TABLE 1.-Area of public and Indian lands in the public land States,1 estimated as of June 30, 1943

[In acres]

Area not subject to general disposition under public land laws (withdrawals and

This tabulation does not include lands acquired by the United States under the various
purchase programs or by condemnation and gift. Most of the lands included are "origi
nal public domain" lands acquired in the early days of the Republic by cession and
treaty. Included also are lands acquired by exchange for "original public domain"
lands and timber, and by revestment.

2 Vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved public lands, both within and outside
grazing districts, are subject to location, entry, and selection under nonmineral land
laws after classification, and to grazing, mining locations, and mineral leasing. They
are also available as a source of timber and other materials and for use under permits
and leases. Included in these columns are public lands, not otherwise reserved, tempo-
rarily withdrawn for war purposes.

3 Public lands in reclamation withdrawals are subject to reclamation homestead entry
when opened. They are subject also to grazing, mining locations, and mineral leasing
under certain conditions. Data are as of June 30, 1940. In the preparation of this esti-
mate, overlaps with other withdrawals were excluded.

4 Indian lands include trust allotted, tribal, and Government-owned lands, all of which
are under the jurisdiction of the Office of Indian Affairs. With the consent of the Indian
owners the Department of the Interior may, under certain conditions, approve grazing
permits, agricultural leases, mineral leases, mining locations, and timber sales on Indian
lands. Data are as of Jan. 1, 1942, and include small amounts of land purchased prior
to July 1, 1933.

5 National parks and monuments are subject to certain timber sales and with restric-
tions, a few are subject to mining locations. Grazing may be permitted except as other-
wise provided by law. Data are as of Jan. 1, 1944, and do not include the Boulder Dam
national recreational area in Arizona and Nevada which is reported under reclamation
withdrawals.

6 Wildlife refuges and game ranges are subject to mineral leasing and grazing under
certain conditions. This column does not include areas under the primary jurisdiction
of agencies other than the Fish and Wildlife Service.

7 Oregon and California revested lands, including the Coos Bay Wagon Road lands. are a source of timber. They are subject to homestead entry and to public sale after classi fication, and to grazing, leasing, recreational use, and to use under permit.

Stock driveways are for the movement of livestock by the public and are subject to
mining locations with certain restrictions and to mineral leasing.

Water reserves are subject to public use under permit. Power reserves are subject
to leasing, location, entry, and selection under certain conditions.

10 National forests, under the administration of the Department of Agriculture for
forestry purposes, are a source of timber and are subject to grazing. Through the Depart-
ment of the Interior they are subject to mining locations and mineral leasing. After
classification by the Secretary of Agriculture, agricultural lands within national forests
are subject to homestead entry through the Department of the Interior.

11 Other withdrawals and reservations include temporary withdrawals pending exami-
nation and classification, temporary withdrawals in aid of legislation, "permanent"
military and naval reservations, lands, claims to which were released by the land grant
railroads pursuant to the Transportation Act of 1940, and withdrawals and reservations
for miscellaneous public purposes. The approximately 12,000,000 acres temporarily
withdrawn in connection with the present world war are included in those columns
which show the status of the lands prior to withdrawal for war purposes. Lands under
the primary jurisdiction of agencies outside the Department of the Interior are also
under the jurisdiction of the Department insofar as the public land laws apply to them.
12 Unperfected entries are claims to the public lands, title to which will pass from the
Government upon further compliance by the entrymen with the public land laws.
13 Since many reservations and withdrawals overlap, a total of the preceding columns
shows a greater area than that which is actually in Federal ownership and control.
Allowances for this overlapping have, therefore, been made in this column and the areas
reported are the estimated net acreage of public and Indian lands in the States.
14 Less than 1 percent.

TABLE 3. Approximate area of public-domain lands subject to mineral leasing by the Bureau of Land Management,' as of 1946

1 Mineral Leasing Act of Feb. 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437, 30 U. S. C., sec. 181, et seq.), as amended and supplemented.

2 Does not include areas under the primary jurisdiction of agencies other than the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Such areas are shown elsewhere in this tabulation.

Includes stock driveways, water reservations, withdrawals for classification, temporary military withdrawals, etc.

TABLE 4.-Area of lands patented or certified with minerals reserved to the United States as of October 1946

TABLE 5.-Area of vacant public lands as of June 30, 1946

6, 772, 246 29, 111

44, 924, 031 14,736, 520 100, 629 24, 401 13, 181, 451

313, 793 23, 815, 717 534, 494 6,572 16,645, 853

Mr. FENTON. I am wondering whether or not you could supply any information which could show serious fires that have occurred in our timber.

Mr. WOLFSOHN. I do not recall any serious fires in the last year on the timber under our jurisdiction, but I would be glad to furnish you with a memorandum of the fires that were reported, their extent and to the degree possible the value of the timber.

(The information follows:)

SERIOUS RANGE AND FOREST FIRES, 1946

There follows brief statements covering six serious fires (two in Alaska and four in grazing districts) which occurred during the 1946 calendar year. These statements give an idea of the large areas burned by some of the bad fires, the kind of vegetative cover burned, the types of resource damage evaluated, and show a few of the operational problems encountered in the Bureau's fire-control program.

WHITEFISH LAKE FIRE

The narrative statement covering the Whitefish Lake fire in Alaska clearly shows the Alaskan Fire Control Service's need for fire-control facilities and for fire suppression funds.

The narrative statement reads:

"Four small fires, less than one acre each, were sighted by a commercial pilot, as he flew toward Anchorage from Bethel, in the Whitefish Lake region. The pilot while in flight called the CAA range station at Farewell Lake and reported the fires. The range station, in turn called the CAA at Anchorage, and the latter relayed the report to us by telephone. This was on June 7. We attempted to find an airplane on floats to fly one or two men to the area. There were none available, nor were any expected for several days. We telephoned our district ranger at Fairbanks but his plane was in Fort Yukon (and out of touch with Fairbanks) and no float planes were available in Fairbanks. We wired our district ranger at Ruby to take his plane and a man to the fires. The ACS could not raise the commercial radiophone at Ruby (which since has gone out of business entirely), and so placed the wire in the mail. Our ranger at Ruby received the wire on the 14th; however, his plane was then on a fire in the upper Koyukuk River and was weatherbound, as well as being out of contact with Ruby. The plane finally returned to Ruby on the 18th and proceeded to Whitefish Lake. The four fires had joined and now covered 1,000 acres-too large for one or two men to handle and too expensive to suppress with available funds. So, no action was taken on the fire. This fire which was started by lightning, occured in the heart of an excellent marten and beaver country. It could have been suppressed if we had an amphibious plane of our own, or if we had had facilities to contact our ranger at Ruby on the night of the 7th."

The planes mentioned above at the various ranger stations are private planes under contract, and are not always available for our use. The "available funds" mentioned refers to the limited presuppression funds available to the service which would be practically exhausted by June 18 almost the end of the fiscal year.

THE BETTLES AIRFIELD FIRE

The Beetles airfield fire occurred on the upper Koyukuk River in Alaska and north of the Arctic Circle. The cause of the fire is not known. This fire burned 253,000 acres of forest lands. The fire endangered the CAA and military installments at Bettles and closed the field to navigation during the several days required to suppress it.

There is no specific data appraising the damage caused by this fire. However, it is obvious that the loss of natural resources by fire would in case the need ever arises, increase the tremendous job of establishing and maintaining bases at strategic airfields such as this. The resources destroyed would have provided native timber for structural purposes and for fuel wood.

DEADMAN FIRE

Occured in Owyhee district, Idaho, caused by lightning. Burned 42,800 acres. Land status and types as follows: