Evening star., 1955-02-28
Low Water TubIe

There is an awful lot of talk about
water shortage today in this country.
And well there may be!
Both shortage and talk are not con-
fined to the Maryland Virginia area.
Water shortage is growing phenom-
enon of the entire Eastern United
States and in very large areas of the
West as well. 1t is, therefore, strange
to me that conServationiSts as well as
laymen seem not to view the various
concurrent evidences of this shortage
as being particularly related to con-
comitant causes. In fact, am contin-
ually surprised by the attitude on the
part of agricultural and forestry ex-
'perts. both in Government and out, of
something akin to bewilderment as to
the reasons for lack of rain in Suffi-
cient quantities and the lowering wa
ter tables g.
Yet I think the reasons are fairly
obvious for those who are not too en-
crossed in detail and who want to see.
To begin with, greater and greater
areas of land are denuded of heavy
growths of timber. There is, it is true,
lot of wood and brush on the hills
and mountains and On the Atlantic
coastal plain. But there is less and less
heavy. misunderstanding coverage COM
posed of large trees defending the
ground from the suns rays and digging
deep in the earth with their roots.
Probably the average farmer in the
East and certainly every observing for
ester knows that the air and the land
under tall heavy forest growth is far
more moist, even during and after the
hottest and driest weather, than that
of places sparsely covered or covered
only by young brush. Laymen in gen.
eral can be excused for thinking that
now. because there are so many State
and national forests, not to mention
parks and parkways, the situation
should be we'll in hand. What they do
not realize is that most of these State
and national forests and parks. with
some exceptions in the far West. are
areas which have been thoroughly
logged over and burned over and in
great part do not deserve the name
forest" but rather brush" or waste
land" Valuable heavy timber Is very
rarely acquired, either by purchase or
gift, by Federal or State governments
for forest preserves, until after the best
part of the salable trees have been
cut or burned off.
The great natural water absorber
and retainer. the primeval forest and
the ground under it, has practically
disappeared over all the Eastern United
States. The streams coming from the
sparsely covered mountains and hills
are less full than they used to be.
Plowed land and cropped fields, of
course, conserve relatively little mois-
ture. There are often sudden freshets
at which times the courses run high
with soil-laden water. But the average
depth and weight of water which goes
through them during years time is
decreasing all the while.
It Is my observation that not only
do forests conserve moisture by hold
ing it from spilling down the streams
in sudden torrents but also by their
gradual exudation and Transportation Of
1t which permits the formation Of much
gentle precipitation.
If it is recognized that heavy forests
are a prime necessity in conserving
moisture and dispensing it economi-
cally, it is obvious that forest conser-
walton and reforestation must be prac-
ticed on a scale heretofore hardly
dreamed Of ClarkSOn j. Beau.