public landownership patterns; and (3) disposition of lands which are best suited for private ownership and development. Minerals classification and field examination requires initiation of two programs. One of these will be minerals examination and classification essential to the conduct of the expanded lands classification and management program. The other new program is to initiate a mineral resource inventory, essential in the inventory and evaluation of the public domain as a foundation for improved resource management.

(c) Records improvement

The estimate of $735,000 is an increase of $141,000 to provide for the completion of the records revision program in the Montana land office by the end of fiscal year 1962.

Need for increase.-The Montana land office is the custodian of some 445 tract book volumes and 6,073 status plats which are the official status records for lands and resources in some 8,614 townships. The status records in the Montana land office are in advanced stages of physical deterioration which is further aggravated by their constant use in one of the largest and most active offices within the Bureau.

Installation of the revised records in the Montana land office by the end of fiscal year 1962 is consistent with the Bureau's program to complete the Montana portion of the project in 2 fiscal years. Delay in completing the records of this office would extend the period of time that this major land office's records would be in transition, would delay the date when the benefits of the revised records would be realized in this office, and also would delay the revision of records in other States.

Plan of work.-In fiscal year 1962, the revised records system will be installed in the Montana land office for those townships in Montana not completed during fiscal year 1961 plus some 1,500 townships in North and South Dakota. This program will be continued by force account.

STATUS OF PROGRAM

General factors of significant importance

The case closures in the foregoing tabulations do not entirely represent the Bureau's lands and minerals responsibilities. An activity of increasing importance is service required by the public and other Government agencies. The growing public interest in public lands imposes an increasing volume of inquiries relating to Bureau programs and for information on public land laws, regulations, and procedures. Requests to examine case files for copies of maps and documents and for land status are increasing each year. The activities of land locators or promoters and mineral brokers, some using questionable practices, have necessitated increasing our efforts to inform the public, including applicants, of the requirements of the land and mineral laws and regulations. Our Bureau land offices

spend from 20 to 40 percent of their time on this type of work.

The lands and minerals activities are the principal revenue producers of the Bureau. Total receipts for the past year, and as estimated for the current year and budget year are:

1960....

1961 estimated_

1962 estimated..

$330, 918, 402

1 176, 800, 000 2 233, 127, 000

Includes the anticipated release of an estimated $70,000,000 of OCS receipts which have been held in Does not include the release of OCS receipts held in escrow.

Adjudication of applications

The lands adjudication activity includes maintenance on a day-to-day basis of the official status records for the public domain. It includes the receiving and adjudication of applications to acquire vacant public domain and certain applications to lease public lands and applications for recreation facilities. It also includes conducting sales and transferring title in accordance with the Bureau motion land classification program. An activity of considerable importance is the dissemination of information to the general public regarding the law, regulations, and opportunities pertaining to public lands.

The minerals phase of activity includes adjudicative action necessary to the leasing of the so-called leasable minerals on the public domain, acquired lands administered by other agencies, the Outer Continental Shelf, and certain private

lands in which the minerals were reserved to the Government. The Bureau also is responsible for transfer of title of mineral lands through mineral patent under the general mining laws of 1872. The mineral resources in more than 800 million acres are within the scope of the Bureau's responsibility for the management thereof.

The following table shows the magnitude of this activity:

Mineral production, Bureau of Land Management lands

Title transfers which involve intensive public and private land use and adjudication of mineral lease and permit applications will continue to receive special attention.

Field examination and classification

Land classification staffs are responsible for determining the proper use or tenure of lands. This process includes field examination, appraisal, and coordination with other Bureau and other governmental offices. These actions may result from either applications filed by the public or Bureau motion programs. Another responsibility of the lands classification staffs is the consummation of land tenure adjustment work such as withdrawal review and identification and classification of small tract and public recreational areas.

The Bureau also has the responsibility for the administration of the Federal mining and leasing laws. Disposal of mineral lands (title transfers) under the applicable mining laws is a paramount responsibility of minerals classification. It is important that mineral lands are not inadvertently transferred to public ownership under other public land disposal acts. However, it also is our duty to resolve mineral conflicts with competing forms of land use, to reach tenure arrangements consistent with law and departmental policy.

Finally, but not of lesser importance, is the continual classification and investigation of mineral lands in order that optimum multiple-use concepts may be adequately preserved.

Records improvement

Through the records improvement subactivity, the Bureau is revising the lands record system in use for over 100 years and bringing it up to date with a modern system that will add greatly to the efficiency of land offices and the convenience of the public. These records are invaluable and irreplaceable. The serious physical deterioration of many of the old records and the documentary inadequacies therein, have long been recognized as an obstacle to efficient administration of the public land laws, and of unsatisfactory service to the public. The system has been completed for the States of Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona, and for the active areas in the State of Alaska, while work is currently in progress for Montana. Most of this work has been done by contract with private concerns, but the records for Alaska and Montana have been or are being prepared by force account.

