Arizona republican., 1901-12-04


 SCOTT G BOVINE, zoo Pearl street; New York grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the arid region 1t is water, not land, which measures pro- duction. The western half of the Unit ed 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 irriga- tion. The forest and water problems are perhaps the most vital internau question of the United States.
 ce. tain of the forest reserves shoul' also be made preserves for the wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great injury done hy live stock. above all by sheep. The in crease 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, in clu7inF deer, have been exterr'natrI pr driven avay. At the same :inis the wdtsr-storing capacity of the surface has b-cn ctcI eased or destroyei. thus I,cInoting floods in times of ra ani tHeai: rains.
 Ir cases where natural conditions have been restored for e few years. vegtation has again carpe:e1 the ground, bids and deer are coming back, and hundreds of persons, csrec- ;al:y 1roi1l tho immediate neig'oorhooi, conc each summer to enjoy the priv IeSe Of camping. Some at least of tho forest reserves should afford perpetual protection t. the native faura and fora, safe havens of refuge 10 our ra,.- idly din'irishlng wild animais of the larger kincs. and free camping grounds for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to find rest, health. and recreation in the splendid forests and fiower-clad mead ows of our mountains. The forest re- serves should be set apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as whole and not sacrificed to the short greed of few.
 The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood and them in drought they make possible the use of waters other wise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing. and so protect the stor-
  Forest conservation is therefore an es- Sential condition of water conservation.
 NATIONAL IRRIGATION.
 The forest alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to equalize the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their construction has been conclusive ly shown to be an undertaking too vast for private effort. Nor can 1t be best ac- complished by the individual states acting alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and the re- of single states would often be inadequate. It is properly a national function, at least in some of it's feat ures. It is as right for the national government to make the streams and rivers or the arid region useful by en- gineering 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 headwa- ters 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
 
 other public works. Where their pur- pose is to regulate the flow of streams, he water should be turned freely into he channels in the dry season to take he same course under the same laws IS the natural flow.
 The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different prob em. Here it is not enough to regu- ate the flow of streams. The object Of he government is to dispose of the and to settlers who will build homes lpon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought within their each.
 The pioneer settlers in the arid pub ic domain chose their homes along streams from which they could them elves divert the water to reclaim their holdings. Such opportunities are prac- ically gone. There remain, however. -ast areas of public land which can be made available for homestead settle nent, but only by reservoirs and main inc canals impracticable for private These irrigation works hould be built by the national govern hould be reserved by the government or actual settlers. and the cost of con- truction should so far as possible be epaid by the land reclaimed. The of the water. the division f the streams among irrigators, should e left to the settlers themselves in con- ormity with state laws and without in- erference with those laws or with vest