122 FOREST LANDS FOE THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 



the fields, and the soil, sand, gravel, and stone are carried down the streams to points 

 where the current slackens. Since the extensive removal of the forest on the upper 

 watersheds there has been avast accumulation of silt, sand, and gravel in the upper- 

 stream courses. Examples of reservoirs completely filled are already to be seen on 

 almost every stream. In the degree that the forests are damaged on the high water- 

 sheds, then inevitable damage results to water power and navigation through increased 

 extremes of high and low water and through vast deposits of grave), sand, and silt 

 in the stream channels and in any reservoir which may have been constructed, o 



The chief obstacles to navigation, then, are lack of water during portions of the 

 year, and detritus which is washed into the streams and gradually fills the channels 

 or forms obstructions at the mouth. Were the flow uniform, the amount of water 

 carried by a river during the year would be sufficient to provide a good depth at all 

 times. But the flow is uneven; there is too much water at one time and not enough 

 at another. The floods of the spring waste the water which should be available to 

 maintain a navigable depth during the summer and fall. To lessen this inequality 

 of flow should therefore be the aim of all measures for the development of our water- 

 ways. If the rivers could be kept always in gentle flood, a relatively small expendi- 

 ture for reservoirs, locks, and dams would be required. In the same way, if means 

 could be found to prevent silt and sand from being washed into the streams the 

 enormous cost of dredging would be largely done away with. The function of the 

 forest and of the humus beneath as a storage reservoir 'is of high importance, yet in 

 relation to navigation and the storage of storm waters the influence which the forest 

 has in checking erosion is of equal, if not greater value. & 



In the Southern Appalachians the fullest use of water resources can be secured only 

 by carefully guarding the natural conditions which control them. The valuable 

 water resources of this region depend absolutely upon the maintenance of a protect- 

 ive forest cover. Without this forest cover the water power of the region can never 

 be developed to the full, and in the same way the navigable streams can not be kept 

 from silting up if the forest cover about their headwaters is removed. The protec- 

 tion of these areas is a large undertaking, but it is necessarily the first undertaking, 

 since it is fundamental to the development and utilization of the water resources. If 

 the forest is not first protected, damage to water resources will be far-reaching. If 

 the forest is preserved, the benefits from the standpoint of water utilization will be 

 widely diffused, even far beyond the borders of the Appalachain region, c 



The opinions here quoted represent the almost unanimous view of 

 all who have investigated the relation between mountain forests and 

 navigable rivers. The bill which the committee has reported is in line 

 with the policy of conservation as recommended by the President and 

 the National Conservation Commission. It provides for establishing 

 an adequate programme of protection to the mountain forests by giv- 

 ing the Federal Government the right to cooperate with the States or 

 with private individuals, and by the acquisition of lands where such is 

 necessary. Further, it provides the most natural arrangement for 

 defraying the cost of such acquisition that of using the funds which 

 come to the Treasury from the national forests already established, 

 and the bill necessitates the appropriation of no additional sums of 

 money in the carrying out of this project. 



It has been the policy of the Government to improve its navigable 

 streams by the expenditure of large sums of money, in some cases at 

 their headwaters. For example, a series of reservoirs has been con- 

 structed at the headwaters of the Mississippi at a cost of approxi- 

 mately $2,000,000. Locks and dams have been constructed on the 

 Monongahela River at a cost of $2,479,818.48: on the Allegheny Kiver, 

 $1,658,423.18; and on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, $5,385,060.78. 

 Expenditures have been made on the headwaters of the Sacramento 



Report of the Secretary of Agriculture on the Southern Appalachian Watersheds. 

 Senate Document 91, Sixtieth Congress, first session. 



6 Report of the U. S. Geological Survey to the Department of Agriculture. Forest 

 Service Circular No. 143. 



c Report of the U. S. Geological Survey to the Department of Agriculture. Forest 

 : - vice Circular No. 144. 



