1514 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



uon. So well recognized is the part played by the 

 forest cover in protecting the water supply that in 

 one case an organization of farmers has protested 



HOW THE NATIONAL FORESTS PROTECT RIVER SOURCES 



Vppor.- 



-Willow Creek, one of the sources of the Colorado River, in the Arapaho National Forest, Colorado. 

 The stream comes gently from the belt of forest which stores melting snow from above timber 

 line on the Parkview Peaks, 

 lower.— Trapper's Lake, also on the headwaters of the Colorado River, in the White River National 

 Forest, Colorado. The dense stands of timber which are characteristic of such situations help 

 to prevent erosion and irregular run-off. 



against any cutting of timber on certain watersheds. 



No less important is the use of the water for domestic 



and municipal purposes. Denver has its main storage 



reservoir, Lake Cheesman, with a capacity of about 26,- 

 000,000,000 gallons and a watershed of 1,152,000 acres, 

 in the heart of the Pike Forest. Colorado Springs has a 

 series of reservoirs which also 

 get their supply from the Pike. 

 Altogether, some 35 cities and 

 towns with an aggregate popula- 

 tion of 275,000, and an invest- 

 ment in waterworks of over 

 $17,600,000, obtain their domes- 

 tic supply from this Forest. The 

 watersheds supplying Denver, 

 Colorado Springs, Manitou, Cas- 

 cade, and Idaho Springs are giv- 

 en special protection against fire. 

 At the request of local residents, 

 Congress has added nearly 28,- 

 000 acres to the Pike Forest, 

 while farther north, on the Colo- 

 rado National Forest, Congress 

 in 1916 authorized the addition 

 of some 540,000 acres for the 

 purpose of watershed protec- 

 tion. 



Where fire has destroyed the 

 forest cover on certain of the 

 watersheds within the Pike, 

 young trees are being planted. 

 Already some 3,000 acres have 

 been planted by the Forest Ser- 

 vice on the watersheds denuded 

 by the great fire of 1866, from 

 which Colorado Springs and its 

 suburbs obtain their water, and 

 plans have been perfected for 

 the reforestation of an additional 

 9,000 acres. 



The development of hydro- 

 electric power bids fair to con- 

 stitute another important use of 

 the streams which take their rise 

 in the Pike National Forest. It 

 is only in recent years that water 

 in this region has been utilized 

 for power, but the possibilities 

 for development offered by the 

 streams are tremendous. 



Placer mining, which, aside 

 from drinking and bathing, 

 probably called for the first use 

 of water on the Pike National 

 Forest, is now practically a thing 

 of the past. The use of water 

 in the milling of ores, however, 

 is quite common in a number of 

 districts, and there are many 

 mills which could not operate without an abundant and 

 constant supply. The value of water as a scenic, or 

 esthetic asset, and its contribution to recreation in the 



