The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-07-16
DEFORESTATION.

The subject of the results of defores-
tation on these Islands has constant
ly been brought before the public on
these Islands A twelve month ago
series of articles appeared upon this
subject in The star. dealing with the
deforestation on this Island especially,
and showing from actual observation
what had occurred in a comparatively
short time in the Waianae and Waia-
lua districts. These articles We're bas-
ed upon the actual observations of a
noted scientist who had visited the ISL
ands at two separate periods and who
was better qualified to judge of what
changes had taken place in the forests
than those who saw the forests from
day to day. 1t was a very unhappy
picture, and since then We have had a
wanton destruction of land which had
been reforested, but that destruction is
at the door of the Federal Bureau of
Agriculture.
The Popular, Science Monthly thus
speaks of the forests of the West, and
the dangers threatened by the de-
struction OF their apparently illimit-
able area. The writer says:
When in our western forests one is
constantly impressed by the change in
relative humidity wrought wherever
the forest has been removed. Springs
have disappeared and canyon and ra-
vines are now. dry where there were
formerly perennial streams. Under the
leaf mold and other debris of the forest
Z ha soil fc lKnrax VIC iGt hill a
nuded areas in the same locality it is
parched and dry. Everywhere the deep
mulch forming the floor of the forest
grasps the descending rains and melt !
ing SHOWS and guides them into the |
deeper recesses of the earth. Where |
the forests have been destroyd, or even
the mulch and litter forming the forest |
floor, as it so often is by fire or the |
excessive grazing of sheep, the rains
for the most part, instead of sinking |
into the soil, pass over the surface,
carrying silt and other debris into the
streams and reservoirs, causing vital |
injury to irrigation enterprises.
so, also, in the semiarid regions,
where there are no forests or where |
they have been destroyed, the wind has
a free sweep, resulting in a enormous
increase in evaporation. In some in
stances the evaporation from a water
surface exposed to the free sweep of
the wind reaches a maximum of thir-
teen inches in a single month.
I'VE do not appreciate how great the
necessity for the preservation of the
forests is to the irrigable west. Reser-
Voirs for the purpose of impounding
water to be used in irrigation have
been constructed by private enterprise
in many parts of the west. and the pos
sibility of governmental construction of
such reservoirs is by no means imprOb-
able. Effective reservoirs are not pos
sible in our irrigable regions without
due regard for the forests that feed the
streams which fill them. Forests every
where are the great preventers of ero-
sion, and nowhere is this more evident
than in our western mountains. The
utility of reservoirs, and to a lesser eX-
tent of distributing canals and laterals.
becomes destroyed as they fill with
silt. To prevent this filling the forests
must be preserved"
The writer in the Popular Science
deals with large areas. We
have to deal with small ones. But the
same laws rule both and forest destruc,
ton or deforestation tells more quickly
On tn small than on the large area. We
have had a. strong lesson here of how