Issued July 17, 1907. U.S. Department of Agriculture, FOREST SERVICE, GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. (Act of June 11, 1906.) eee Ley, eBOF. Canceling ail previous conflicting instructions. Issued July 17, 1907. U.S. Department of Agriculture, FOREST SERVICE, GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. (Act of June 11, 1906.) drei. Lo Toes: Canceling all previous conflicting instructions. == s : ee : E Agricultural Settlement under the Act of June 11, 1906. (Canceling all previous orders and instructions on this subject.) Part 1.—GENERAL. It is the policy of the Forest Service to put the lands within National Forests to their “best use. All lands which are of value for agriculture, except those necessary for administrative purposes, are for occupation and devel- opment by home makers. Under the act of June 11, 1906, which provides for the entry of agricultural lands within National Forests; settlers who will develop the tillable portions of the Forests and maintain permanent homes are welcomed. The Forest Service is anxious that there shall be as many permanent settlers as pos- sible within the Forests; they will always get the benefit of any doubt, but the passage of valuable timberlands from the possession of the Government for speculative purposes under the guise of homesteads will not be tolerated. The present stage of agricultural development in the West is not a fair criterion by which to judge the ulti- mate value of the lands for agricultural purposes. With increased knowledge of the science of agriculture and changed market conditions, the area of lands suitable for agricultural purposes is constantly increasing. Under the terms of the act only lands chiefly valuable for agriculture will be listed. The close relation of pas- turage is important, and enough adjoining land, when not 3 4 INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. chiefly valuable for Forest purposes, may be granted the applicant to supplement the development of the tillable portions. Squatters who settled on National Forest land before its withdrawal and who are awaiting surveys to make entry have the same right to occupy and enjoy their hold- ings as homestead entrymen, and may await survey or apply for the examination of their lands under the act of June 11, 1906, with a view to opening them to homestead entry. Persons who settled in trespass before January 1, 1906, and have not abandoned their claims, may, if quali- fied, take advantage of the act, and in the meantime may occupy and enjoy their holdings without permit. Squatters who apply for listing under the act should be informed that since the lands must be chiefly valuable for agriculture, the Forest Service can not guarantee that a full tract of 160 acres will be listed. However, examiners should pursue a liberal policy in examining land on which settlement has been made prior to its withdrawal for For- est purposes, and the actual settler should be given the benefit of any doubt. Applicants who appear to have the preference right of entry under the act may secure, without charge, a permit for the agricultural use of that portion of the land applied for which, in the opinion of the supervisor, is chiefly val- uable for agriculture, provided that the land is not ad- versely claimed under settlement made before its with- drawal, or after its withdrawal and before January 1, 1906. Land covered with a stand of merchantable timber should not be considered chiefly valuable for agriculture under this paragraph. Upon request, supervisors should prepare a special-use AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. 5 application on Form 832 and send it to the applicant for signature, to be returned for action in the usual manner under the special-use regulations. The following paragraph should be incorporated in each permit : In the examination of the land under the act of June 11, 1906, to determine its agricultural character, this permit shall not be considered ; neither shall it be construed to give the permittee any preference right of entry under that act. This permit shall terminate when the land is opened to entry under that act; but if it is shown that the permittee has not the preference right of entry, the listing of land for opening to entry will be deferred by the Secretary of Agriculture to protect the growing crops. Applications for listing will not be affected by these special-use permits. Supervisors have been instructed to submit lists of the tracts that may be needed for administrative purposes. Often they base their recommendations only on present needs. The examiner should bear in mind, however, that the National Forest work is in its infancy. In ten years the demands upon the executive force by the public will probably require a ranger to every township. Each ranger will need a headquarters cabin, a small piece of agricul- tural land, and a horse pasture. In recommending land for administrative purposes, such factors as the distance from towns and future logging operations should be con- sidered. In arid regions, water holes, springs, etc., should not be listed unless it is certain that they are not needed by the Government. If it is found that a tract of land applied for is essential for a reservoir site for the water supply of a city, or for the protection of a supply already established, this would be regarded by the Forest Service as a higher use of the land 6 INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. than cultivation by one settler. If the area constitutes the key to the transportation of a block of timber, and its loss would seriously hamper the Forest Service in the dis- posal of ‘this timber, the application should be denied. The retention of a right of way should be given the most careful consideration. It should be remembered that if this land is listed and passes from the United States it is given away in fee simple, and the Forest Service can make no stipulation as to its future use. Part 2.