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DECADENCE OF OUR TROUT STREAMS. 



READ BEFORE THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY 

 BY J. S. VAN CLEEF. 



Some three or four years ago an article was con- 

 tributed by me to Forest and Stream in which the 

 above subject was cUscussed, and while this is not a 

 reproduction of that article, it must necessarily contain 

 many of the facts and conclusions which were con- 

 tained in it and which further investigation satisfies 

 me are correct. 



Every angler who has waded and fished our trout 

 streams during the past thirty or forty years has 

 observed the general decrease in the wateriiow, 

 especially during seasons of drought, and the decrease 

 does not seem to be local but universal. 



The Legislature of this State has endeavored to 

 arrest this decrease, especially in the North Woods, 

 but in spite of legislative action it still goes on steadily 

 and uniformly, both in the "forest primeval" and 

 out of it. 



This legislative action has been based upon the 

 theory that the causes of the gradual diminution in 

 the watertlow are and have been wholly or very largely 

 local, and it seems to have been assumed that if the 

 destruction of the trees at or near the sources of our 

 streams can be prevented this decrease v/ill be practic- 

 ally arrested. 



