1518 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



years afterwards there was very little water at the right 

 time. There were some destructive floods too early in 

 the season to do the irrigator much good. But as the 

 hills became 

 covered with 

 young repro- 

 d u c t i o n the 

 flow of Rock 

 Creek kept in- 

 creasing and 

 the floods be- 

 came less de- 

 structive, and 

 today, 20 years 

 after the fire, 

 Rock Creek is 

 nearly normal 

 again, but not 

 quite, for the 

 reason that in 

 the head of the 

 main fork the 

 fire was so de- 

 structive that 

 there were no 

 seed trees left 

 for a distance 

 of nearly 5 

 miles on the 

 south side of 

 the creek, and 

 cons equently 

 the reproduc- 

 tion is very 

 scattering. 



"In conclu- 

 sion I wish to 

 state that any- 

 one who suc- 

 cessfully farms 

 a ranch in this 

 part of Wyom- 

 ing understands 

 the great im- 

 porta nee of 

 keeping the 

 forest fires out 

 of the moun- 

 tains and of 

 maintaining a 

 good stand of 

 timber on the 

 watersheds of 

 all streams to 

 hold the snow 

 and help pre- 

 vent the rapid run-off of the water too early in the sea- 

 son to be of much use to the irrigator." 



Many examples of destructive floods caused by over- 



PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLIES 



Upper. — Intake of the water system for the city of Portland, Oregon. Water for the city comes from 

 the Bull Run Watershed, entirely within and protected by the Oregon National Forest. 



Center. — Lake Cheesman, in the heart of the Pike National Forest, Colorado — the main reservoir for the 

 water supply system for the city of Denver. 



Lower. — A street drinking fountain in Portland, Oregon. The purity and abundance of the water is 

 assured by the fact that it comes directly from the Oregon National Forest. 



grazing in the mountains prior to the. creation of the 

 National Forests are furnished by the State of Utah. In 

 what is now the Fillmore National Forest the Chalk 



Creek, Pine 

 Creek, Mead- 

 ow Creek, Fool 

 Creek, Oak 

 Creek, and 

 Scipio water- 

 sheds, which 

 supply the 

 water for 27,- 

 000 acres of ir- 

 rigated land 

 and for the 

 towns of Fill- 

 more, Meadow, 

 Oak City, and 

 Scipio, were at 

 one time so 

 heavily over- 

 grazed that the 

 resulting floods 

 damaged roads, 

 reservoirs, cul- 

 tivated land, 

 and other prop- 

 erty to the ex- 

 tent of thou- 

 sands of dol- 

 lars. Since the 

 creation of the 

 National For- 

 est grazing on 

 these water- 

 sheds has been 

 pro hibited or 

 restricted, and 

 the vegetative 

 cover has had 

 a chance to re- 

 establish itself. 

 As a result, the 

 floods have 

 been steadily 

 decrea s ing, 

 both in number 

 and severity, 

 until they are 

 now practically 

 negligible. The 

 importance of 

 the protection 

 e x e r cised by 

 this Forest is 

 still further 

 emphasized by the fact that, together with the Fishlake 

 and Sevier National Forests, it is the source of water 

 used in the irrigation of some 200,000 acres, valued at 



