THE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS ON CLIMATE AND FLOODS 2I i 



tains far more rapidly than they would 

 if these innumerable gullies, runs, or 

 natural ditches did not exist. Man, in 

 other words, is causing the natural dig- 

 ging of drains on land where no sane 

 man would wish to have a drain, but 

 where common sense would indicate the 

 necessity of creating every possible ob- 

 stacle and every means which would 

 keep the waters from gathering into 

 runs and from rushing into the streams 

 and out of the mountains. 



6. The faster the waters collect and 

 rush down the slopes, the more they 

 erode the land and the more powerful 

 they are to carry away the soil, so that 

 this evil is one which not only continues 

 but is getting worse the longer it lasts. 



7. The earth which is thus washed 

 out in the creation of these gullies and 

 in the removal of soils from the slopes 

 is rushed into the streams and sooner or 

 later finds its way into the navigable 

 parts of the rivers below, where every 

 inch of depth of water is precious. 



8. \\'ith the forests and other obsta- 

 cles removed and with innumerable 

 ruts, gullies and runs facilitating its 

 speedy run-oif, the waters rush from 

 the mountains much faster and there- 

 fore have less time to soak into the 

 earth. But in times of little or no rain, 

 the streams depend for their supply 

 largely, often entirely, on water which 

 has been stored in the soil and which 

 slowly, but steadily, seeps out to feed 

 the streams. The rushing off of the 

 waters on the surface and in the drains 

 and runs reduces the storage of water 

 and this means less water during low 

 water times : it means less water in the 

 rivers, at the very time when most 

 needed. 



9. The forests of these mountains 

 have been and should be a great and 

 permanent condition covering eighty- 

 five to ninety per cent of all the moun- 

 tain area. This is the natural condi- 

 tion ; its establishment and maintenance 

 therefore are not matters of costly con- 

 struction and doubtful utility like artifi- 

 cial reservoirs. It grows of its own 

 accord, and all it asks is that man 

 shall not wilfullv destroy it. 



10. The establishment and mainte- 



nance of a forest cover on these moun- 

 tains will not be a great expense to the 

 people. The forests on these mountains, 

 in due time, will be self supporting and 

 will amply pay back such capital as is 

 put into the purchase of the lands. 



11. This forest cover is the only 

 regulator which man can maintain in 

 these mountains, which is assuredly 

 feasible, practicable, and permanent. 

 Some artificial reservoirs, no doubt, will 

 be built in time. An extensive set of 

 such reservoirs would mean displace- 

 ment of railways, highways, farm 

 homes, etc., it would mean the making 

 of lakes out of the very bottom lands 

 which to-day are the only lands on 

 which farming is successful and perma- 

 nent. Such reservoirs would mean the 

 building of many dams and bring with 

 them the dangers of flood catastro- 

 phies. And in the end all reservoirs 

 would certainly fill up with mud unless 

 the entire system is safeguarded by a 

 forest cover on the mountains. 



12. The forest cover is not taking 

 lands which should be used for other 

 purposes, and does not prevent such 

 use at any future time. Though 

 among the oldest settled regions of the 

 country, not five per cent of the real 

 mountain lands are used agriculturally. 

 ^^Tlerever farming is successful, it is in 

 the valleys on good bottom and bench 

 lands which would never be disturbed 

 by the enterprise requested. 



These mountain forests are valuable 

 in many other ways — they produce tim- 

 ber, they serve as place of recreation to 

 thousands of people, and they are worth 

 millions for their beauty alone, but 

 since Congress believes itself bound by 

 the Constitution to consider the matter 

 from the standpoint of stream regula- 

 tion, the above reasons are the ones em- 

 phasized in support of the "Weeks Bill." 



These reasons have evidently appeal- 

 ed to Congress before, for the Senate 

 has at three dift'erent times passed a 

 bill for this purpose, and the house has 

 done so once. But again the opposi- 

 tion appears and as its champion the 

 Chief of the Weather Bureau, Willis L. 

 Moore, who in a "Report on the iniJu- 

 cncc of forest on climate and on floods" 



