Lands Released from Temporary Withdrawal in the National Forest.
[Forest Service, Washington, D. C.] TRACTS of land aggregating nearly one million acres in the National Forests in Washington, Oregon, California, and Wyoming have just been released from temporary withdrawal by the Interior Department, at the request of the Forest Service. This action has been taken in order to readjust the boundaries of the National Forests so as to include only land chiefly valuable for forest purposes. The tracts just released in the States named will be open to settlement late in July and to entry a month later. In the last two months tracts aggregating nearly three million acres have been released at the request of the Forest Service. The releases which have just been made include 133,120 acres of land adjacent to the San Jacinto National Forest, San Diego County, California; 247,280 acres adjoining the Washington National Forest, Washington; 98,560 acres adjacent to the Mt. Rainier National Forest in Cowlitz, Clarke, and Skamania Counties, Washington; 28,440 acres from the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming and Colorado, and 478,760 acres adjacent to the Cascade and Heppner National Forests in Morrow, Umatilla, and Grant Counties, Oregon. During the past winter and spring the Forest Service has had a force of men in the field readjusting the boundaries of the National Forests, and in accordance with the policy of the Forest Service, all land which is suitable for other purposes is now being excluded. Scattered all through the National Forests are many agricultural lands, mostly small and narrow and more or less isolated so that their elimination is impracticable. Settlement is encouraged in these lands, which are open to homesteaders under the Act of June 11, 1906. This act provides for the homesteading of agricultural lands in the National Forests and is being generally taken advantage of for that purpose. Stockmen and ranchers are not slow in realizing the benefits of residence in National Forests, and in many cases petitions have been received by the Forest Service for further extension of their area. This, however, the Service is careful not to do unless it can be shown that the land is chiefly valuable for forest or protection purposes.