The Prescott daily news., 1915-08-30
Floods ControII- ed by Produc-
 tion of Forests
Supervisor of Ozark Nation al Forests Says Floods are Due in Large Measure to Disregard of Forest Pro- lection a n d Destruction of Forest Cover.

Harrison, Aug. 30.-The disastrous overfiows now devasting the State drive home the timely remarks of the Supervisor of the Ozark National For est at Harrison, Arkansas in discuss ing the present situation. He said the recent floods are in large meas ure due to the disregard of forest protection and the destruction of the Forest cover by reoccurrent forest fir es.
 Both observation and record show fully that forests powerfully affect the manner in which water reaches streams and passes down them. The forest floor is a blanket and like a blanket it will hold more water than will the harder and relatively less DOT ous of the open. A forest soil when saturated vii hold more than half its weight in water or over inches of water for every foot of soil. This, as we'll as the breaking up of of forest soil by the roots of trees and under growth, makes it more effective than any other cover for the intake of water into that vast underground re- servoir from which all streams and springs are fed.
 When forest is cleared from a mountain watershed the blanket form ed by the decaying leaves, branches, and fallen trees is burned up, dried by the sun or carried off by the wind and water. This is inevitably followed by incresae in the frequency and dur. ation of the floods. This fact is known to every man who has an opportunity to observe it.
 That surface conditions affect stream flow is shown by the record of streams whose naturally treeless watersheds by cultivation have been mabe more retentive of water. The principal watersheds of the Red River lies in the prairie country of Western Texas and Oklahoma. With slightly encreased rainfall this stream shows during the last sixteen years a mark ed decrease in the frequency and dur ation of floods and of low water. During this period much of it's water sheds has been cultivated, groves have been planted and fires checked, result ing in large capacity for the absorp- tion and storage of water.
 That forests hold soil and that hill sides denuded of forest do not hold their soil is to be seen in any mount ian region in the United States. One small stream has been found by ac- tual measurement to deposit silt in one year equal to 1a tons per acre of | it's watershed.
 For the whole United States the loss of soil each year is from one to two thousand tons. At the lowest estim ate the total quantity of silt carried | by our streams would cover l foot deep a surface of Nore than 900 square miles. The larger part of it is deposited in the lower courses of our streams and in our harbors, menace to navigation and to present developed waterpowers and a handi- cap to their development.
 The White River and many of it's principal tributaries near it's head have their source in the Ozark Nation al Forest. Many of the tributaries of the Arkansas River have their begin ming in the Ozark Forest, such as Mulberry, Big and Little Piney Creeks, Illinois Bayou, Little Red River and many of its branches. The value of the Ozark National Forest watershed protection therefore is very great. It is the aim and hope of the Govern ment by continued forest fire preven- tion to restore this large watershed to the position of controlling to very material degree the run off of the streams affected Consistent forest protection and forest fire prevention by private owners, large and small, on their farms and large timbered areas will do very much in regulating stream flow so as to prevent the de- wasting floods such as now grip the