TIMBER SETTLEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE USE
When timber on National Forest land is cut, damaged, killed, or destroyed in connection with the enjoyment of a right-of-way or other special use, it is not necessary to advertise it for sale, but payment therefor is required at not less than the minimum rate established by the Secretary of Agriculture. Timber removed in this way is usually scaled, measured, or counted and the procedure is identical with that of a timber sale. But where timber is destroyed or where it is not worked up in measurable form or where the cutting is done in such a way that scaling is impracticable, settlement is required on the basis of an estimate.
Figure 71. Brush piles on a cut-over area before burning. Forest Service methods aim to clean up the forest after logging so that forest fires have less inflammable material to feed on. Bitterroot National Forest, Montana.
Figure 72. At a time of the year when there is least danger from fire the brush piles are burned. Missoula National Forest, Montana.
In 1912 a new branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad was built across a portion of the Lassen National Forest in California. The company was going to use some of the timber, but most of it was to be destroyed or disposed of in the easiest manner. Scaling was impossible, so the company paid for the timber—about $10,000—on the basis of a careful estimate made by the writer, then Forest Examiner.
The charge for all such timber is made on the basis of the current stumpage rates for timber of like quality and accessibility included in sales for all classes of material which have to be cut or destroyed and which are commonly salable on the Forest.
Timber is often used by the Forest Service itself in the administration of the National Forests. The Forester, District Foresters, and the Supervisors are authorized to sell or dispose of under free use or otherwise, within the amount each one is authorized to sell, any timber upon the National Forests when such removal is actually necessary to protect the Forest from ravages or destruction, or when the use or removal of the timber is necessary in the construction of roads, trails, cabins, and other improvements on the National Forests or in experiments conducted by the Forest Service.