—DIRECTION. The direction of the examination of agricultural lands within National Forests under the act of June 11, 1906, will be under the control of the chief inspectors. _ The work will be done according to the following plan: Lists of all applications, together with detailed plats, will be sent to each supervisor concerned. Duplicate lists of applications (without plats) will be sent to each chief inspector concerned. The examinations will be made, when possible, by men engaged on boundary work, or, if desirable, by inspectors, working always under the direc- tion of the chief inspector, who will secure advance infor- mation, through his examiners or by correspondence with the supervisor, of the general character of all lands applied for. As a rule, all those applications upon which it is likely that favorable action will be taken should be exam- ined and reported upon first, and the chief inspector will plan the work accordingly. He may turn over to the supervisor applications upon which favorable action is expected. When in the judgment of the chief inspector all applications on a National Forest can be safely han- dled by the supervisor without arousing a strong adverse AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. iL local sentiment against the supervisor’s administration, he may turn them over to him. Supervisors are hereby instructed to examine promptly such claims as may be turned over to them by the chief » inspectors. All reports will be addressed to the Forester. They will | be submitted through the supervisor and the chief inspec- tor. If either of these officers disagree with any recom- _ mendation of an examiner, he will attach a note to that | effect. The chief inspector will approve or disapprove _ each report. The examiners will always consult freely with the supervisor, both before and after the field work. | l. Part 3.—EXECUTION. "to , All reports should be made on Form 110. On account of the urgency of the work and in order that reports may be submitted with reasonable promptness, examiners may write their reports with pen during their trips when this will make a distinct saving of time and money. Special sare must be taken to make reports and maps legible, although the work need not be done in finished style. The examination should include all land in the vicinity for which application has been made or is likely to be made, and thus obviate the necessity and expense of another trip into the same neighborhood upon subsequent applications. When adjacent areas are reported a separate form (110) should be used, and no reference to the addi- tional listing of land in the report upon an area applied for should be made. When contiguous areas are recom- mended for listing, the word © General’? should appear after the heading ““Name and address of applicant,’’ as 8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. provided for on the form. Mapping of contiguous areas must be made only on Form 110. General maps of topographic units, such as watersheds, will be made only in the discretion of the inspector or supervisor where it can be said conclusively that all sub- sequent applications should be rejected, or where general areas are examined with the same accuracy as lands covered by individual applications. This requires the establishment of initial monuments on unsurveyed land recommended for listing. All maps must be drawn on the scale of 8 inches to the mile. No reports need be made in duplicate. If the land applied for is included in a pending entry, the report need only show the name of claimant, descrip- tion of the land, and kind of entry. If the land has been withdrawn or recommended for withdrawal for adminis- trative purposes (rangers’ quarters, nursery sites, etc.), the reports need only show the name of the applicant and a description of the land. If the examiner believes the land should be withdrawn for administrative purposes, he should, while on the ground, make a complete examina- tion and survey in accordance with both the instructions for report on agricultural settlement (Form 110) and for the survey of administrative sites. , Applications for the same unsurveyed tract may some- times be made under apparently different descriptions. For this reason the priority of applicants can not always be determined, and the examiner must include in his re- _port the names of all the applicants on his list who apply for the tract. Should an unsurveyed tract of more than 160 acres be examined, the names of all the applicants AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. 