FOREST EROSION CONTROL POLICY 273 



how much they cost. Here again a technique must he developed. The 

 inter-relations of slope, soil texture, relation of height of dam to depth 

 of gully, strategic placement in gully, dam intervals, dam materials, 

 placement of materials, and costs must all be worked out and demon- 

 strated by the Forest Service. After this has been done, and if in the 

 meanwhile we have worked out a system of fenced grazing allotments 

 and better security of range tenure, we can doubtless get the co-opera- 

 tion of many grazing permittees in gully control work on their allot- 

 ments. A few test dams recently built on the Manzano National For- 

 est, from materials at hand on the gully banks, indicate a cost of about 

 one-third cent per square foot for horizontal cedar and rock mat work, 

 and about one cent per square foot of vertical face for cedar and rock 

 dams. 



CONCLUSION 



For the sake of brevity, some general statements have been made in 

 the foregoing arguments which would not hold water for all the South- 

 western Forests without being qualified. To insert all of these quali- 

 fications would tire the reader and obscure the issue. Accordingly they 

 have been omitted. 



While no artificial control work of any consequence has been done 

 on the Southwestern Forests, no discussion of the subject would be 

 complete without mentioning the admirable results achieved by Munns 

 in California, Maddox in Tennessee, and probably others elsewhere. 

 Investigations have been conducted in the Southwest, principally to 

 determine causes, but causes are well enough known — he who runs 

 may read. Some study has also been given to the differentiation of 

 normal and abnormal erosion. This seems a question of academic 

 rather than practical interest. If erosion is taking away land hereto- 

 fore untouched, at a rate which will destroy that land within a gener- 

 ation, and if that erosion looks in any degree preventable, the first step 

 is to prevent, not classify. 



Parts of the foregoing arguments might be construed as an arraign- 

 ment of past policies. They are not intended as such, but rather as 

 a plea for extending those policies, for making at least an attempt to 

 supplement our absolutely necessary range control and fire control by 

 equally necessary artificial works. In case this argument for such 

 artificial works proves unsound or impracticable, it may at least invite 

 discussion of what other means we can use to discharge our responsi- 

 bility for erosion control on the Forests. 



