OCR Text |
Show I BEPORT OF THE COMMISSIOREB OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 25 I I billion feet of the timber, valued at $12,000,000, are on allotted lands, and thirty-one billion feet, valued at $61,000;000, on unallotted lands. I The service means to and develop these holdings by modern methods and in line with the best thought and experience in forestry, and at the same time so to instruct the Indians in the practical use of their timbered lands that they may receive from them the greatest benefit possible. Under the plan of organization, a forestry section has been established in the Indian Office for the purpose of segregat-ing all timber matters in one unit. The plan of field organization includes a forester having b prac-tical and technical knowledge of the subject, responsible to the Com-missioner of Indian Affairs for all timber matters, and a sufficient force of trained and experienced assistants to insure a management of the forests which shall he sound in theory and ecouomica1l'y profit-able. At the present time the timber on a11 reservations is under the jurisdiction of the superintendents, who manage the forest on their respective reservations with the advice of special forestry experts. A plan has been instituted for determining the amount of timber on each reservation. Statistics are being gathered not only relative to the amount and value of the timber, but studies are being made of the nature of the timberand the conditions prevailing on the several reservations, with a view to furnishing reports which will form a basis for the intelligent control .and development of each forest. Much attention is being given to planning adequate protection for this wealth of timber. Patrol districts have been arranged for forest guards, and during the dry period of the past year109 forest guards were employed on 42 reservations in 15 different States. Telephone lines have been constructed on a number of reservations with convenient stations within the several patrol districts, so that the superintendent can receive prompt notification of fires. The total amount expended in the erection of telephone lines, cabiis, and corrals is approximately $40,000. A system .of fire reports has been instituted, by which the superintendent may advise the office im-mediately of the estimated amount of damage of every fire and the cost of extinguishing it. Indians are 'employed as forest guards wherever such employment is practicable, and the regular Indian police force is utilized for forest protection. The forestry workof the office will be materi;lly helped by the legislation of the past year. The act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 855), so amended the penal laws of the United States that it became a serious offense to unlawfully cut or wantonly injure timber on Indian reservations, as well as to set a fire on Indian reservation forests without exercising due care to extinguish the same. This act also aut.horizes the Secretary of the Interior under such regulations |