Evening star., 1901-12-03

our country and the Industries which de-
pend upon them. The preservation OF our
forests is an imperative business necessity.
We have come to see clearly that what
ever destroys the forest. except to make
way for agriculture, threatens our weil-be-
| ing.
The practical usefulness of the national
Forest reserves to the mining. grazing. irri-
| cation and other interests of the regions i'm
which the reserves lie has led to a wide
spread demand by the people OF the west
| for their protection and extension The
| forest reserves viii inevitably be of still
/ greater use In the future than In the past.
Additions should be made to them when
| ever practicable, and their usefulness should
be Increased by a thoroughly business-like
management.
| At present the protection OF the forest
reserves rests with the General Land Of
! fee. the mapping and description of their
timber with the United States Geological
Survey, and the preparation of plans for
| their conservative use with the Bureau of
Forestry, which Is also charged with the
general advancement of practical forestry
| in the United States. These various func-
| tions should be united in the Bureau of
L 8
The present diffusion of responsibility is
bad from every standpoint. 1t prevents
that effective cooperation between the
Government and the men who utilize the
| resources of the reserves, without which
| the interests of both must suffer. The sci
| entif1c bureaus generally should be put un-
| der the Department of Agriculture. The
President should have by law the power
| OF transferring lands for use as forest re-
| serves to the Department of Agriculture.
| He already has such power in the case of
| lands needed by the Departments of War
| and the Navy.
| The wise administration of the forest re-
| serves will be not less helpful to the in
| terests which depend on water than to
| those which depend on wood and grass.
The water supply itself depends upon the
| forest In the arid region it is water not
| land. which measures production. The
western half of the United States would
sustain a population greater than that of
our whole country today If the waters that
| now run to waste were saved and used for
| irrigation. The forest and water problems
are perhaps the most vital internal ques-
tions Of the United States.
Certain of the forest reserves should also
be made preserves for the wild forest crea-
lures. All of the reserves should be better
protected from fires. Many of them need
special protection because of the great in
jury done by live stock above all by sheep.
The increase in deer, elk, and other ami
mails in the Yellowstone Park shows what
may be expected when other mountain for
| ests are properly protected by law and
properly guarded. Some of these areas
| have been so denuded of surface vegetation
| by overgrazing that the ground breeding
birds. including grouse and quail, and
many mammals, including deer, have been
| extermfnated or driven away. At the same
| time the water storing capacity of the sur
| face has been decreased or destroyed, thus
| promoting floods in times of rain and di-
| minishing the flow of streams between
rains.
In cases where natural conditions have
| been restored for a few years, vegetation
| has again carpeted the ground, birds and
| deer are coming back, and hundreds of
persons. especially from the immediate
! neighborhood, come each summer to en-
| JOY the privilege of camping. Some at
least Of the forest reserves should afford
perpetual protection to the native fauna
| and fora. safe havens Of refuge to our rap
| idly diminishing wild animals Of the larger
kinds. and free camping grounds for the
| ever-increasing numbers of men and wo-
men who have learned to find rest. health,
| and recreation in the splendid forests and
| hower-clad meadows of our mountains.
| The forest reserves should be set apart
forever for the use and benefit Of our peo-
pie as whole and not sacrificed to the
shortsighted greed Of a few.
The forests are natural reservoirs. By
| restraining the streams in food and re-
plenishing them in drought they make pos
sible the use of waters otherwise wasted
They prevent the soil from washing and
so protect the storage reservoirs from fill
ing UP with silt. Forest conservation is
therefore an essential condition of water
conservation
Reclamation of Arid Lands.
The forests alone cannot, however. fully
regulate and conserve the waters Of the
arid region. Great storage works are nee
essary to equalize the flow of streams
and to save the food waters. Their con-
struction has been conclusively shown to
be an undertaking too vast for private ef-
fort. Nor can 1t be best accomplished by
the individual States acting alone Far
reaching interstate problems are involved; /;
and the resources Of single States would
often be Inadequate. 1t is properly a ma
tional function. at least in some Of its fea-
lures. 1t is as right for the National Gov
ernment to make the streams and rivers
of the arid region useful by engineering
works for water storage as to make use
full the rivers and harbors OF the humid
region by engineering works Of another
kind. The storing of the floods in reser-
voirs at the headwaters Of our rivers is
but an enlargement Of our present policy
Of river control. under which levees are
built on the lower reaches Of the same
streams.
The Government should construct and
maintain these reservoirs as it does other
public works. Where their purpose is to
regulate the flow Of streams, the water
should be turned freely into the channels
in the dry season to take the same course
under the same laws as the natural flow.
The reclamation of the unsettled arid
public lands presents a different problem.
Here it is not enough to regulate the flow
of streams. The object Of the Government
is to dispose of the land to settlers who
will build homes upon 1t. To accomplish