The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-06
FORESTS AND RAINFALL.
A Western Timber1nan's Views on
the Subject.
He Thinks That All Cneasiness About
the Denudation of Timber Lands in
the West Is Without Ecur-
dalton.

A correspondent of the San Francisco
| Bulletin from the foothills OF Butte
county advances the proposition that in
the Sierra. where the original timber
has been cleared of, second growth
has sprung up which has more than
ure of the first growth. From this he
deduces that the alarm about the de-
nndation of our mountain forest lands
is unfounded. In fact he att tributes this
theory mainly TO the influence of the
railroad company, which aims to get
government rangers to watch its tim
bcred grant lands.
Anyone familiar with the methods of
the railroad company will accept the
general suggestion that it would be
prompt to avail itself Of any plan for
shifting its burdens upon the govern
ment or the public. Possibly there may
be something in this idea, although it
may look little farfetched. Yet it is
understood that often it is necessary to
scrutinize byways as well as highways
to get at railroad schemes. Government
themselves to protect railroad tim Der,
but indirectly their supervision of adj
jacent sections would tend to that re-
suit.
Aside from this, however, it may be
admitted that our correspondents views
are partly right and partly wrong. The
result would depend much on local con-
ditions No doubt in many portions of
northern California, where the rainfall,
especially in the mountains, is album
dant, q second growth would soon cover
the ground after the clearing of the
original forest. a like fact may often
be observed in the redwood forests
along the coast. There, where the an
nual precipitation is profuse and the
climate and soil are naturally damp, the
redwood tends to reproduce itself. In
other localities the contrary appears.
In the Contra Costa range, for instance,
where the natural moisture is less, the
clearing of the redwoods is not followed
to any great extent by the appearance
of a second growth.
The same will be found true in q
greater or less measure of the forests OF
the Sierra and of other mountain
ranges Where any tendency to aridity
exists it viii undoubtedly prove true
that The wholesale destruction of for
ests will not be followed by renewal,
but by permanent denudation and eli
matte changes. 1t might be safer to
destroy the original mountain forests
in northern than in southern California.
In the ranges Of the interior states and
territories. where aridity is more pro-
nounced. it would be Il most dangerous
experiment In such cases only judi
cious thinning of the larger growth
should be permitted on any conditions.
Even in moister regions it would be
better economy to confine cutting to the
larger timber, giving the smaller oppor-
tunity to mature. Instead of that the
past policy has been to cut indiscrimin-
ately for lumber or fuel purposes and
complete the destruction by sheep
browsing and fires. 1t is time for
definite and intelligent system of for
estry. It may be both preventative and
reproductive in scope. In many por-
tons Of France forestry now includes
not only the preservation of the natural
growth but replanting on large scale.
In the latter work due attention is
given to the species used. Medicinal
and aromatic plants are included and
become commercially important. This
may be somewhat in advance of present
needs on the coast, but it indicates the
tendency in countries where necessity
has put the problem of forestry more
forcibly before the people. We can af-
ford to take lessons from the larger cx-
perience OF these European countries.
BY avoiding the past errors we may also
avoid some of their present necessities.