418 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



acquisition of a large area therefore seems certain, and, in view of the 

 national interest involved, Federal participation may be called for. 



Study of the watershed needs in the lower Mississippi River Basin 

 leads to the belief that some 5.8 million acres should be in public 

 ownership. Of these 1.2 million acres are classed as abandoned and 

 eroded agricultural lands and 4.6 million acres as forest lands. All of 

 this land is in the region having a major influence on streams. Public 

 ownership and management of these lands will assist greatly in restor- 

 ing more favorable conditions of water flow. 



CALIFORNIA DRAINAGES 



An honorary watershed committee appointed by the Governor of 

 California, in a report published in 1932 under the title, "Forestry in 

 the State-Wide Water Plan", states: " * * * the best possible 

 development and conservation of the waters of the State are of the 

 utmost importance to the continued prosperity of both the rural and 

 urban communities of California." In this committee's opinion " any 

 great increase in population in this State is impossible without the 

 fullest feasible conservation of its waters. Without a sound program 

 of water conservation * * * California cannot continue to 

 maintain even its present population." 



The California drainages (fig. 11) as here considered include all 

 lands in the State except the eastward slope of the Sierra Nevada, 

 which drains into the Great Basin, and include also portions of Oregon 

 that are drained by the Klamath and Sacramento Rivers. According 

 to the 1930 census these California drainages include 4,765,000 acres 

 of irrigated land, and the value of this land, together with that of 

 improvements and equipment and of irrigation enterprises serving the 

 land, totals nearly $3,000,000,000. This high value is due to condi- 

 tions favorable to production of high-value fruit and other crops on a 

 considerable part of the irrigated land. The very large urban popu- 

 lation of the drainages makes a heavy demand for water for municipal 

 use. In waterpower development California ranks first among the 

 States, with a present installed capacity of 2,321,374 horsepower 

 which has been yielding an average output of about 1,173,000 horse- 

 power. It is expected that ultimate development will raise the 

 average output to 6,674,000 horsepower available 50 percent of the 

 time. 



In order most effectively to develop and conserve its water resources 

 California has developed a State water plan that calls for expenditure 

 of approximately $500,000,000 in constructing reservoirs and canals. 

 The proposed reservoirs would be located largely in the foothills of 

 the Sierra Nevada with a view to impounding flood waters from the 

 higher watersheds, and the canals would transport water from areas 

 of surplus to areas of inadequate supply. The water shortages which 

 this plan is designed to overcome in part occur principally in the San 

 Joaquin River Basin. 



The State watershed committee estimates that the mountain and 

 foothill areas upon which the valleys and lowlands depend as their 

 source of water aggregate some 40 million acres, approximately 40 

 percent of the total land area of the State. Effective precipitation 

 occurs on these areas during a period of about 5 months in the winter 

 and early spring. Summer rains are not uncommon in the northwest 

 coast belt and in the Sierras but are extremely rare in the other parts 