The estimate of $3,390,000 is an increase of $572,000 consisting of― (1) An increase of $5,000 to bring increased pay costs to a full year basis. (2) An increase of $567,000 to accelerate resource inventories and adjudication of grazing privileges, promote orderly management and development of grazing and related resources under a balanced multiple use management concept, and lend stability to livestock operations.

Need for increase.-The additional funds requested will provide for increased progress in resource inventories which are essential to the adjudication of conflicting interests in the use of grazing resources and will identify areas having potential for increased production and requiring rehabilitation.

As a result of the increase, it will be possible to accelerate the progress in range adjudication toward meeting the Bureau's goals of completing the entire range adjudication program in advance of the previous target date of 1968. This action is basic to accomplishing proper management of uses and in promoting rehabilitation of depleted areas. It will permit range inventories on 20 million acres of the remaining 73 million acres not yet inventoried. Problems involved in making adjustments in range use have emphasized the urgent need for additional basic data, and in addition to range inventories, range studies will be expanded to ascertain responses of resources to management to demonstrate to users the benefits of proper management. Emphasis will be given to attaining proper management and protection to rehabilitated areas, including 173,000 acres reseeded under the 1961 emergency rehabilitation program for lands denuded during the extreme fire season.

Studies will also provide guidelines for effecting adjustments between conflicting uses. Increased supervision of resource uses will be possible and will provide for more accurate records of land use, reduce trespass and uncontrolled grazing, and permit the balanced multiple use management of public land re

sources.

A study of grazing uses of the Federal range will be conducted to provide a realistic basis on which to establish appropriate grazing fees.

Resource inventories will be coordinated with the national soil survey program of the Department of Agriculture, which to date has been limited primarily to private land areas. This will facilitate the identification of areas having potential for increased productivity and provide a basis for furthering the resource rehabilitation program.

Plan of work.-Emphasis will be given to the resource inventory and the adjudication of grazing privileges which are prerequisite to effective and proper resource management. Ten-year grazing permits will replace temporary licenses as formal adjudications are accomplished, and this will tend to stabilize the livestock industry dependent upon the public lands. As a result of the adjudication, individual allotments will be provided as appropriate, and this will be an inducement to stockmen to cooperate in the development of range use facilities and the rehabilitation of depleted forage resources through seeding and to follow proper range management practices with regard to rate of stocking and season of use. Establisment of individual allotments will materially aid in the use supervision and elimination of grazing trespass.

Greater refinement of forage production and utilization studies, coupled with actual use records, range condition and trend studies, and actual demonstration pastures, will provide a sound base for range use adjustments and management as well as development programs. Again, these demonstrations will result in increased cooperation from range users, inducement for rehabilitation, and improved management.

Increased attention will be given to the identification of areas having recreational value and to the integration of such recreational uses with other uses under a balanced use management program. Cooperation with local, county, and State organizations in planning for the development and management of areas having significant value for recreational use will be accelerated. Coordination of uses of public lands with intermingled private lands to facilitate efficient and workable multiple use management will require increasing emphasis, particularly with respect to public access.

Studies will be continued in cooperation with western State colleges and universities and the Agricultural Research Service and Forest Service Research to determine more effective techniques for range evaluation, management, and rehabilitation, and coordination of the various uses, particularly with respect to wildlife and domestic livestock. A comprehensive study of grazing uses of the Federal range and other grazing areas of a similar nature will be conducted and completed which will provide a realistic base for the determination of appropriate grazing fees.

(b) Fire Presuppression

The estimate of $659,000 is an increase of $401,000 to permit substantial expansion in all phases of fire presuppression.

Need for increase.-Wild fires on public lands are a constant threat to the conservation of our natural resources. During calendar year 1959, 267,000 acres were burned requiring $1.6 million for suppression. Calendar year 1960 was one of the most critical burning periods in the Bureau's history. Reports to date indicate that the Bureau suppressed over 900 fires at a cost in excess of $3.5 million which burned more than 300,000 acres of Federal resources. The frequency of fires continues to increase with expanded use of public domain lands and increased flammable vegetation. Nearly 60 percent of all range fires are man caused. The 900 fires that were suppressed during calendar year 1960 represent an increase of approximately 17 percent over calendar year 1959, and an increase of approximately 29 percent over the average of 730 fire suppressions for the previous 5 years.

In view of the growing fire danger to the public lands, presuppression activities need to be expanded to the level required to properly organize, train, and equip an adequate fire-control organization. Inadequacy of this phase of the program can create safety hazards, threaten human life, and almost invariably result in increased costs of fire suppression as well as in the loss of surface resources.

