26 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February 1913. 



mass of unbroken virgin forests. This is far 

 from truth. The western forests have suf- 

 fered from fires from time immemorial. 

 Not only are there everywhere great areas 

 burned by recent fires, but there is scarcely 

 a forest in which there are not evidences 

 of ancient fires. The forests are frequently 

 broken, the trees scarred and defective, and 

 the yield deficient because of old fire-in- 

 juries. Immense stretches are bare or cov- 

 ered with an immature growth where for- 

 merly some fire swept off the forest. 



We can not count on meeting our needs 

 by imports from other countries, nor can 

 the East count on meeting its full needs 

 from the West. The country should be self- 

 supporting in forest products, and each 

 region should have a home supply which 

 w'ill meet its principal needs. We must 

 stop our Avaste, reduce our extravagance in 

 use, and increase our production by growth 

 by fully 300 to 500 per cent. 



Forests and Streams. 



1 For many years foresters and others have 

 i given warning that the forest problem 

 reaches further than the supply of timber 

 ,and other products. There is an exceeding- 

 ly intimate relation between the conserva- 

 tion of forests and the conservation of 

 water. The forest is the best natural regu- 

 lator of the run-off water. Any system of 

 w'ater conservation must, therefore, include 

 a proper protection of the forest cover at 

 the head-waters of rivers. 



The general public does not appreciate 

 the results Avhich will follow the destruction 

 of the cover of the mountains, because in 

 most instances the process has not yet pro- 

 ceeded to a point to make its effects felt. 

 Complaints are common from manufacturers 

 and other us-ers that the streams are becom- 

 ing less regular as the forests are cut. Many 

 measurements conclusively show that there is 

 such an increasing irregularity, but the fact 

 is that the mountains in most sections have 

 as yet not been so denuded as to cause the 

 worst results that might be feared. This 

 is particularly so in the East. Thus in 

 the South the forests may be cleared by 

 cutting or fire and a new growth quickly 

 springs up. Until the cover is re-established 

 there is without doubt an effect on the run- 

 off, but it is only a temporary effect. The 

 conditions gradually re-establish themselves. 

 But let the forests be continually denuded 

 on the steep slopes; there will be a gradual 

 change in the physiographic conditions. 

 The beds of the streams will begin to be 

 slightly deeper, there will be new channels 

 formed where during storms the surface 

 water runs off rapidly in a flood. After a 

 time there is a swift change — the result 

 perhaps of some exceptional storm — when 

 the equilibrium of stream conditions is up- 

 set. There is a permanent change of condi- 

 tions of run-off. The channels are all deep- 

 ened, and torrent conditions exist. From 



then • 6n, every storm produces a flood of 

 greater or less proportions. It is this point 

 of permanent change of stream conditions 

 which we most fear, and which will occur 

 when forests are continually denuded. It 

 has already occurred in many places in the 

 West, where the recuperative power of vege- 

 tation is less vigorous than in the humid 

 region. It has occurred widely in the Alps 

 of Europe. When such torrent conditions 

 are established, the mere restoration of the 

 trees will not cure the evil. It is an en- 

 gineering problem to control the water by 

 artificial means, and as already proven in 

 Europe this is a task of great magnitude 

 and vast expense. 



What the U. S. Government is doing. 



What, then, is being done to protect the 

 national forests so that they may perform 

 their functions as water regulators and 

 provide timber for the people's use? How 

 far is forestry actually in practice? 



The chief work so far is being done by 

 the Government. A forest policy has been in- 

 itiated. Nearly 200,000,000 acres of land have 

 been eet aside as forest reserves. Most of 

 this lies in the high mountains. Much of 

 it is as yet undeveloped and wild country, 

 with few trails or roads. In the past fires 

 burned so frequently in the mountains that 

 there was a regular fire season when the 

 forests were ablaze and the air full of 

 smoke. When the National Forests were 

 put under administration these fires were 

 reduced at once, and for the last five years 

 the loss on the National Forests has been 

 exceedingly small. It seemed to the public 

 as if the fire problem on the public lands 

 was under way of solution. Those in charge 

 of the forests realized, however, that a vast 

 wilderness cannot be organized for perfect 

 fire protection in a few years, because the 

 fundamental first necessity to protect a 

 forest is to open it up so that all parts are 

 available for patrol and for moving men 

 and equipment to fight fires. Nevertheless, 

 the Forest Service, even with only a pitifully 

 small protective force, has been able to hold 

 down the fires to a minimum during the 

 years of normal rainfall. 



During 1910 there was exceptional 

 drought, especially in the Northwest. The 

 forests became exceptionally dry. Not only 

 the surface layer of leaves, but even the 

 humus in the usually damp woods, became 

 excessively inflammable. In the north- 

 western forests the situation became criti- 

 cal as early as June. The early spring had 

 been unusually dry, and then the summer 

 rains failed. By July fires were springing 

 up in great numbers, and in August the 

 forests of the entire northern Rocky Moun- 

 tains were threatened by fire. The climax 

 was reached toward the end of August. 

 Hundreds of fires had already been put out, 

 but new ones continued to be started from 

 various causes. Locomotive sparks, brush 



