Arizona republican., 1911-03-03
WATERSHED ENDANGERED Salt River Valley Affected By Hepburn Amendment
 FARMERS ARE ALARMED.
Tonto Basin Section May No Longer Be Protected From Overgrazing Cat tlemen and Sheepmen Fear Interference.

Resolutions of protest against tn, Ipassage by congress of the agriculture Appropriation bill. carrying the Hey. burn amendment. which would bav, the effect of throwing three-fonrths nj
 the Arizona forest reserves open f, iindiscriminate grazing. would serIous. " lhJure the Tonto watershed snd en- danger the success of the Salt rive, reclamation project, will probably be
 passed at meeting of the board o-
 ,r'tde directors this afternoon.
 Clifford PinChot, former chief forest CT Of the United States. has ', fred "
 W. Cook. president of the Arizona Cat He Growers association. that the en- aci'nent of the Heyburn amendment in- to law would entirely destroy grazing use of the national forests and must be killed"
 The Associated Press dispatch in The Republican of yesterday morning. telling Of the adoption by the senate. sitting as a committee of the whole. of the Heyburn amendment. aroused great apprehension among the farmers. stockmen and sheepmen and all others who understood its deep import
 Senator Hepburn of Idaho first of fered an amendment to the agricultural appropriation bill to cut down the ap- propriatiOn for the forestry service from more than sj.000 GOO to Sl .OOO. 900 This amendment failed, but Heyburn then offered another to limit the ex- penditure of the forestry appropriation to lands carrying 4.0O0 feet or more of commercial timber per acre. in contigu- ous areas of l60 acres. This second was accepted by the com mi:tee of the whole.
 During the day Mir Cook received the following telegram
 Washington, D. C.. March ?. w W. Cook, Phoenix. Arizona:
 "Heyburn amendment. excluding all land from national forest not bearing { 900 feet commercial timber agreed to in senate last night and is now in The situation is serious Please communicate immediately with Senator Warren and Representative Scott. Amendment would entirely de- stroy grazing use of national forests and p.ust be killed
 "GIFF0RD PINCHOT."
 Upon receipt of the above telegram NIT. Cook interviewed E. A. Fowler. w J. Murphy and others, all of whom readily realized the gravity Of the situ- alton when it was explained that the Hepburn amendment would throw the Tonto watershed open to indiscriminate grazing The protection of that water shed is absolutely vital to the Salt river valley. since the prevention cf over grazing theron greatly increases the rainfall. Officials of the reclamation service say that should the watershed not receive the protection now given it 1t would Immediately be Overstocked, the undergroWth would be eaten out and il would soon become almost bar ren. There would be little to attract rainfall. pr conserve it when it came. In fact the reclamation service has several times entered vigorous. protests when there was danger of unlimited grazing Leing permitted on the water shed.
 Mir Cook estimates that if the Hey burn amendment is permitted to go through by both houses of congress it will eliminate ct feast three-fourths of the forest reserves in Arizona. On no part of the Tonto watershed. which drains into the lake created by the Roosevelt dam, is there 4,000 feet of merchantable timber to the acre. There is almost no land between Phoenix and Flagstaff. now included in the nation al forests, on which that much timber grows. Areas of 160 acres with 1000 feet to the acre are extremely rare.
 on no land which does not come within the provisions of the law can any money be expended for trails. fire protection or even for guarding. A for est guard will not even be permitted to patrol the treeless spaces and order off stock whose owners have not se- cured grazing permits from the forest supervisors. Areas included in the reserves for watershed purposes. like the Tonto watershed. will have no more protection than ordinary public lands.
 If there is an area in the middle of a forest which does not carry the re- protection. any outside grower can drive his stock in. in defiance of the forest officials This will create end less confusion and stoclimen having permits are greatly alarmed over the prospect. This applies both to cattle men and sheepmen. for both these ele- ments in Arizona are working in harmony with the forest service. It IS believed that most of the larger sheep men of the territory will join 'Sith the cattlemen and farmers in protesting against the Heyburn amendment.
 Hugh Campbell, president of the Arizona Wool Growers association. was out of the city yesterday. but is expected this morning. He will be at the meeting this afternoon and will be asked to define the exact position of the sheep growers.
 one of the principal objections of the forestry service officials to the measure is that it will seriously curtail