Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 246, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1915 — THEIRS FOR ASKING [ARTICLE]

THEIRS FOR ASKING

40,000 Settlers and Others Get Timber Without Cost. Wood Taken From National Forest* Free During Fiscal Year Worth Over $200,000—665,754,000 Board Feet Bold to Others. Washington.—Of the 688,922.000 board feet of timber cut on the national forests during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, according to statistics Just compiled by the United States forest service, 123,168,000 feet was taken under tree-use permits given to settlers and others living in or near national forests. There were 40,000 free-use permittees, and the value of the timber they cut was $206,464.13. The remainder, or 565,754,000 board feet, was cut under sales contracts, for the most part with lumber operators, but including 19,246,000 feet sold at ccst to farmers and settlers, as required by a special provision of law. The prices received for all sold timber varied from 60 cents to $4 per thousand feet, and the total value was $1,179,448.39. The statement showß that the forests of Alaska are furnishing a large amount of timber fdr local consumption. More than 37,000,000 feet, according to the forest service, was cut under sales contracts during the fiscal year in the two national forests of Alaska, and it is estimated that the quantity taken under the free-use privilege amounts to at least ten per cent of that cut under sales. No figures are available on the Alaskan free-use cut, as residents of the territory are allowed, on account of the relative sparsity of the population, to take all the timber they need for personal use without going through any formalities. Outside of Alaska permits are issued to those entitled to share in the freeuse privileges, as a means of preventing its abuse and to regulate this form of utilization along lines which .will tend to improve the forest conditions. The material taken by free-use permittees is restricted largely to dead, insect-infested,. or diseased timber, thinnings and inferior species. Forest officers often set aside suitable areas from which those granted free use under the terms of the law may help themselves under certain general rules, but where green timber will be cut the trees to be used are designated just as in all timber sales. The amount of free-use material allowed individuals is limited to S2O worth yearly. Montana leads the national forest states in the amount of timber cut under sales, with more thdn 101,000,000 feet, but takes second place in the free-use cut, with 18,000,000 feet. Idaho leads the free-use list, with a cut of nearly 25,000,000 feet, and is, a close second in the amount of timber cut under sales contracts, with over 100,000.000 feet. Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, California, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and South Dakota, in the order named, contributed from 60,000,000 to 24,000,000 feet under both free use and sales.