752 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



not suited to agriculture, and to place them temporarily under the 

 management of the State Board of Forestry. 



For the biennium 1891-92 the appropriation of the California State 

 Board of Forestry was increased to $30,000. But the board was get- 

 ting into difficulties. In September 1890 a significant resolution was 

 adopted by the American Forestry Congress. It recited that the 

 board was both 



charged with the forestry interests of [the] State .n general, and with the protec- 

 tion of the timber-lands of said State against fire and depredation, 



etc. But 



it has been suggested that political considerations may lead to a discontinuance 

 of said board, or to such a reduction of the appropriations provided for such 

 board as must necessarily hamper its work and curtail its usefulness. 



The Congress viewed 



with alarm the possible occurrence of such a contingency, rooting out, as it were, 

 the first germ of a rational forest policy, which the State of California had 

 wisely planted, and cannot without detriment to its agricultural interests afford 

 to discontinue 



and accordingly provision was made 



that a copy of these expressions of interest in the forest policy of the State of 

 California be forwarded to the governor and legislature of the State of California. 



In 1893 the board was abolished, and a most promising effort to 

 build up a State organization for the protection of the publicly 

 owned timberlands (mainly Federal, of course) in California was 

 brought to an end. There had been a collision with conflicting in- 

 terests. The principal effort of the board in protection was directed 

 at law enforcement. It sought to get the goods on timber thieves 

 and fraudulent entrymen. The State itself had its school lands, 

 which were being very rapidly acquired by private owners. The 

 rush of eastern lumbermen to build up great private holdings in the 

 West Coast States had set in. And there were the sheepmen. 

 Said the report of the executive officer of the board in 1892: 



Sheep raising and timber cutting are legitimate pursuits and entitled to fair 

 treatment, but as conducted in California for many years they have not been 

 conducive to the general welfare. The millman has slashed the forests reck- 

 lessly, wasting more than he used, and not confining his operations to his own 

 property. The sheep herder, caring only for pasturage, has set fire to the brush 

 annually, burning off the young growth and killing the large trees. The seed- 

 lings and shoots that escaped the forest fires were destroyed by the sheep. And 

 so not only has the mature forest been greatly injured, but the total extinction 

 of the forest growth made inevitable unless the work of devastation be stopped. 



Arrayed on the other side, and deeply convinced of the necessity of 

 forest preservation, were the agricultural interests of the State. 

 "California has been awakened", said the same report 



to at least a partial recognition of her danger by the necessity of organizing and 

 perfecting a system of irrigation for the development of her arid plains. She has 

 discovered that water will make gardens of her deserts, and that the key to future 

 prosperity and greatness is irrigation. Now she turns to the Sierra Nevada as 

 the storehouse of her wealth. The mountains that yielded the gold that made 

 California rich in the early days contain the sources of greater and more enduring 

 wealth^ The water flowing in California rivers is more precious than the gold 

 lying hidden in their sands. So long as the forests cover the mountain sides, 

 the streams will flow with some evenness throughout the year; but when the 

 forests disappear, the rivers will become rushing torrents in the spring and dry 

 arroyos all the rest of the year. The forests of the Sierra Nevada are the natural 

 reservoirs for irrigation of the San Joaquin Valley. 



