Questions and Answers 



29 



forage plants, the tree growth, or the 

 watershed, with due provision for the 

 game, recreation, and other land uses. 



What are the main objectives in 

 range management on the national 

 forests? 



There are three: Perpetuation of 

 the water, soil, and forage resources 

 through wise use, protection, and de- 

 velopment ; the permanent good of the 

 livestock industry, through proper care 

 and improvement of the grazing lands, 

 under principles of practical opera- 

 tion; the protection of the established 

 ranch owner against unfair competi- 

 tion in the use of the range. 



Does a grazing permit give any legal 

 right to a national forest? 



No. Legal rights do not accrue in 

 the use of national forest range. There 

 can be no exclusive, no private vested 

 right on lands owned by all the people. 



Does the forest influence the melting 

 of snow as well as the disposition of 

 rainfall? 



Yes. In the sections of the country 

 where there is much snow, the influ- 

 ence of forests in retarding snow melt 

 is more important than its effect on the 

 disposition of rainfall. The snow-melt- 

 ing period may last several weeks longer 

 in the forests than on open ground. 

 Moreover, as the forest soil is likely to 

 freeze less deeply than soil in the open, 

 it absorbs more of the snow water. 

 Spring freshets from melting snow on 

 bare slopes are an important source of 

 river floods. By delaying the melting of 

 snow and feeding part of the snow 

 water into the soil, forests prolong the 

 period of runoff, reduce flood crests to 

 that extent, and equalize stream flow 

 in the rivers fed by snow melt. 



What is a watershed? 



A watershed, or drainage basin, is 

 an area of land from which a stream 

 gets its supply of water. It may be as 

 small as a farm or as large as several 

 States. It is more than a combination 

 of hills and valleys and streams, forests, 



grass, farm crops, and the soil beneath. 

 It may also include cities, roads, peo- 

 ple, and animals. For there is an in- 

 terrelation among all things, animate 

 and inanimate, on a watershed that 

 bears heavily on the yield of water from 

 the land. 



How can one tell when a watershed 

 is in good condition? 



On a good watershed, the ground 

 is well covered with vegetation (grass, 

 shrubs, trees) ; litter or duff (leaves, 

 twigs, dried grasses) covers the forest 

 floor; the streams are clear and clean; 

 there are no gullies or erosion ; and the 

 banks of streams are stable. 



How do forests function in a storm? 



The forest acts in two ways during 

 a storm. First, the canopy of leaves 

 and branches breaks the impact of 

 rain falling upon the earth. Even dur- 

 ing a heavy rain one has the sense 

 of the dripping of water from the tree- 

 tops rather than a deluge from the 

 sky. The second is in the effect of 

 the layer of ground litter and humus, 

 which act as a sponge cushion to ab- 

 sorb the water and reduce surface run- 

 off. Much more significant than its 

 spongelike absorption of water, how- 

 ever, is the action of the litter and the 

 humus in keeping the soil mellow, 

 porous, and more permeable and in 

 preventing the sealing up of the 

 seepage channels into the substratum, 

 where the great supply of earth water 

 is stored. Much of the earth water ap- 

 pears again at the surface in the form 

 of springs and stream flow. The action 

 is effective, and it continues regard- 

 less of the intensity or duration of the 

 precipitation received. 



Do forests influence climate? 



Forests do not materially affect the 

 climate over a large region. In the 

 larger sense, climate is controlled by 

 major factors of tremendous air move- 

 ment around the earth and by lati- 

 tude, altitude, and the relation of a 

 given locality to oceans and land 

 masses such as the direction, the dis- 



