The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1897-10-09

At the last session of the Irrigation
Congress which recently met at Lincoln,
Nebraska, the following resolution was
adopted:
whereas the perpetuation of the
forests of the arid region Is essential TO
the maintenance of the water supply Tor
irrigation, as well as the supply OF tim
Der for industrial needs,
.Resolved, That the President OF the
United States be memorialized to, so
soon as proper and adequate form OF
administration shall be provided, with
draw from entry OF sale under the act
of Congress of March 3, 1891, all public
lands that are of more value for their
timber than for agriculture, or their
minerals
This subject is one to which the people
OF the Rocky Mountain states may well
turn their attention. Not only IS the
present forestry system wasteful and
%improvident for the future, but affords
an absolute menace to the great agrl-
cultural interests that have been built
up through irrigation. At the present
rate of destruction, the land surround
ing the headwaters of the various
streams used for irrigating purposes
will in a few years be denuded Of its
timber and left subject to the direct rays
of the sun, causing the rapid melting
OF the snow in the spring, accompanied
- ~ .,n-t~ ~ u-Nfa,. thropnh flnn1E
and the premature exhaustion of the
supply. 1t is also a scientifically estab-
lished fact that tho cutting down of the
forests produces climatic changes mark
ed by the increased dryness OF the at
mosphere and a decrease of the rainfall.
In order to correct these evils, the
law of March 3, 1901, referred to in the
above resolution, was passed, authoriz-
ing the President to reserve from entry
and sale such timber lands still in the pos
session OF the government as he might
deem fit. Under the provisions of this
act there have been reserved some II,
coo, 900 acres in Alaska, Arizona, Cali
fornia, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon,
Washington and Wyoming. This is a
start in the right direction but the law
has been rendered largely Ineffective
through the failure of Congress to pro-
vide sufficient appropriations for special
agents to be detailed to the various re-
servasions to protect them from depre-
dations. This is the only objection that
can be advanced against the eserve
system and it is easy to remedy.
On the other hand, the evils of the
old system are much more serious, as
will be seen by the following statement
from the report of the Secretary of the
Interior for 1894: lowing to the extern
sion of the act of June 3, 1878, permit
ting the purchase of timber lands at
o.. so per acre in all public-land states,
the Government is rapidly losing the
title to hundreds of thousands Of acres
covered with timber which should be
properly preserved as permanent
urc Of timber supply rather than
denuded for the immediate gain ofindiv-
lQudlo duu COi poiooAOho NM
that the public awakes to the necessity
of q complete revision of our forestry
system. The whole area Of the public
forests should be reserved, as recon-
mended by the Irrigation Congress and
such a rational system of timber cutting
under proper supervision should be es-
tablished, ''as would most effectually
conduce to natural reforestation and the
resupply in the shortest possible time
OF the growth removed" Sufficient
appropriations should be made by Con-
rress 80 ensure the enforcement of the
law and to provide for the protection
OF .li- forests from fires and depreda-
tlpns. Cnder such a system our forests
would provide an abundance of lumber
for All domestic and industrial uses
without their being materially dimin-
ished in extent. Thus would the inter-
ests OF all b. observed and injustice
dens to no one.