FORESTS AND FLOOD PREVENTION 



395 



gleamed a myriad of isolated fires, like 

 camp fires of an army. But the fire 

 zone was narrow. It was evident that 

 the crew had held it to the canyon. 

 Soon the pale gray of approaching 

 dawn appeared over Meridian Hill. A 

 little later they could safely trust them- 

 selves on the crags ; and then came the 



slow, weary march by a long detour to 

 camp. 



Thus ended the crisis in that fight, 

 won by the two on a lucky chance as- 

 signment. And now no newspaper 

 writer more ably defends the Service 

 than the former guard. He has seen, 

 and he knows. 



FORESTS AND FLOOD PREVENTION 



^f^jHE report of the United States 

 ^_J Waterways Commission, re- 

 cently made public, devotes ten 

 pages to a review of the conflicting 

 opinions, statements and reports upon 

 the influence of forests upon naviga- 

 tion and flood prevention. 



The Commission says that the ofli- 

 cers of the Corps of Engineers and 

 meteorologists are, as a rule, inclined 

 to minimize the influence of forests 

 upon rainfall and stream flow, while 

 geologists, foresters and others are in- 

 clined to emphasize it and civilian engi- 

 neers are about equally divided. 



The Commission reviews the investi- 

 gations made by Prof. Mead, of the 

 University of Wisconsin, and those of 

 Colonel Burr, of the Corps of Engi- 

 neers, both of which showed that no 

 particular variation in stream flow 

 could be traced to the large changes in 

 forest cover which have taken place in 

 certain drainage basins. It also re- 

 views the studies made by M. O. Eeigh- 

 ton, of the Geological Survey, and 

 Messrs. Hall and Maxwell, of the 

 Forest Service, tending to show that 

 a number of streams in the eastern 

 United States were becoming more ir- 

 regular in their flow. The Commission 

 rejects all these records, however, as 

 not finally settling the question. 



The final conclusion reached by the 

 Commission is that whatever influence 

 forests may exert upon precipitation, 

 run-ofl; and erosion, it will evidently be 

 greatest in mountainous regions. In 

 no case, however, can forests be relied 

 upon to prevent either floods or low- 

 water conditions. There is substan- 

 tial agreement of all the witnesses on 

 this point. 



The prevention of erosion undoubt- 

 edly outweighs all other benefits of 

 forestation, and the Commission favors 

 the prevention of forest removal on 

 mountain slopes wherever the land is 

 unsuitable for agricultural purposes. It 

 urges the reforestation of tracts which 

 have already been stripped of timber, 

 not only when located at the head- 

 waters of navigable streams, but wher- 

 ever this would be the most valuable 

 use of the land. 



Of at least equal importance with 

 forest preservation are the prevention 

 of forest fires, the regulation of hill- 

 side farming, and prohibition of strip- 

 ping the forest cover on mountain sides 

 where the soil cover is thin. The Com- 

 mission concludes that the chief re- 

 sponsibility for forest preservation and 

 protection of lands from erosion rests 

 with the separate States rather than 

 with the Federal Government. 



CITIZENS INTBRESTBD 



Secretary A. C. Carton, of the Michigan public domain commission, says that corre- 

 spondence he haj had indicates that about four hundred citizens interested in various phases 

 of conservation of public resources will attend a conference called to meet at the State 

 capital on June 12. 



