REPORT OF SPECIAL FORESTRY COMMITTEE 51 



waterpowers, the headwaters of our rivers should be 

 protected with a forest growth. The following ex- 

 tract from Page 30 of the report of the "U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, No. 13," by Hon. George Otis Smith, 

 Director, shows the result of recent investigation: 

 "The results of the Burnt Brook-Shoal Pond Brook 

 studies are held to show that throughout the White 

 Mountains the removal of forest growth must be 

 expected to decrease the natural steadiness of de- 

 pendent streams during the spring months at least. 

 The foregoing conclusion forms a strong basis for 

 arguing the desirability of painstaking methods of 

 administration in respect to forest lands in the 

 White Mountain region. Deforestation followed by 

 fires as in the Burnt Brook basin results in condi- 

 tions unfavorable to natural spring storage because 

 conducive to rapid snow melting and stream run-off. 

 Control of White Mountain lands that would reduce 

 fires to a minimum and promote normal refore- 

 station must result in a great inprovement over 

 present tendencies and this improvement in forest 

 cover can logically be expected to favorably affect 

 stream regulation to the extent quantitatively indi- 

 cated in the comparison of the forested Shoal Pond 

 Brook with the deforested Burnt Brook." 



In the mountainous countries of Europe some 

 governments do not allow private land owners to 

 cut timber on watersheds, except under strict regu- 

 lations, and the land must be reforested within a 

 prescribed period. 



Under the Weeks law which provided for the 

 purchase of the Appalachian-White Mountain forest 

 reserve, no lands can be purchased until the U. S. 

 Geological Survey has certified that the presence of 

 forests upon such lands will affect the stream flow. 

 The Geological Survey made a careful examination 

 of two areas in the White mountains and compared 

 conditions where there was forest cover and where 

 the forest had been removed. They found that on 

 the cut-over areas the snow began to disappear in 

 patches, first from the lower elevation and then 



