Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-05-02
TIE FORESTRY CONVECTION.

the Convention, but it is certain that tne
objects Of it are Of very great consequence
TO the people of this State. At the rate
at which our forests are being removed
Il can be but q few years before we shall
feel the effects OF our heedlessness IN this
respect. We have not only to anticipate
sncb . timber famine as will interfere seri-
ously with all the many employments and
uses TO which wood is put, but which will |
produce climatic and fuviatile changes
Of n most injurious character. In the |
ordinary course of things the demand for
wood for fuel, building purposes, manufact.
ures, ETC., must become larger every year.
As the wood cutters work their way
further from the convenient points of ship
ment the expense of transportation must
increase, and the market price of the
staple must rise. At no distant period it
will probably become necessary to sub
stitute coal for wood as fuel, and then
lumber for building will grow dearer. We
may be able for several years TO supply our
needs, as regards pine timber, from the
still considerable forests on Puget Sound,
and in Oregon, but long before we have
been reduced to severe straits for manu-
featuring and building materials. we shall
have begun to find out that it is impossible
to strip the mountain ranges Of their forest
growth without affecting the habitability
of the valleys and plains. The experience
Of mankind in this connection has been SO
abundant and uniform that wise Gov.
ernments have long since formulated the
knowledge gained in this way, and have
applied themselves methodioally to repair
the ravages of the past, and to renew the
growth of forests.
In California no attention has been paid
to forestry, however, though it cannot be
said that warnings have not been uttered
repeatedly. At present there is q great
deal of agitation regarding the destructive
effects of hydraulic mining in the mount
aims, but even if hydraulic mining should
cease altogether the valleys would not be
relieved from danger SO long rs the present
reckless destruction of our forests con-
tinues. The effects of the denudation of
mountain sides are by this time well under.
stood in Europe. When the timber is
removed from such localities most import
ant changes follow. The snowfall, no
longer retained by the trees, and no longer
sheltered by their foliage, melts and de-
scends into the rivers with extreme rapid
ity. Enormous bodies OF snow, which
when held and shaded by the forests,
melted gradually. and thus kept up the
rivers late into the summer, are precipitated
at once into the rsvines, and cause sudden
and heavy floods, which pass very quickly,
to be surrounded by periods Of drought.
The mountain springs dry up and disap.
pear. The herbage no longer grows.
Evaporation is seriously diminished, and
the heats Of summer become greater. The
want Of water is felt in the valleys speed.
lily. The rivers change their regimen.
In winter they become dangerous in sum.
mer useless. During the winter every
severe storm which covers the mountains
with snow raises the streams at once. All
the snow must be carried off at once, and
the result is constant increase of floods.
The suddenness and fury with which the
freshets come down render all preventive
works useless. Dykes and levees are swept
away. River channels change. For few
months the valleys are oceans, and during
the rest of the year they are deserts.
This is what happens when the mount.
aims are stripped Of their timbers and
this is what the people Of California must
expect if they 60 on in their present course.
1t is also certain that when the timber
has been removed from the Sierra, the
winter storms will cause an unprecedented
erosion of the soil, and thus the amount
of detritus carried down the rivers will be
increased to such an extent that the
farmers of the Sacramento Valley will be
exposed to as much danger as at any for
mer time. And one of the most serious
reflections is that when the mountains
have been stripped of timber and soil, it
will be almost impossible to replace the
forest growth, for in that case it will have
no holding grouHd. In the Swiss Alps
immense trouble has been taken to replant
the slopes above the towns and villages,
but the avalanches, having once ground
paths for themselves, continually sweep
away the barriers which are set to hold
them back, and thus all the work has to
be done over again. In Switzerland, in
France, in Spain and in Italy, whole dis.
tricts have been rendered uninhabitable
by the destruction of the forests, and gen.
erations must elapse before severe and
patient labor can repair the evil. That
the same consequences will follow the
same line of action here, is perfectly clear.
Indeed already the first premonitions of
approaching mischief are to be recognized.
The United States Government has es.
tablished Bureau of Forestry, which has
issued several valuable reports on the sub.
ject, all showing the need OF remedial
action. Congress, however, has thus far
failed to meet the question intelligently,
perhaps because there was no "politics "
in it. Yet unless something is done soon
the whole country must suffer. Every.
where the consumption of wood is increas.
ing, and it is enormous now. There are
two distinct branches of the question, as
we have shown, and both of them present
very grave problems. We can neither af-
ford to exhaust our forests, nor can we
afford to encounter the climatic evils which
their exhaustion must entail. Yet though
the certainty of all these evils is not to be
doubted, and though their occurrence
would be more disastrous than destruct-
i've foreign war, it is very difficult to arouse
public interest in the matter, and it has
hitherto proved impossible to obtain the
legislation which can alone avert the com.
ing danger, and secure the protection of
the people from the greed and folly of
small minority.