THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FORESTRY. 315 



the West. There is no more forcible statement of the dependence of 

 irrigation upon forestry than the following extract from the first mes- 

 sage of President Eoosevelt to Congress: 



In the arid region, it is water, not land, which measures production. The 

 western half of the United States would sustain a population greater than that 

 of our whole country to-day, if the waters that now run to waste were saved 

 and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems are perhaps the most 

 vital internal questions of the United States. 



The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the floods and by re- 

 plenishing them in drought, they make possible the use of water otherwise 

 wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the storage reser- 

 voirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is, therefore, an essential 

 condition of water conservation. 



Another function of the forest reserves, the regulation of which 

 is at present the most urgent problem of their management, is the use 

 of the grazing lands within their boundaries. Sheep and cattle raising 

 are, and will continue to be, two of the great industries of the arid 

 region. The over-grazing of lands important in the conservation of 

 water supply is harmful in the dying out and hardening of the soil, 

 as a result of the removal of its cover of herbs and grasses, and, in the 

 case of over-grazing by sheep, in the destruction of seedlings and young 

 trees. The purpose of forestry is not to impose unreasonable restric- 

 tions upon the development of the grazing industry within the reserves, 

 but to regulate it with due reference to the interests both of the stock- 

 man and the irrigator. 



The production of timber to fill the increasing needs of the mining 

 industry is another great function of the national forest reserves. The 

 laws governing their management confer upon the Secretary of the 

 Interior power to designate, appraise and sell timber within them. 

 The exercise of this provision under conservative measures can alone 

 continue to permit an adequate supply of timber to the miner and for 

 the home uses of settlers within the arid region. 



Wood and water are the chief returns from forested areas. They 

 produce the one and they conserve the other. So far, the treatment 

 of our forests has tended only to impair their usefulness. Preservation 

 without use is required neither of the private owner nor the federal 

 government. Forest preservation by wise use alone can meet the 

 national and the individual need. 