The increase of $401,000 is urgently required to provide for the improvement of the detection systems to all high fire risk and hazard areas, to provide adequate action directed toward fire prevention, including education, law enforcement, and hazard reduction; to expand the radio communication systems to obtain complete coverage of all high risk and hazard areas and to provide for orderly replacement of equipment and facilities as they become worn out or obsolete. In addition, improved planning, training, and organization are essential for efficient suppression action which should result in significant savings in fire-suppression costs, plus reduction in acreage burned.

The severity and extensiveness of the recent fire season demonstrates the necessity of expanding manpower, organization, and facilities available for expeditious handling of the fire-control program.

Plan of work.-Hazard reduction will be strengthened by more than doubling the number of firebreaks in strategic locations to prevent the spread of fires. The fire danger rating and detection systems will be improved to provide earlier warning and detection for more aggressive action on fires occurring on or threatening public rangelands. The effectiveness of fire-retardant application by aircraft will be increased by modernization of the detection system and through additional facilities including the expansion of the radio communication systems to high fire risk and hazard areas.

The prevention program will be expanded to increase public awareness of the detrimental effects of fire on the natural resources and to solicit assistance in reducing the number of man-caused fires.

The increased funds will permit more intensive training of personnel in the factors of fire behavior, fire physics, fire meteorology, and fire suppression tactics as measures of improving fire preparedness.

Action will be taken to improve the facilities in areas of high risk and hazard to provide the early action necessary to reduce the risk of large conflagrations. Some of the equipment used for firefighting is worn out or obsolete and the increase will provide an orderly replacement of such equipment. The complement

of equipment and personnel in areas of high frequency of fires will be strengthened to provide for more prompt suppression. The increased manpower also will provide an opportunity to investigate instances where reimbursement may be due the Government from trespassers who have caused fires. Emphasis on enforcement of laws should result in the reduction of man-caused fires.

Administration of grazing lands

STATUS OF PROGRAM

This activity provides for the grazing administration and management on 176 million acres of public lands in 13 Western States (exclusive of Alaska) which are used by 10 million livestock owned and operated by nearly 29,000 stockmen. These ranges annually provide food and habitat for 1,500,000 big game animals and associated recreational uses for over 5 million people in the form of hunting and access to fishing streams. The routine administrative functions including the issuance of grazing licenses and permits and collection of grazing fees must continue. Increasing demands for multiple uses of the public lands require an accelerated program in range use supervision to minimize trespass and promote orderly and effectively integrated uses of these public lands. The range management responsibility is centered at the field level in 59 district offices employing 194 range managers.

The range adjudication program within grazing districts is complete in Arizona and New Mexico. In the remaining eight Western States the job is 30 percent complete on a number of operator basis. The 1961 increase of $300,000 for range adjudication and range surveys will permit increased accomplishments of 61 percent in range surveys and 26 percent in range adjudication over the 1960 fiscal year level.

Comprehensive coverage of the Federal range by condition and trend studies was completed for the first time in 1959. These studies show that 17 percent of the total public range acreage is in good or excellent condition, 52 percent is in fair condition, and 31 percent is in poor condition; also that 24 percent of the acreage is improving, 57 percent is static or indefinite and 19 percent is declining in range condition.

Fire presuppression

This activity also provides for preparedness in prevention, detection, and suppression of fires on 173 million acres of public domain in the Western States. Fire danger and risk on these public land areas increases with the continuing increase of public use. Greater preparedness will lessen fire losses. Reliance has been placed on seasonal per diem guards to take initial action on fire suppression. The individuals serving as per diem guards are self-employed and have as first interest their vocations and are not always in a position to take immediate action. Expansion of the Bureau's fire control organization plus the efforts of the per diem guards will improve fire suppression efforts with consequent savings in resource losses.

Annual training is necessary to orient personnel with new organization and fire fighting techniques. More intensive training is planned to develop an organization consistent with the resource being protected. Emphasis will be placed upon interpretation of fire behavior factors as influenced by fuel and weather conditions. A VHF radio communication system has been planned for all areas but installations are only about two-thirds complete. This system is necessary to provide direct communications between the detection system and the organization doing the suppression work as well as providing communications on the fire line. Fire danger rating stations have been installed in most critical areas, but more are necessary to provide the Bureau with sufficient data to anticipate severe fire situations and take immediate steps of preparedness to suppress all fires which may occur with efficient and aggressive action. Installation of the required num

ber of stations is approximately one-half complete.

Many high fire hazard areas are remote and inaccessible and have inadequate detection facilities. Plans are to improve the detection system to cover all high risk and hazard areas, especially in the inaccessible and remote areas, to provide for early detection of all fires which occur thus insuring early suppression. Truck trails and fire breaks are likewise essential to effective fire control. Plans are to extend truck trails and fire breaks to all high fire risk and hazard areas with emphasis on the inaccessible and remote areas to curb fire apread and to provide rapid access for fire suppression action. Progress is being made in the attainment of improved detection facilities and extension of a truck trail and firebreak network.