, 1903-09-03
ON FOREST RESERVES
A Prominent Citizens Views On the
States Water Supply.

- 80 o- oo
ant matter for the whole west
that it deserves a more thor )ugh
study right now than is being Civ
en- to it.
We know in a general way
that forests in the mountains aid
greatly in holding water back for
late irrigation. The timber holds
the snow, and as it is from ten to
twenty degrees cooler in the
shade of the forest, SNOW will
melt much less rapidly than on
the open hillsides exposed Co the
sun, and where less snow lodges
on account of being blown off
during the storms. Pine trees
quickly make a v of pine
needles, through which water
soaks and gradually finds its way
to the creek beds. sometimes
months after melting. Where
there are bare rocks the water
rushes off down to the streams at
the time the snow melts, and
passes away long before the irri-
cation season begins.
Along some streams in the Big
IArA ,aa,ntop1 AUtapcuA For
est fires have changed the flow of
water so much in the irrigating
season that only half the water
flows now late in the season Ms
formerly. Forest fires are very
destructive, as frequently the
muck or peat made by vegetation
burns as we'll as the timber, and
the first rains wash away the ash
es. leaving rocks exposed and no.
thing on the surface to act as a
sponge 20 absorb the water and
delay its running off. Some of
the streams on the Big Horn
mountains which do not head
high up in the mountains have a
larger flow of water than those
which have a greater drainage ba-
sin and head where there is con.
slant snow. In all ceses of this
kind it is found that on the larg-
er flowing stream the timber has
not been burned off, while in the
other cast it has, and there is lit.
tie vegetation left. When we
get dams built at most favorable
site for reservoirs in our noun
tains. and a much larger number
of farmers living along our
streams, we are in danger of de-
populating all these streams by
not having a proper care and su-
pe~rvision of the vegetation in our
mountains to conserve the water
supply. If the grass is grazed
off our mountains to such an ex-
tent that the soil is washed away
by the rains, we do more to re-
duce u supply of water than we
can possibly gain building reser-
voirs. This is such a vital ques-
ton in our irrigated country, and
has such a bearing on the future
growth of our region, that it
would appear great care and dill
gent supervision must be exercis-
ed over our mountain regions,
and the quicker this is done the
better, for u farming land is
constantly increasing, and as
more money is invested in irriga-
ton works it will be necessary to
insure at least a continuance of
the percent flow of water in our
streams. This need not prevent
entirely the pasturing of stock on
our timber reserves, but the kill
ing off of the grass and vegetation
from overlooking should be
avoided, aud heavy penalty
should be imposed in case of fires.
Each man who has a permit to
Craze on the ser must be held
responsible for fires in great mea-
sure. and carelessness is shown,
his permit should be revoked and
he should go into other business
where his carelessness would have
less influence on the community
at large.
New patches Of timber should
be grown over our mountain
slopes, with good fire guards be-