232 North American Forests and Forestry 



various parts of the country have tried to impress 

 upon them. 



When the work of the scientific men first began 

 to bear fruit, it took the direction of simply setting 

 aside tracts of forest land as reserves, with the idea 

 of keeping them forever in a state of nature. The 

 tracts selected for this purpose were chosen with a 

 view to protect especially the headwaters of rivers, 

 although other considerations also frequently influ- 

 enced the choice. Both the federal and several state 

 governments took steps in this direction. As to 

 the federal government, the first reserves of this 

 kind were the great national parks of the Yellow- 

 stone and the Yosemite. In these, the protection 

 of the forests was but an incident to the object of 

 making the many natural wonders and the beautiful 

 scenery of these regions more accessible to the peo- 

 ple, and keep them from being destroyed or at least 

 monopolized by private greed. During the last 

 few years, however, a large number of forest tracts 

 in the Black Hills of Dakota, various parts of the 

 Rocky Mountain system, and the ranges of the 

 Pacific coast were similarly set aside, this time with 

 the express double purpose of protecting the timber 

 and the water supply needed for the irrigation 

 works in the valleys and on the arid plains. A dis- 

 tinction must therefore be made between the na- 

 tional parks and the government forest reserves. 

 Each class is governed by regulations differing in 

 details according to the object in view and also ac- 

 cording to differences in the local circumstances. 



