410 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



so badly gullied that farm machinery could not be used on it. The 

 survey revealed also that in the preceding 3 or 4 years 1,359,000 

 acres of formerly tilled land had been abandoned because of erosion. 



BREAKS FORESTS 



In the Breaks sparsely wooded, brush-covered, or even naked 

 slopes occur in the gorges of the Arkansas and Red Rivers and their 

 tributaries. In many places the vegetation is in such delicate balance 

 that any disturbance results in extensive gullying. Erosion has been 

 intensified by the torrential character of the rains, and has been 

 accelerated by overgrazing. 



Erosion from the Breaks probably accounts for two thirds of the 

 silt load of both rivers. 



WATERSHED-PROTECTIVE CONDITIONS BY TYPE OF LAND OWNERSHIP 



NATIONAL FORESTS 



The value of the forests in the Arkansas and Red River drainages 

 has been recognized by the Government through the establishment of 

 national forests, which include much of the headwaters forest area 

 in the Rocky Mountains, and through plans for national-forest 

 extension. On these national forests, conditions resulting from over- 

 grazing are being corrected through range management, methods of 

 cutting timber that provide for restocking are in effect, and fire 

 control is on an organized basis. Watershed conditions are therefore 

 improving. In the Ouachita-Ozark highlands, the national-forest area 

 amounts to some 1,250,000 acres. Here, likewise, measures have been 

 put into effect to restore the forest cover where it has been depleted 

 and to protect the forests from fire, and timber cutting is regulated. 



PUBLIC DOMAIN 



Some 770,000 acres of unreserved public-domain forest land still 

 exists in these drainages, mostly woodland areas at the headwaters of 

 the rivers. Conditions are less satisfactory on these lands than on 

 the national forests, because management is lacking. The Forest 

 Service recommended to the Public Domain Commission in 1930 

 that many of these lands be added to existing national forests. 



STATE LANDS 



State ownership of forest land in the Arkansas and Red River 

 drainages covers only 105,000 acres. Most of the State forest lands 

 are so located and in such small units that adequate management is 

 practically out of the question. They are consequently in about the 

 same condition as private lands. 



PRIVATE LANDS 



Private owners of forest lands, for the most part, have not con- 

 cerned themselves with maintaining good watershed conditions on 

 their holdings. A number of owners are endeavoring to protect their 

 lands from fire, but this effort is not general; in 1931, fire protection 

 was afforded for only 17 percent of the privately owned forest area of 



