WHEN it comes to the protection of the headwaters of 

 navigable streams in the United States, no state is 

 of such importance as Minnesota. Within the bound- 

 aries of this state are to be found the headwaters of three of 

 the great drainage systems of the continent. By the protec- 

 tion of these headwaters, disastrous floods in other portions 

 of the United States can be prevented. 



Realizing the necessity of co-operating with the state of 

 Minnesota in the protection of these headwaters, the federal 

 government has once more granted to the state the sum of 

 $10,000 to be used for the paying of patrolmen and watchmen. 

 This is the largest sum that can be expended in any one 

 state. Only five or six other states in the Union are granted 

 this amount. Michigan has recently been given $5,000 under 

 a similar agreement. 



This co-operation between the federal government and the 

 state of Minnesota is accomplishing a great deal. It makes 

 the federal and state governments co-workers in forest pro- 

 tection. There is no "twilight zone" here. 



This form of co-operating is made possible by the Weeks 

 law, passed by congress in 1911. It has already been taken 

 advantage of by the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Ver- 

 mont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 

 Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 

 South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. 



The law, besides providing for the purchase by the govern- 

 ment of lands on the headwaters of navigable rivers for the 

 purpose of creating national forests to protect these rivers, 

 appropriated $200,000 which the secretary of agriculture might 

 expend to protect similar lands in state or private owner- 

 ship from fire, in co-operation with the states. It was pro- 

 vided in the law that the federal expenditures in any state 

 should not exceed the amount spent by the state itself in the 

 co-operative work. Provision for continuance of the work in 



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