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Forest Influence on Streamflow 



The influence of forests on streamflow is a question which 

 comes up for discussion periodically. A flood which attracts unu- 

 sual attention is generally taken as a text by writers who hold 

 that the forest's influence is predominant; but replies are always 

 ready by those who believe that the part performed by forests in 

 streamflow control has been given undue prominence. It is not 

 impossible that the advocates who are found on the pro and con 

 sides of the controversy will finally get together. They are not 

 hopelessly divided into two camjis. There is much common 

 ground on which they can meet and stand, and they are begin- 

 ning to find that ground. The men who have honestly investi- 

 gated this question, and are still investigating, want the truth 

 and nothing more. If they disagree, it is an honest disagree- 

 ment, and there is a difference of opinion only because the mean- 

 ing to be deduced from tacts is not interpreted in the same way. 



An editorial in the August Century Magazine used the lower 

 Mississippi flood of last spring as a text for a discourse on the 

 danger from deforestation at the headwaters of remote tributaries 

 of that stream, particularly the rivers of West Virginia. That 

 editorial having come to the attention of a renowned expert on 

 such matters, he wrote to Hardwood Record that he could not 

 subscribe to the conclusion that the flood in the Mississippi was 

 caused by changed forest conditions on head streams of that 

 river. He believes the cause is not adequate to produce the ef- 

 fects, and he calls attention to historical and the more remote 

 geological evidence that Mississippi floods were as great in 

 early historical and in prehistorieal times as at present. In other 

 words, great floods occurred in that large river before forests 

 on its headwaters were disturbed by man, and therefore the con- 

 clusion that recent deforestation is the cause of recent high tide 

 in the Father of Waters is not logical. 



Thus far there is a difference between the conclusions of the 

 advocates of the two theories. One asserts that there is a posi- 

 tive relation between forest-destruction oh the upper tributaries 

 and floods in the trunk stream; the other holds that such a rela- 

 tion is not proved, and probably does not exist. Beyond that 

 point it does not appear there is much difference between the 

 views held by the two parties to the controversy. They seem 

 to agree that forests influence the runoff locally, that is, in small 

 creeks and rivers. The expert in question says: "Proper en- 

 gineering at the headwaters of Alpine streams in Switzerland, 

 France, and Italy lessened the damage by torrents. The influence 

 is local in its effect, I believe. I have seen it, but to infer that 

 this local influence is a national influence would be futile." 



Four years ago the United States Forest Service published 

 data compiled from records of the War Department, the Weather 

 Bureau, and the Geological Survey, which covered a number of 

 rivers, the largest of which was the Ohio at Wheeling, W. Va. 

 Exact records were quoted showing the numbers and stages of 

 high water in the several streams as far in the past as records 

 go. Some of the records went back fifty years. The showing 

 ■was that in ' all the streams on whose headwaters deforestation 

 had been active during the recorded periods, floods had increased 

 in frequency. It was not shown that they had increased in 

 volume, nor was the contrary shown. 



These records probably sustain the contention that the influence 

 is local; yet it must be admitted that the locality which feels the 

 influence is tolerably large when streams like the Ohio at Wheeling, 

 the Monongahela at Greensburg, the Kanawha at Oharleston, and the 

 Potomac at Harper's Ferry show unmistakably that they are respond- 

 ing to changing influence. 



Our expert holds, as Colonel Chittenden held in the famous re- 

 port which he published some years ago, that spasmodic floods 

 which go out of tributary streams, dissipate themselves in the 

 main river, one coming as the other is going, and do not produce 

 a cumulative effect. Evidence to the contrary has not been 



—38— 



educed; yet it will be admitted as a theoretical possibility that 

 a large number of tributary streams might happen to coincide 

 in their flood periods, with disastrous results in the lower river. 

 However, the calculus of probabilities shows that such a thing 

 could not occur often. 



Prehistoric evidence of flood conditions is interesting, but not 

 much to the point in the present controversy. The critic referred 

 to is unquestionably within prehistoric evidence when he says 

 that long before the forests were disturbed by man the lower 

 Mississippi floods were as great as, if not greater than they are 

 now. Evidence of the same kind shows with no less certainty 

 that at the time the glacial ice sheet was retreating from 

 northern Ohio and Pennsylvania, the upper Ohio river carried 

 probably ten times as much water as at present and had a smaller 

 water shed, and further that there was perhaps not an acre of 

 forest in the whole region. But that evidence is prehistoric, and 

 throws no light on the extent to which changing forest condi- 

 tions are now affecting the floods in large rivers. 



More Favorable Publicity 



There have appeared in H.\rdwood Record from time to time 

 editorials expressing the opinion that the best kind of advertising the 

 lumber industry could get in defense of its position as opposed to sub- 

 stitutes for wood, is news space in the daily press and periodicals. 

 The contention that this space is available for the right kind of mat- 

 ter has been substantiated in a number of cases. 



The Joliet, Illinois, Herald of recent date contains a full column 

 story of the condition of the hardwood business, which is written in 

 such an authoritative manner that evidently it emanated from someone 

 who is connected with the hardwood business. The article is headed 

 "A Bright Outlook for Hardwoods," and goes on to outline the 

 conditions in various parts of the country, suggesting that the supply 

 and demand as to hardwoods have become almost on a parity. In 

 other words, according to the article, there is such an even b^jlance 

 between the two that any slight change in either, one way or another, 

 immediately affects the general market price. 



The demand as outlined by the publication is the largest which 

 has prevailed for years, due to requirements of new industries. 



Railroad Elarnings Not Excessive 



With the insistent reports of a serious car sliortage throughout the 

 country and the unparalleled amount o^ traffic carried "tiy the 

 railroads, the report of the Bureau of Railway Economics giving the 

 statistics of expenses and revenues for the fiscal year 1912 does not 

 seem consistent. The reported gain of 2 per cent a mile in gross 

 operating revenue is scarcely worthy of consideration. Furthermore, 

 when coupled with actual increase of 1 per cent in operating ex- 

 penses it results in an actual decrease of 1.5 per cent in net operating 

 revenue. This, outside operations and taxes will reduce to a loss of 

 3.2 per cent in the net operating income. It appears from the report 

 that the slight gain made in operating revenues was due entirely to 

 the freight account, as passenger business fell oft" 1.2 per cent between 

 the fiscal year 1911 and 1912. 



The increase in expenses is divided between traflic, transportation 

 and maintenance of equipment, the latter item showing a gain of 2.3 

 per cent per mile. 



With this increase during the year, the item of maintenance of 

 equipment still takes the same proportion, namely, 15.2 per cent of the 

 total operating revenue that it did for the fiscal year 1911. 



It is conceded that the outlook v/ith the present rising rate of rail- 

 way traffic depends entirely upon maintenance of a reasonable level 

 of expense. With continued increase in taxes and the increase in cost 

 of other items, such as maintenance of equipment, the problem of 

 maintaining cost of operation low enough so that the net yield will be 

 commensurate with indicated prosperity will be exceedingly difficult. 



