FOREST SERVICE. 231 



stream, the quantity and kinds of fish food, the species to which the 

 stream is best adapted, and the number of fry required yearly. 

 Because of the loss usually occurring in transplanting small fry, it is 

 sometimes necessary to establish rearing ponds where the young fry 

 may be fed until they are large enough to be released into mountain 

 streams. These rearing ponds with their thousands of small fish may 

 be seen on many of our national forests. In this connection the 

 periodic closure or alternation in the use of streams frequently is 

 necessary, and is secured through orders by the State game ofiicials. 



During the year each national forest district completed plans for 

 the stocking of streams on one or more national forests, and in coop- 

 eration with the Bureau of Fisheries and the several State hatcheries 

 real process was made in stocking streams and lakes in which no fish 

 have hitherto been found, and in replenishing the supply in favorable or 

 accessible streams and lakes frequented by many campers and sports- 

 men. In Colorado the Forest Service received 4,173,000 trout fry 

 from State hatcheries and 776,000 trout fry from Federal hatcheries, 

 which were successfully planted in streams and lakes within the na- 

 tional forests, the normal loss in transporting being cut by over 25 

 per cent. 



Fish and game management plans are being developed on all forests 

 as fast as funds and personnel will permit. Their objective are: The 

 preservation of adequate spawning and breeding stocks; control of 

 environmental factors inimical to f)roductiveness ; and promotion of 

 public sentiment, laws, and organizations necessary to the proper 



Srotection and development of wild life. These plans call for a high 

 egree of expert knowledge and study in order that conflicting interests 

 may be properly reconciled. The advice and assistance received from 

 the Biological Survey has contributed materially to their develop- 

 ment. The views of the game enthusiast must be harmonized with 

 those of the sportsman, stockman, and lumberman. Each must rec- 

 ognize the problems of the other, and through cooperation assist in 

 the proper management of the resource. 



WATER POWER. 



During the second year of operation under the Federal water 

 power act of June 10, 1920, 45 applications were received for use of 

 land within or partly within the national forests. The number for 

 the preceding year was 124. The passage of a new law naturally 

 stimulates action to take advantage of it, so that more applications 

 are to be expected the first year than subsequently. Moreover, pire- 

 vious laws offered insufficient tenure to attract investments in water 

 power and therefore tended to retard development, especially where 

 the applicant company had no established market. Construction 

 under earlier laws was restricted in a very considerable measure to 

 extensions of systems already operating. The Federal water power 

 act greatly encouraged new water power development, and a large 

 proportion of the applications received are from new companies. 



The tabulation lollowing contains data concerning water power 

 permits or easements granted by the Department of Agriculture 

 under former legislation and in effect on June 30, 1922. 



25684— AQB 1923 16 



