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Show total area. Although the entire area of Alaska never will be brouglit under the rectangular system of surveys, it will be necessary to keep a substantial force of engineers employed in the Territory to make the surveys necessary for settlement: and development. At the present time there is an urgent need and demand for the survey of approximately 140 isolated tracts, such as homesites, homesteads, trade and manufacturing sites; the survey of 8 townsites; the survey of approximately 450 small tracts in southeastern Alaska required for homes for the em- ployees of the pulpwood industry; and surveys along the Glenn and Richardson Highways, and in the Chena, Dunbar, Haioes, and Chilkat Lake areas for settlement purposes. Recommendations It is recommended that the cadastral survey of the pub- lic domain iim continental United States, and necessary resurveys reqoired in the administration of Government- owned lands, be completed in the next 10 years. This requires survey of 116,000,000 acres and resurvey of 50,000,000 acres. It is also recommended that an orderly program of cadastral surveys necessary for the settlement and development of Alaska be accomplished in the next 10 years. A* present less than 1 percent of the total area of Alaska, has been surveyed. F. Natural Vegetation Information on our natural vegetal resources is ob- tained from surveys and field measurements. Such in- formation is required in preparing basic plans for the full development of water and land resources of a basin, in planning specific watershed programs, and in carrying out watershed, management on the ground. These data are needed £n planning measures for reducing sedi- mentation in streams, for replenishing ground water, and for reducing STirface runoff or for increasing water yields. They are also required in determining the best use of land, in preparing plans for land-clearing projects, for recrea- tional and wildlife programs, and evaluating the effects of national and regional land policies. Such data are needed by all public agencies involved in watershed management controls. The preparation of maps showing the natural vegetal cover and its condition and the assemblage of information associated with them, are among the first steps necessary in land classification or in developing watershed manage- ment program-s. Knowledge of the distribution and kind of cover, and of its characteristics as to composition, density and condition is basic to full appreciation of the value of the resource, its relation to the soil and water resource, andl its place in the basic economy and development- Information on the vegetal cover is essential in water- shed management planning and operation, for cover class alone often indicates the kinds of land treatment measures to be used. Under some conditions knowledge of the plant associations gives broad indications of a needed program and the degree of effectiveness to be expected from it. Vegetal cover information is also helpful in determining tfcie degree to which various forms of wildlife may be found, where competition between different kinds of game may occur for different types of food, and where wildlife might survive when transplanted. Such infor- mation also helps in translating other biological facts into the whole resource development program. Data on vegetal cover also give certain broad clues which can be interpreted into such matters as rates of infiltration and permeability of the soil, need for drain- age, character of soil for agricultural or other develop- ment, and in some places, the chemical nature of the soil itself. The condition of the cover lends even more strength and emphasis to land treatment programs. It determines to a large extent the degree and often, when associated with topography, the relative amount and character of erosion. It helps determine among others things, infiltration rates, runoff conditions, and provides a substantial base for land use programs. Cover information gives an indication of the location of actual or potential high runoff or silt and sediment-producing areas. Data on cover conditions are essential in developing watershed management programs and on a regional or national scale, and help determine broad programs of land use. Other facts relative to the vegetal cover are essential in watershed management programs. As applied to the range they help determine the degree or extent of grazing that should be permitted on range lands whether by live- stock or by big game. They indicate the extent to which changes in cover have been made by overgrazing or other abuse. They also furnish the basic information on which range policies and range management are developed especially for those range lands under Federal jurisdiction. As applied to forest lands, such facts help determine the needs for fire control, reforestation, stand improvement, and the like. They also aid in determining the forest management budget, that is, the balance between growth and the amount cut by classes such as pulpwood, saw timber, and mine props, both nationally and regionally. They also help determine areas which because of location, kind, or character, or which because of slope, soil, or geology, should be maintained as watershed protection areas free from use which may start or encourage dam- aging runoff or erosion. Status Data on the natural cover conditions are inadequate for detailed management for a large area of the forest and range lands of the country. Cover maps are available for much of the country on a generalized basis. Some of these indicate broad natural types, others show only partial data or some local classification that cannot be fitted into national standards. Maps prepared for one unit often do not agree with those for an adjoining area and rarely are made on the same scales. The Forest Service, through its Forest Survey, has been working on a national inventory of the forest area for two decades, but the job is far from done. Only two- thirds of the 624 million acres of forest land in the United States have been initially surveyed. This leaves one-third untouched, mostly in the Rocky Mountains and California where water is of high value. Resurveys of one-half the area previously inventoried are needed to bring the results of the initial survey up to date and to desirable present-day standards. This is especially neces- sary because heavy cutting during the war period and 362 |