The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-24

for water is the Vests greatest need. conservation is to be the most inn portant service rendered by the re- serves. What this would mean in the way of increased agricultural wealth 1t Is easy to sec
 The people of the United States, as whole, havo little Idea of the enormous magnitude of the interests affected by the governments forest reserve policy. Timber supply, im- portant as this is. is a relatively small part of the whole purpose. The recla- a sustained or heightened fertility for. other millions of acres of farm lands, and finally. the safeguarding for the future of pasturage for millions of head of sheep and cattle are already certain results of that policy. It con- templates furnishing the present and thousands of prospective settlers wood, water. tillable lands, and prosperous homes. Round1y stated, the purpose Is to give these forests reserves their highest utility to all who use them now or will use them hereafter.
 This is clearly work of stupendous proportions. Irrigation. which will prove the salvation of millions of acres Of these lands. can not realize its largest possibilities unless the water sheds of the West are under conserva- tive forest management. Great dam age has been done there by overgraz- ing. reckless numbering, and, most of all, by fires. Reserves were estab- lished to stop this damage and to give the forests their greatest usefulness by conserving the water supply without shutting off the supply of timber. On account of the expense and natural con- ditions involved. there is a limit to the size of impounding reservoirs, hence the necessity for preventing their overflow by floods, and for making their supply regular. that all the water possible may be saved for use. Forests are the chief agency in this work. and to main tain them is absolutely essential to the reclamation of the arid West.
 This use of a forest. however. is not at all inconsistent with its use for many purposes. Lumbering. when rightly done. Is an advantage. not a. detriment. Grazing, when regulated. does mot injure the forest, and pros- pecting, locating. and developing mines are not interfered with by reserve re- strictions. Thus the government, in establishing reserves, fin no sense withdraws the forests from use. On the contrary. while all their present uses are continued. their greatest pow CT for good is kept from injury and increased in value by the wise and careful protection afforded by resers e management. Only under such man. agement can these forests most effec- lively aid irrigation in retaining thousands of square miles of waste lands, and in building homes over vast areas hitherto regarded as impossible of settlement.
 The Bureau of Forestry has had du- ring the past summer fifteen agents Tn the field investigating actual and pro- posed forest reserves. If they discov- CT that agricultural lands, or lands more valuable for other purposes, have been included in reserves, they will recommend their immediate exclusion. If they ind land which will be more useful when reserved than when nut reserved, they will recommend that it be added to an adjacent reserve or form a new one.
 Often the hardest task of the Bureau agents is in reconciling conflicting lo- cal interests. Sheep and cattle men may be disputing over the same graz ing grounds. or each class may be at war over individual grazing rights. Again, owners of farms or of water power plants may object to any graz ing in the forests. lest the water sup. ply be injured. In all such cases the Bureau experts must examine and re- port on every phase of the question. that, so far as possible. absolute jus tice may be done to all interests. In perfecting present boundaries and in- creasing reserve areas temporary To- cal injury to some interest is some times inevitable. This is most unfur- | tunate, but these occasional injuries l can not weigh against the importance | or the general purpose of forest re- serve establishment.
 In all of thls work one large fact is | to be recognized. It Is that in the l execution of the policy Of reserving | from private acquisition such parts of | the public domain as are suited to for est growth and most useful under per | manent forests. a far-reachine and | beneficent policy is being carried out. | Under it the government is acting to | secure perpetually in the interests of | the whole people vast wealth-produc- | ing resources which otherwise, under | the stimulus of immediate private | profits from numbering, grazing, and | the like, would in no long time be lost forever.