A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 401 



souri, the Grand River, which drains part of southern Iowa and north- 

 ern Missouri, furnishes to the Missouri River some 8% million tons 

 of soil annually. This is about 5 percent of its silt load. The Grand 

 River drainage is but 1.2 percent of the Missouri River Basin. 

 Because of the large contribution of the lower Missouri region to the 

 floods and silt burden of the Mississippi, most of the forest area is 

 classed as having a major influence upon watershed conditions. 



FOREST 



Most of the forest area is in southern Missouri, of which about 90 

 percent is privately owned, largely in the hands of farmers. The 

 present condition of the forest, therefore, is largely the result of the 

 use which the farm owner has made of the woods. Only in the more 

 inaccessible areas are there large ownerships. 



The forests are chiefly oak, though scattered pine is found in the 

 higher elevations and sandier soils. Timber cutting is typically a 

 culling in which the best trees are taken. Fires usually follow, often 

 purposely set to freshen the grass and to obtain more sprout growth 

 for the cattle. Where fires have occurred repeatedly, they have pre- 

 vented the extension of pine and caused the development of a low 

 coppice forest. This has been further deteriorated through heavy 

 grazing. Brushy, open, and understocked stands occupy about one 

 fourth of the forest area. 



At present there is no organized protection for the forest lands of 

 Missouri. Fire control, where it exists, is strictly a local or private 

 matter. Elsewhere, there is general indifference to protection needs. 

 The result is repeated fires, which render impossible the maintenance 

 of a good litter cover or the development of good watershed conditions. 



As described in the introductory statement, studies in oak stands 

 in eastern Oklahoma under conditions which greatly resemble the 

 Ozarks show that surface fires markedly increase surface run-off and 

 erosion. Wisconsin investigations have shown that open and heavily 

 pastured forests do not hold back surface run-off much, if any better, 

 than open land and that grass land is responsible for a high percentage 

 of run-off. Undoubtedly some of the very large contributions this 

 area makes to the floods in the lower Mississippi are due to the 

 recurrent fires and heavy grazing. 



In the Ozark region, most of the agricultural development has been 

 on the broad ridges and in the bottoms. The 1930 census data show 

 an increase in the area of crop land in a number of Ozark counties". 

 The new areas are largely on the hillsides where continued agricultural 

 use is doubtful because such lands erode rapidly. It is decidedly 

 questionable whether the public should permit land clearing of hill 

 lands in view of the fact that the resulting erosion is so quickly 

 poured into the Mississippi River. More and more agriculturists and 

 soil specialists are coming to believe that hill lands with slopes greater 

 than about 15 percent should not be cleared. 



The question of how these practices use of fire, heavy cutting, 

 pasturage of restocking and steep lands, and the clearing of liill lands 

 for cultivation can be controlled is an open one. Certainly some 

 positive steps appear desirable. If public restrictions upon private 

 use are not in order, then public ownership is the only alternative. 



