The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-12-06

because of the great injury done by
live stock, above all by sheep. The
increase in deer, elk and other animals
in the Yellowstone park shows what
may be expected when other mountain
forests 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 exterminat-
ed or driven away. At the same time
water-storing capacity of the sur
face has been decreased or destroyed
thus promoting floods in times Of rain
and diminishing the flow Of streams
between rains.
In cases where nacura1 conditions
have been restored for a few years,
vegetation has again carpeted the
ground, birds and deer are coming
back, and hundreds, of persons, espec-
tally from the immediate neighbor-
hood, come each summer to enjoy the
privilege of camping. Some at least
Of the forest reserves should afford
perpetual protection to the native
fauna and fora, safe Ravens of refuge
to our rapidly diminishing wild ami
Halls VI Iue ldI6Cl Minus, anu 1lCC
| camping grounds for the ever-increas-
ing numbers Of men and women who
have learned to find rest and recrea-
| ton in the splendid forests and flower
| clad meadows of our mountains. The
forest reserves should be set apart
forever for the S and benefit of our
people as a whole and not sacrificed
to the shortsighted greed of a few.
The forests are natural reservoirs.
BY restraining the streams in flood
and replenishing them in drought they
make possible the use of waters other
wise wasted. They prevent the soil
from washing, and so protect the stor-
age reservoirs from filling up with
silt. Forest conservation is therefore
an essential condition of water ON
servatien.
The forest alone cannot, however,
fully regulate and conserve the waters
of the arid region. Great storage
works a re necessary to %equalize the
flow of streams to save the mood
waters. Their construction has been
~conclusively shown to Ne an under
taking too vast for private effort. Nor
can it be best accomplished by the in
dividual states acting alone. Far
reaching interstate problems are in
volved: and the resources of single
states would often be inadequate. 1t
is properly a national function, at
least in some of it's features. 1t is
as right for the national government
to make the streams and rivers of the
arid region useful by engineering
works for water storage as to make
useful the rivers and harbors of the
humid region by engineering works
Of another kind. The storing of the
floods in reservoirs 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 il
does other publis works. Where theil
purposes 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 tt
regulate the fow-of streams. The oh
ject of the government is to dispose
of the land to settlers who will built
homes upon it. To accomplish this
object water must be brought within
their reach.
The pioneer settlers on the ariC
public domain chose their homes along
streams from which they coud them
selves divert the water to reclaim
r their holdings. Such opportunities
are practically gone. There remain
however, vast areas of public lant
which can be made available for home
: stead settlement. but only by reser
' voirs and mainline canals impracti
cable for private enterprise. Thes'
: irrigation works should be built b.
the national government. The land
! reclaimed by them should be reserved
! by the government TO r actual set
should so TAR as possible be repaid b,
the land r eclaimed. The distribution
of the water, the division of tn
streams among %irrigators, should b.
left to the settlers themselves in con
formity with state laws and withou
interference with those laws or wit
: vested rights. The policy of the ma
tional government should be to al,
. irrigation in the several states an,
territories in such manner as will er
+ able the people in the local commur
i tiles to help themselves, and as Wi
q stimulate needed reforms in the stat
laws and regulations governing irr
y cation.
The reclamation and settlement G
! the arid lands will enrich every POI
q ton of our country, just as the settle
ment of the Ohio and Mississippi va
leys brought prosperity to the Atlanti
states. The increased demand TO
manufactured articles will stimulat
. Industrial production, while wide
h home markets and the trade of Ash
will consume the larger food supple
n and effectually prevent western con
petition with eastern agriculture. Il
deed, the products of irrigation wi
be consumed chiefly in upbuildin
local centers of mining and other il
dustries, which would otherwise nj
come into existence at all. Our peopl
# as a whole will profit, for %successf1