Grazing Improvements. It is often necessary for the complete and economical use of the forage on a National Forest to coöperate with the local stockmen to develop range by constructing improvements. Water may have to be developed; fences, corrals, bridges, trails, and other works may have to be constructed. Often cattle belonging to different stockmen are grazed on adjacent areas which are not separated by natural boundaries such as rivers, ridges, or swamps. If there is no obstacle to prevent the cattle from drifting from one range into another, a drift fence is built, thus definitely separating one stockman's range from the other. Often good range would remain unused on account of lack of water altogether or on account of lack of water during the dry season only. In this case the Forest Service usually coöperates with the stockmen to provide water. Roads, trails, and bridges are often necessary to enable sheep and cattle to reach range lands.
Protective Improvements. Ranger stations, cabins, lookout stations, firebreaks and similar works are required to protect the forests from fire and are known as protective improvements. Buildings are constructed for the field force to afford necessary shelter and to furnish an office for the efficient transaction of business. Land is often cultivated for the production of forage crops and fences are built to insure necessary pasturage for live stock used by the Forest officers in their work. The buildings may be substantial houses to be used throughout the year or they may be merely such structures as will afford the necessary shelter and domestic conveniences for Forest officers in the summer. These summer camps are constructed where needed for the use of patrolmen, officers engaged in timber sale work or at such points as will serve the needs of officers traveling through the forest. Barns, sheds, and other small structures are constructed at the Ranger's headquarters when they are needed. Office buildings are also constructed for the use of Forest Rangers or for summer headquarters of the Forest Supervisor.
Figure 17. A forest fire lookout station on the top of Lassen Peak, elevation 10,400 feet, Lassen National Forest, California. This cabin was first erected complete in a carpenter's shop in Red Bluff, about 50 miles away. It was then taken to pieces and packed to the foot of Lassen Peak. On the last two miles of its journey it was packed piece by piece on forest officers' backs and finally reassembled on the topmost pinnacle of the mountain. Photo by the author.
Figure 18. Forest officers and laborers building a wagon road through trap rock. Payette National Forest, Idaho.
Appropriations for Improvement Work. The money for the construction of National Forest improvements is secured from various sources. The annual Forest Service appropriation usually carries a considerable sum for this purpose. In the fiscal year 1918 $450,000 has been appropriated for this work, which divided among the 147 National Forests gives an average only of about $3,000 per Forest. This is really a very small sum considering the size of the average National Forest. Fortunately there are other appropriations and funds and each year sees more money available for this most important work. Under the law 25 per cent. of the receipts are paid to the States in which the National Forests are located to be expended for roads and schools. The amount to be paid to the States in this way from the receipts in 1917 is about $848,874.00. By the acts of Congress organizing them as States, Arizona and New Mexico also receive for their schools funds an additional share of the receipts based on the proportion that their school lands within the National Forests bear to the total National Forest area in the States. The approximate amounts due on account of the receipts for 1917 are $42,844.80 to Arizona and $18,687.56 to New Mexico. Congress has also provided that 10 per cent, of the receipts shall be set aside as an appropriation to be used under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture for road and trail building in National Forests in coöperation with state authorities or otherwise. The amount thus appropriated on account of the fiscal year 1917 receipts is $339,549.61. This added to the amount carried over from the 1916 receipts fund, $136,981.23, and the amount appropriated for improvements, in the regular Agricultural Appropriation Bill, $450,000.00, brings the total available for the construction of roads, trails, cabins, bridges, telephone lines, etc., on the National Forests for the fiscal year 1918 to $926,530.84.
There is still another fund recently appropriated which will enable roads and trails to be built on a very much larger scale than hitherto has been possible and will result in the rapid opening of forest regions at present practically inaccessible. The Federal Aid Road Act, passed by Congress in 1916, appropriated ten million dollars for the construction and maintenance of roads and trails within or partly within National Forests. This money becomes available at the rate of a million dollars a year until 1927. In general, the States and counties are required to furnish coöperation in an amount at least equal to 50 per cent. of the estimated cost of the surveys and construction of projects approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. The apportionment among the States is based on the area of National Forest lands in each State and the estimated value of the timber and forage resources which the Forests contain.
The total amount from all sources available for roads, trails, and other improvements on the National Forests during the fiscal year 1918 is therefore $1,926,530.84.