Susanville, was not alone in their opposition of the forest reserves. In November, 1902 T.B. Walker of the Red River Lumber Company had in a few years acquired some 200,000 acres of timberland in Northern California and addressed some of those concerns. Walker stated: “These lands could be handled to better advantage for the general interest through the agency of private ownership than to have them tied up in the department at Washington. From a general knowledge of the case I am sure that the people of Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta and Siskiyou counties will regard this reservation move as extremely detrimental to their interests. Private ownership will better protect the timber against destruction by fire, will handle the timber cutting to better advantage to the commonwealth, will make a more continuous or perpetual timber supply, and protect equally as well the water supply and rainfall. There are a few townships and only a few along the Lassen range and in the mountains on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, running perhaps into the upper Trinity mountain country, that might reasonably be put into a forest reserve. Beyond that I think it would be unfortunate to carry out the forest reserve project.”