1522 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



are prevented from congregating too much by a proper 

 distribution of salt and the development of watering 

 places at the higher elevations and on the less frequented 

 parts of the 

 range . All 

 stock is kept 

 off of the 

 range until the 

 ground is firm 

 enough not to 

 be cut up by 

 trampling. 

 Where neces- 

 sary, no graz- 

 ing is allowed 

 until the grass 

 and other 

 herbs have had 

 a chance to 

 seed. By such 

 measures as 

 these the water 

 user is protect- 

 ed, and at the 

 same time the 

 grazing indus- 

 try is benefited. 

 Under the im- 

 proved meth- 

 ods the range 

 is, in fact, be- 

 ing built up to 

 a point where 

 it can carry 

 larger num- 

 bers of stock 

 than before 

 and still af- 

 f o r d protec- 

 tion from the 

 twin dangers 

 of erosion and 

 irregular 

 stream flow. 



In cutting 

 timber on the 

 National For- 

 c s t s , similar 

 precautions are 

 taken to see 

 that the inter- 

 ests of the wa- 

 ter user are 

 properly pro- 

 tected. De- 

 structive lum- 

 bering, which too often stripped the land and abandoned 

 it to fire, with entire disregard not only of the future 

 timber supply, but also of the water supply, is now a 



ONE METHOD OF STREAM CONTROL 



A costly substitute for brush and forest cover. These check dams are part of a series of approximately 

 400 dams constructed in Haines Canyon, on the Angeles National Forest in Southern California, at a 

 cost of some $6,000,000, in order to control the floods resulting from the complete burning off of the 

 protective brush cover. 



thing of the past, so far as the National Forests are con- 

 cerned. In its place has been substituted a system of 

 management which assures the preservation of the forest 



cover and of 

 i t s protective 

 influence. At 

 the higher ele- 

 vations, where 

 because of thin 

 soil, steep 

 slopes, and 

 heavy precipi- 

 tation the pres- 

 ervation of a 

 fairly dense 

 forest cover is 

 particularly im- 

 portant, "pro- 

 t e c t i o n for- 

 ests" may be 

 set aside in 

 which little or 

 no cutting is 

 allowed. At 

 lower ele- 

 vations the 

 amount of cut- 

 ting that may 

 s a f e 1 y be al- 

 lowed natural- 

 ly varies more 

 or less with lo- 

 cal conditions. 

 In each case a 

 careful study 

 of the situa- 

 tion is made, 

 and the timber 

 is never thin- 

 ned below the 

 point of safe- 

 ty. Lumbering 

 is carried on 

 with the pri- 

 mary object of 

 improving the 

 forest and 

 keeping it con- 

 tinuously pro- 

 ductive. So far 

 as possible, 

 new growth is 

 secured by nat- 

 ural reproduc- 

 tion from the 

 old trees left standing. Areas burned over before the 

 creation of the National Forests need to be planted to 

 trees and many difficulties are encountered in this work. 



