Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-12-05

| alton and maintenance of the national
wealth is now more fully realized than
| ever before.
| Wise forest protection does not mean
| the withdrawal of forest resources
| whether of wood, water or grass from
contributing their full share to the vel
| fare of the people, but. on the contrary,
! gives the assurance of larger and more
certain supplies. The fundamental idea
of forestry is the perpetuation of forests
| by use. Forest protection is not an end
| OF itself; it is a means to increase and
| sustain the resources of our country and
| the industries which depend upon them.
| The preservation Of our forests is an inn
| peratiye business necessity. We have
come to see clearly that whatever de-
stroys the forest except to make way for
agriculture threatens our well being.
| The practical usefulness of the national
| forest reserves to the mining, grazing. ir-
rigation and other interests of the regions
| in which the reserves lie has led to a
| widespread demand by the people of the
i west for their protection and extension.
| The forest reserves will inevitably be of
still greater use in the future than in the
| past. Additions should be made to them
whenever practicable. and their useful
ness should be increased by thoroughly
businesslike management.
! AT present the protection of the forest
reserves rests with the general land office.
| the mapping and description of their tim
Der with the United States geological sur
vey and the preparation of plans for their
conservative use with the burteau of for
estry. which is also charged with the gem
eral advancement of practical forestry in
the United States. These various func-
tons should be united in the bureau Of
| forestry, to which they properly belong.
| 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
scientific bureaus generally should be put
under 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 neesssd by the departments of war
and the navy.
Irrigation.
The wise administration of the forest
reserves 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 population greater than that Of
/ our whole country today If the waters
used for irrigation. The forest and water
problems are perhaps the most vital in
ternal questions of the United States.
Certain of the forest reserves should
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 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 sur
face vegetation by overgraZing that the
ground breeding birds. including grouse
and quail, and many mammals. including
deer. have been eXterminated or driven
away. AT the same time the water stor-
ing capacity of the surface has been de-
creased or destroyed, thus promoting
floods in times of rain and diminishing the
flow of streams between rains.
In cases where natural conditions have
| been restored for few years vegetation
/ has again carpeted the ground, birds and
/ deer are coming back. and hundreds of
persons. especially from the immediate
4 neighborhooo. 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 Ravens of refuge to our
rapidly diminishing wild animals of the
larger kinds and free camping grounds for
/ the ever increasing numbers of men ana
women who have learned to find rest,
health and recreation in the splendid for
ests and flower clad meadows Of our
mountains, The forest reserves should be
set apart forever for the use and benefit
of our people as n whole and not sacrificed
TO the shorts!ghted greed of a few
The forests are natural reservoirs. By
restraining the streams in flood and re-
pleniShing them in drought they make
| possible the use of waters otherwise
wasted. They prevent the soil from wash
ing and 80 protect the storage reservoirs
from filling up with silt. Forest conserva
ton is therefore an essential condition of
] water conservation.
Storage Works Necessary.
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 flood waters. Their construc-
ton has been conclusively shown to be an
| undertaking too vast for private effort
Nor can IT be best accomplished by the In
dividuai states acting alone. Farreaching
interstate problems are involved. and the
resources of single states would often be
Inadequate. 1t is properly national
function, at least In some of Its 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 en-
largement Of our present policy of river
| control under which levees are built on
the lower reaches OF the same streams.
The government should construct ana
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 it. To accomplish
this object wafer must be brought within
| their reach
The pion, settlers on the arid public
domain chose Their homes along streams
from which ~ could themselves divert
the water TO a: their holdings. Such
oppor:un' ale practically gone. There
remain, nu"ever. vast areas Of public
land which can be made available for
homestead settlement, but only by reser-