And State Papers 683 



pears at present to answer the larger needs for 

 which it is designed. Further legislation is not 

 recommended until the necessities of change are 

 more apparent. 



The study of the opportunities of reclamation of 

 the vast extent of arid land shows that whether this 

 reclamation is done by individuals, corporations, or 

 the State, the sources of water supply must be effec- 

 tively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the 

 preservation of the forests at the headwaters of the 

 streams. The engineers making the preliminary ex- 

 aminations continually emphasize this need and urge 

 that the remaining public lands at the headwaters of 

 the important streams of the West be reserved to in- 

 sure permanency of water supply for irrigation. 

 Much progress in forestry has been made during the 

 past year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest 

 resources, whether in public or private hands, is rec- 

 ognized now as never before. The demand for forest 

 reserves has become insistent in the West, because the 

 West must use the water, wood, and summer range 

 which only such reserves can supply. Progressive 

 lumbermen are striving, through forestry, to give 

 their business permanence. Other great business in- 

 terests are awakening to the need of forest preserva- 

 tion as a business matter. The Government's forest 

 work should receive from the Congress hearty sup- 

 port, and especially support adequate for the pro- 

 tection of the forest reserves against fire. The for- 

 est-reserve policy of the Government has passed 

 beyond the experimental stage and has reached a 



