Part 3 (2/2)

In 1876, the first special agent in forestry was appointed by the Coriculture to study the annual consumption, exportation and importation of timber and other forest products, the probable supply for future wants, and the means best adapted for forest preservation Five years later, the Division of Forestry was organized as a branch of the Departriculture It was established in order to carry on investigations about forestry and how to preserve our trees

[Illustration: CUTTING MATURE TREES AND LEAVING SEED TREES TO INSURE A SECOND CROP]

For so more than a departures about theour forest resources It did not e any of the Government timberlands because there were no forest reserves at that time It was not until 1891 that the first forest reserve, the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve, was created by special proclamation of President Harrison Later it becah the Division of Forestry had no special powers to oversee and direct thethe next six years a total of 40,000,000 acres of valuable tinated and set aside At the request of the Secretary of the Interior, the National Acade national forests Congress enacted this law in 1897 Thereafter the Departe of the timberlands At that time little was known scientifically about the American forests There were no schools of forestry in this country During the period 1898-1903, several such schools were established

President McKinley, during his term of office, increased the nu a total area of 30,000,000 acres President Roosevelt addedthe net total to159 different forests In 1905, the administration of the forest reserves was transferred froriculture, and their naovernment timberlands have been made since that time Small, valuable areas have been added Other undesirable tracts have been cut off frorowth of the Division of Forestry, now the United States Forest Service, has been very remarkable since 1898, when it consisted of only a few scientific workers and clerks At present it employsthe dangerous fire season to from 4,000 to 5,000 employees The annual appropriations have been increased from 28,500 to approximately 6,500,000 The annual incoain and now aely fro of livestock on the National Forests

CHAPTER IX

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 ether in one huge area like the state of Texas, it wouldfires The United States Forest Service, which has charge of their est and anizations of its kind in the world It eers 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 Washi+ngton, DC 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 Washi+ngton, northern Idaho, and northwestern South Dakota)

No 2 Rocky Mountain District, Denver, Colorado

(Colorado, Wyoan, and northern Minnesota)

No 3 Southwestern District, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Most of Arizona and New Mexico)

No 4 Interden, Utah

(Utah, southern Idaho, western Wyo, 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

(Washi+ngton and Oregon)

No 7 Eastern District, Washi+ngton, DC

(Arkansas, Alabaia, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, New Hampshi+re, Maine, and Porto Rico)