The San Francisco call., 1905-06-20
FORESTS WILL
Be PRESERVED
BY JAMES s. TYLER.

CALL BUREAU, POST BUILDING,
WASHINGTON, June 1e.-President
Roosevelt says that the forests of Cali
fornia will be preserved. He believes
that the giant redwoods, that have lived
through three thousand years of senti-
mel duty on the slopes of the California
hills and mountains, are absolutely
necessary to the well-being of the agri-
cultural development of the State, and
the timber cutting tendency must stop.
The President has not sounded the
alarm too soon. A glance at the rec
ords of the Geological Survey shows
that while there has not been any
material dimunition of the rainfall in
California during the past twenty
shrinkage of the waters of California
streams. The stretches of burnt"
country and small timber sections
have increased by thousands upon
thousands of acres and the under
growths ability to hold the seasons
moisture has not been demonstrated.
Tree destruction is not confined to the
mere cutting of trees for lumber and
fuel Sheepmen and mining prospectors
have wrought much unnecessary dam
age to forests. The young trees have
not been protected and insufficient at
tention has. been given to reforesting.
Now all will be different. The
Bureau of Forestry has taken up the
study of reforesting with vigor and to
the important work the President has
given a great deal of personal atten-
tion. The result has been the creation
of the Maury Mountain, Oregon, reserve
and the Lassen Peak reserve. The lat
ter includes 100000 acres and is in one
81 3roh M the
State of California Sugar pine and fir
is the principal growth. with occasion
al patches of redwoods.
The Lassen reserve has been created
to preserve the water courses that will
pe required in years to come to carry out
the various reclamation projects. Four
big lumber concerns have been closing
In on the billions of feet of lumber in
the great Lassen district, but the new
reserve will check them.
The Bureau of Forestry has been ex-
perimenting in reforestration in the San
Gabriel Mountains back of Pasadena
The results Of the Government tests have
been very gratifying and on the chap
arral-covered slopes fine. sturdy growth
of young timber has sprung up which has
greatly assisted in preventing the winter
rain waters from being carried off too
rapidly. Many Southern California farm
ers and several irrigation companies
have sent letters to the bureau at Wash
ington asking that certain watersheds ad-
jacent to Anaheim, Riverside and Santa
Ana be reforested and the work is soon
to be taken up.
One of the most interesting experiments
that has been made by the Bureau of
Forestry is that with redwood seed. The
problem of reforesting depleted redwood
districts and Of growing redwoods in Sec
tions where the trees have not lived was
for long time a puzzling one, but it is
believed that Ranger Lewis L. Davis of
the General Grant National Park, in
California. has solved 1T. Davis writes
that under certain favorable conditions
the redwood tree does reproduce itself.
He tried the planting of redwood seed in
various kinds of soil and under widely
varying climatic conditions, but the seed
failed 10 germinate. He noticed that
when thin coating of ashes was spread
over the ground the redwood seedlings
seemed to flourish and he therefore tried
the seeding of an extensive acreage with
the soil thus treated. with the result that
a grove of 400 young trees has devel-
oped and is waxing stronger and strong
er each month.