A PLEA FOR RECOGNITION OF ARTIFICIAL WORKS IN 

 FOREST EROSION CONTROL POLICY 



By Aldo Leopold 



Assistant District Forester, U. S. Forest Service 



One of the most curious fallacies that has so far found lodgment in 

 our National Forest policy is the assumption that because the lack of 

 range control caused erosion, the inauguration of range control would 

 cause erosion to cease. This assumption is, of course, true in a negative 

 sense, in that erosion would have become much worse had not a 

 system of range control been put into efifect. It is nevertheless a fact, 

 at least in the Southwest, that in spite of range control, erosion con- 

 tinues on a serious scale. The truth of the matter is that (1) any 

 system of grazing, no matter how conservative, induces erosion, (2) 

 no system of range control, no matter how conservative, can be relied 

 upon to stop erosion already started, and that (3) erosion can be con- 

 trolled only by a proper system of grazing control, supplemented by 

 artificial erosion control zvorks. 



t The fallacy consists in the failure to recognize the necessity for 

 artificial control works. I do not mean to say that there has been 

 any official pronouncement, explicitly committing the Forest Service 

 to the opinion that such works are unnecessary. I do mean to say 

 that there has been a widespread assumption among foresters that 

 such works are unnecessary and impracticable. I have even heard it 

 said, by experts on watershed problems, that to admit the necessity of 

 artificial control zvorks zvoitld be admitting the failure of our range 

 control system. I take strong exception to any such viewpoint. Our 

 function is not to prove the infallibility of our initial forest policies, 

 but to conserve the Forests. 



I have stated that any system of grazing, no matter how conserva- 

 tive, induces erosion. The proof of this statement can not be set 

 down in print, but may be seen almost anywhere in the hills. Grazing 

 means concentration of stock at ranch headquarters, watering places., 

 salt grounds, driveways, shearing pens, roundup grounds, bed grounds, 

 sunny sheltered spots on south hillsides, and cool breezy spots under 

 shade. All of these concentrations mean some degree of trampling 



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