1520 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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I'LANl INi; IKKI.S OX DENUDED LAXDS 



"I'ransplant beds at the Cottonwood Nursery on the Wasatch National Forest in Utah. About 10,030,000 

 forest tree seedlings and transplants are grown by the Forest Service each year for use in the reforestation 

 of denuded lands on the National Forests. 



ciple was followed, namely, that 

 land chiefly valuable for the pre- 

 vention of erosion or the regu- 

 lation of stream flow should be 

 retained in the National Forests 

 and administered primarily for 

 these purposes. Such other lands 

 as appear to be more valuable 

 for crop production have either 

 been eliminated altogether trinii 

 the National I'^orests or cl.-;c 

 opened to entry under the l'"or- 

 est Homestead Act. It some- 

 times happened that areas were 

 encountered which were of value 

 both for farming and for water- 

 shed protection. When this was 

 the case it became necessary to 

 determine their relative value for 

 the two purposes. The fact that 

 throughout the West water is 

 such a precious commodity ordi- 

 narily led to the classihcation of 

 such tracts as primarily valu- 

 able for watershed protection. 

 A good example of the way in 





burned over lo acres, and only 

 4.4 per cent caused a damage of 

 more than $ioo. The chief op- 

 portunities for further progress 

 lie in reducing the number of 

 fires that occur, and in this work 

 every citizen can help. The 

 water user in particular should 

 be among the very first to co- 

 operate in keeping down fires. 

 His prosperity is intimately 

 bound up with their suppression. 



Necessary precautions are 

 likewise taken to keep in check 

 insects and diseases which would 

 endanger the forest cover on 

 watersheds in the National 

 Forests. 



When the boundaries of the 

 National Forests were first 

 drawn it was inevitable that oc- 

 casional areas of land more suit- 

 able for farming than for timber 

 production or watershed protec- 

 tion should have been included. 

 To make certain that all of the 

 lands within the National For- 

 ests will be put to their best use thorough surveys were 

 made by experts, as a result of which the lands have 

 been classified according to their primary value for tim- 

 ber production, watershed protection, agriculture, and the 

 like. In making this classification, one fundamental prin- 



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This is the watershed from which Colorado Springs derives its domestic water supply. About 10,000 acres 

 are reforested each year by the Forest Service, mainly on watersheds from which towns and cities and 

 irrigation projects derive their water supply. 



which this works out in actual practice is afforded by the 

 Angeles National Forest in southern California, which is 

 the main source of the water supply for millions of 

 dollars' worth of citrus groves and other irrigated lands 

 in the valleys below. These lands, which owe their high 



