of national forests are not all under public ownership Often individuals, states and corporations, prior to the creation of the national forests, ac quired title to tracts here and there throughout the forests. It is often desirable from the standpoint of the Individual owner to consolidate his holdings, and the forest service administration ad-ministration of the national forests is, of course, rendered more feasible if alienations are consolidated, as well as go errunent lands Exchanges of Lands. While there Is no general law allowing al-lowing the government to exchange its lands for private lands neverthe-I neverthe-I less a number of special acts of con- gress have been passed w ithin the past few years making exchanges ol lands and effecting consolidations in different c ases Often, also, exchanges are made because of the difference in charac ier of the laud. The government is solicitous of ac-quinnc ac-quinnc land needed for public pur poses, for the protection of timber and for the protection of important water Sheds, while private owners, and :r ticularlj Of cut-over lands, often find it to their advantage to exchange for agricultural or crazing lands Foresters Attending. Those in attendance at the confer-enc confer-enc e are : Chairman H S. Graves chief forester. fores-ter. v ashington, n. C. Assistant Forester F. A Sherman, District Forester William L Hall and Assistant District Forester F W. Reed of Washington. D. C. District No. 1, Missoula. Mont. District Dis-trict Forester F A Silcox and ssist ant District Forester P. A Fenn. District No. 2. Denver. Colo Dis trict Forester Smith Riley and A-sist ant District Forester C J Stahl. District No. 3. Albuquerque M District Forester Paul c,. Redington. Assistant District Forester F C. W. Pooler and Land i'xaminer M. M. Chenev. District No. 4. Ogden. T'tah District Forester L. F. Knelpp, Assistant District Dis-trict Forester C. N Woods. L,and Examiners Ex-aminers R. E Gery. R. D. Carve and W. B Rice and Forest Supervisor Carl B. Arentson. District No. 5. San Francisco. Cal. District Forester Court DuBois, Assistant As-sistant District Forester L. A Barrett and Land Examiner luarlea H. Brothers. Broth-ers. District No 6. Portland. Ore District Dis-trict Forester George H. Cecil. Assistant Assist-ant District Forester C J Buck. For est Supervisor W. C. Weigie of Ketchikan, Ketchi-kan, Alaska. |