ACQUIRING LAND FOE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 3 



Sections 12 and 13 provide for the management as national forests 

 of the lands so acquired and describe the limits of civil and criminal 

 jurisdiction over them. 



Section 14 provides that 25 per cent of all moneys received from any 

 national forest acquired under this act shall be paid at the end of each 

 year to the State in which such national forest is situated for the 

 benefit of public schools and public roads. 



Section 15 provides for the necessary expenses of the commission 

 and prescribes the manner of auditing and paying of the same. 



SCOPE OF THE BILL. 



This bill is general in its scope, and permits the acquirement of 

 lands in any part of the United States where such acquisition can be 

 shown to be advisable to the National Forest Reservation Commission, 

 after the Geological Survey has determined that such acquisition will 

 promote or protect the navigability of streams on whose watersheds 

 the lands lie. 



INCOME FROM THE NATIONAL FORESTS TO BE USED. 



The funds to be used under the provisions of this bill are a pre- 

 scribed amount of those which come into the Treasury from the sale 

 of the products or the use of the resources of the national forests so 

 far as they are not now appropriated. The law at present provides 

 that 25 per cent of the money so received shall be paid to the States 

 or Territories in which such forests are located, for school and road 

 purposes. It is to be particularly noted that this bill does not change 

 that plan, but rather extends it to the States or Territories in which 

 national forests may be acquired. The net amount received from the 

 uses of the national forests for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, 

 was $1,341,691.39, and for the present fiscal year is estimated to be 

 $1,500,000. 



RELATION OF FORESTS TO THE USE OF INLAND WATERWAYS 



The relation of forests to the use of the inland waterways is shown 

 by the following quotations: 



Our river systems are better adapted to the needs of the people than those of any 

 other country. In extent, distribution, navigability, and ease of use they stand 

 first. Yet the rivers of no other civilized country are so poorly developed, so little 

 used, or play so small a part in the industrial life of the nation. 



The first requisite for waterway improvement is the control of the waters in such 

 manner as to reduce floods and regulate the regimen of the navigable streams. & 



Every stream should be used t > the utmost; every river system, from its head- 

 waters in the forest to its mouth on the coast, is a single unit and should be treated 

 as such, c 



A mountain watershed denuded of its forest, with its surface hardened and baked 

 by exposure, will discharge its fallen rain into the streams so quickly that over- 

 whelming floods will descend in wet seasons. In discharging in this torrential way 

 the water carries along great portions of the land itself. Deep gullies are washed in 



Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission. Senate Document 

 325, Sixtieth Congress, first session. 



& Report of the National Conservation Commission. Senate Document 676, Sixtieth 

 Congress, second session. 



c Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission. Senate Document 325, 

 Sixtieth Congress, first session, page 2. 



