Executive Order 5761—Transfer of Lands from the Bitterroot and the Missoula to the Lolo National Forest, Montana

Under authority of the act of Congress approved June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 36; U.S. Code, title 16, sec. 473), and on the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, it is hereby ordered that the following-described lands now parts of the Bitterroot National Forest as defined by proclamation of April 30, 1912 (37 Stat. 1738-1739), and the Missoula National Forest as defined by proclamation of January 31, 1929 (45 Stat. 2989), be, and the same are hereby, transferred to the Lolo National Forest:

From the Bitterroot National Forest

All lands now a part thereof lying in Tps. 11, 12, and 13 N., R. 18 W., and T. 11 N., R. 19 W., all Montana meridian, north of a line beginning at the southeast corner of sec. 14, said T. 11 N., R. 19 W.; thence running easterly along the section line to an intersection with the hydrographic divide between Miller Creek on the north and Woodchuck Creek on the south; thence continuing southeasterly along said hydrographic divide to its point of intersection with the boundary of the Missoula National Forest as defined by said proclamation of January 31, 1929.

From the Missoula National Forest

All lands now a part thereof lying in surveyed and unsurveyed Tps. 15, 16, 17, and 18 N., R. 9 W.; Tps. 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 N., R. 10 W.; Tps. 15, 16, 17, and 18 N., R. 11 W.; Tps. 16, 17, and 18 N., R. 12 W.; Tps. 16, 17, and 18 N., R. 13 W.; Tps. 17 and 18 N., R. 14 W.; Tps. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 N., R. 15 W.; Tps. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 N., R. 16 W.; Tps. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 N., R. 17 W.; Tps. 13, 14, 15, and 16 N., R. 18 W.; Tps. 14 and 15 N., R. 19 W.—all Montana meridian; also all lands now a part of the Missoula National Forest lying north and west of a fine beginning on the east line of sec. 18, T. 9 N., R. 14 W., Montana meridian, where the hydrographic divide between West Fork of Lower Willow Creek on the north and Cottonwood Creek on the south intersects said fine; thence southwesterly and northwesterly along Pete Ridge, which is on said hydrographic divide; thence continuing along the hydrographic divide between Upper Willow Creek on the south and Harvey Creek and North Fork Creek on the north and east; thence southwesterly along the hydrographic divide between Upper Willow Creek on the east and Ranch Creek and Hogback Creek on the west to an intersection with the north line of sec. 5, T. 7 N., R. 16 W., Montana meridian; thence west to the northwest corner said section; thence south approximately 2½ miles to the hydrographic divide directly north of Shively Gulch; thence in a southwesterly direction on the hydrographic divide between Shively Gulch and Williams Gulch to an intersection with the main hydrographic divide between the Rock Creek drainage on the east and Bitterroot River drainage on the west, which is approximately at Dome Shaped Mountain, said lands being in surveyed and unsurveyed Tps. 9, 10, and 11 N., R. 14 W.; Tps. 9, 10, and 11 N., R. 15 W.; Tps. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 N., R. 16 W.; Tps. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 N., R. 17 W.; Tps. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 N., R. 18 W.; Tps. 12 and 13 N., R. 19 W., Montana meridian.

The transfers effected by this order and the new boundaries of the Lolo National Forest are more clearly shown on the diagram attached hereto and made a part hereof. It is not intended by this order to give any publicly owned lands a national forest status which have hitherto not had such status, nor to remove any publicly owned lands from a national-forest status.

HERBERT HOOVER

The White House,
December 16, 1931.