The San Francisco call., 1903-01-14
OPPOSED TO FOREST RESERVES

made in that county, on the ground that 1t IS
nimical the interests of the people, and have ap-
propriated large OF money to cover the cost OF
his mission The Shasta reservation is also meeting
with the most bitter opposition Judge Spencer has
written long and lively indictment OF the Shasta
reserve, which evidently is generally supported by
the mountain people, and utters their irreconeable
opposition to the policy which it attacks.
We do not intend to traverse entirely Judge Spen-
GERS statements But he is greatly in in
cribng the foods in the Sacramento River and other
in the Sacramento Valley the standing for
ests The Sacramento Valley Improvement Associa-
ton petoned for the Shasta reservation, to protect
the and headwaters of the streams. Judge
Spencer points TO the annual foods and the levees
OF Suffer- Yuba Yoo and Sacramento Counties.
raised protect cities and ranches against them,
evidence that the forests cause the foods He claims
the mets quickly in the timber, while it lies
all summer on the mountains above the timber line.
Now, in the first place the destructive floods were
caused and continue be caused by the filling OF
the stream channels with sckens from the hydraulic
mines When the river beds were raised by this de-
posit volume of that had before been carried
within their banks spread the country with
disastrous effect Speaking generally however, it
is late in the experience of the world deny the
torrentia effect upon streams of stripping the land
of its forests Forests hold back the rainfall; they
hold soil and keep porous that the soaks
in and its passage to the streams is thereby mpeded
and restrained so that its delivery the drainage
channel is slow and steady, maintaining the flow of
the stream
When the land is stripped of this process dis
appears, in whole in part. The water rushes rap
idly to the channel carrying with it the soil that
longer held by the roots of trees. The rapid de
livery into the them into torrents, cuts
out their channels tears their banks, destroys their
meander which aided the deliberate flow of the
water and when the torrent is past, there being but
little water in the soil for slow delivery the stream
declines, and its flow in ceases entirely.
This the result of too much interference with the
natural equilibrium. Stripping vast watersheds of
timber is the prime OF the floods in the Ohio
and the Mississippi and the Federal Government has
to spend millions annually in levees and other arti-
fetal works to prevent destruction of vast tracts
OF farming lands in the valleys OF those streams.
1t is true as Judge Spencer says, that the snow
lies longest above the timber line, but between it
and the valley is the receptive soil protected by the
forest which receives the by the melt
ing snow on the heights above and delivers it slowly
to the streams Take off the forests, and the soil,
no longer held in place, goes down the mountain
In one view of the subject taken by Judge Spen-
Ger there is general and ustihable sympathy Within
these reservations there are numerous improved pri-
vate tracts and number of established towns, which
are unnecessarily isolated by the reservation the
great injury OF large number Of citizens. The Judge
says with heat force that the forest reserve
pelling this isolation, is "a continuing, perpetual
blight and curse upon the district which is unfor
tunate as to be included within its gloomy borders
But this raises an entirely different question from
the main one that he is discussing 1t is a question
OF administration entirely SO far the Interior De-
partment has rgdly prevented to and transit
across these forest by electric roads, which
would use for power the water of mountain streams
without in the least depicting it, and which would
not expose the forests TO fire or other of
injury.
In our opinion the department has not sufficiently
considered that these saddle the Sierra, and
as administered practically cut the State in two for
bidding access and communication between its east
and west sides 1t is this that is regarded curse
by thousands of people who led by it to join
the entirely unreasonable opposition to the reserva
ton policy This is the gloomy feature that is
made the most OF by that opposition.
Instead of sending public agents to Washington to
demand vacation OF the reservations the counties
cerned should send them there to advise change in
the method OF administering the reserves, by which
the damaging and unnecessary isolation OF towns and
private property would cease and every reserve come
finally to be penetrated by useful and necessary cleo
tric roads which would really increase the safety of
the forests, and by furnishing quick communication
cheaper the cost Of their administration little
bit of common sense would all this opposi-
ton and preserve the forests of this State to perform
their great natural function the conservators of
moisture and fertilizers OF our soil
After making great splutter about prohibiting
betting on horse races the British commission ap-