9 should be included, even if the particular land desired by each applicant can not be determined. Surveys should be made in accordance with the instruc- tions for the survey of administrative sites, with the fol- lowing modifications, to avoid confusion and to distinguish homestead surveys from ranger-site surveys. The follow- ing system of marks on the initial monuments, corners, and witnesses should be used: Forest Service monuments should be chiseled or carved FS MH (Cir., Survey of Rangers’ Sites); witnessing mon, uments should be chiseled or carved ie corners should be chiseled or carved H, and witnessing corners chiseled or carved WH. When the monument is used as the initial part of the survey, it should be chiseled or carved ia with the corner marking beneath, thus: " . Platting on trac- ing linen will not be required. Since the final decision as to the action to be taken rests with the Forester, it is necessary that the type of cover of the land be clearly shown on the map accom- panying the reports. For this purpose colored crayons will be used for showing classifications in conformity with the Forest Atlas Legend, of which copies have been sent to all Forest officers in the field. Formulas for preparing the tints were mailed under date of May 8, 1907, and crayons will hereafter be fur- nished in boxes containing the twelve distinctive colors, and provided with labels showing the number of the pen- cil to be used for each classification. The lands it is reeommended to list should be clearly 10 INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. outlined on the maps with a blue-penciled line. The lands for which application is made will be shown by a heavy black line, and the lands reserved for administra- - tive purposes will be shown in red. National Forest boundaries will be shown in green. A description will be given both of the area applied for and that recommended for listing. In every case the classification of cover should appear as a legend on the map. On surveyed lands where the cover is of value, listing may be recommended in 25-acre rectangular tracts, other- wise the 10-acre tracts should be used (Cir., Survey of Ranger Sites). The establishment of corners will not be required where it can be conclusively shown in a written report that list- ing should be denied. But in no case will an unfavorable report be accepted unless the examiner’s recommenda- tion is sustained by the chief inspector. Photographs will usually be of the greatest help and should be taken whenever opportunity affords. The examination should be conducted in such a man- ner as to inspire confidence in the examiner’s ability. He must be frank and courteous; but since final action can be taken only by the Forester, no statements for or against listing of the land should be made to the applicants. The examiner’s reports must be complete in every de- tail and contain definite recommendations for or against the listing of the land. The examiners should be thoroughly tarniljes with the act of June 11, 1906. Special attention is called to the circular of the General Land Office, September 7, 1906, ‘Regulations Governing Entries within Forest Reserves.”’ AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. 11 Part 4.—RECORD. A book of township plats, 2 inches to the mile, upon which to keep a record of applications, will be sent to each supervisor. The method of keeping these records should be uniform, as given below, so that all subsequent applications may be noted from the small transmitting plats without detailed instructions. Each book is provided with an index page upon which the record is: kept. Certain colors are assigned to certain uses and should always be so used. A green line inclos- ing a space signifies that the land is outside the boundaries of the National Forest and its withdrawals. An outline with the same color and hatched in green denotes that a tract has been listed; an X, that the application has been denied. A red inclosure indicates that the tract has been recommended for withdrawal for administrative purposes, and when hatched in the same color that the withdrawal has been made. The other colors are used indiscrimi- nately for contrast in conflicting applications on irregular tracts of surveyed or unsurveyed land, when the latter can be located with sufficient accuracy to plat them. No colors are used to designate tracts in 40-acre units, and the applicant’s number only is inserted in the “forty ;”’ but when less than a “‘forty’’ is covered, or the tract is irregular, a contrasting color should be used to distinguish it. When a color is used with any other special meaning, this should be noted briefly on the margin of the plat. Descriptions of unsurveyed tracts, which can not be entered on the record, will be sent to .the supervisors in exact transcript of the description given by the applicant, and the name, address, etc., of the applicant should be entered on the index page of the record. If in the opinion 12 INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS. of the supervisor the description is not sufficiently definite to identify the particular land the applicant wishes exam- ined, the Forester should be informed, and the applicant will be notified. A monthly report of the status of the agricultural settle- ment work will be required of each examiner and each supervisor. The blank form for these reports will be fur- nished on application to the Forester. The examiner’s monthly report should be made out in triplicate. One copy should be sent to the Forester, one to the chief inspector, and one to the supervisor. The supervisor’s monthly report should also be made out in triplicate, one copy to be sent to the Forester, one to the chief inspector, and one to be retained in the super- visor’s files. Care should be taken to fill out the blanks in detail. The number and name of every application received dur- ing the month should be noted. If the land applied for is examined during the current month, the date of exami- nation should be given. If the examination is not made until the next or a following month, the number and name of the application should be carried forward, and the date of receipt, examination, etc., should be given. O BA eT Oe