THE NATIONAL FORESTS 



National Forests and Stream Protection* 



By F. A. FENN 

 Supervisor, United Slates Forest Service 



"Forest conservation" is a broad term, 

 comprehending far more than mere "timber 

 preservation," which is often mistakenly re- 

 garded as an equivalent expression. It is 

 true that we cannot preserve our timber so 

 as to have a continuous supply of timber 

 products without conserving our forests ; but 

 it is also true that without conserving the 

 forests we cannot maintain an equable flow 

 in our streams for the steady generation 

 of a maximum of power ; for the realization 

 of the greatest benefit in irrigation, and for 

 the highest utilization of our rivers for pur- 

 poses of trade and commerce, matters of 

 supreme public importance that may be vi- 

 tally affected by forests which contain little 

 or no timber of merchantable character. Our 

 national forests, the so-called forest re- 

 serves, are established for the conservation 

 of all the potential forest resources, not for 

 the preservation of timber only. No fact 

 is better established than that the forests pro- 

 vided by Nature as a protective cover for 

 the water-sheds of rivers are the best pos- 

 sible regulator of stream-flow. Maintain that 

 cover and the rivers will be most efficient in 

 the discharge of those functions so bene- 

 ficial to mankind; destroy it and they be- 

 come relatively inefficient or positively inju- 

 rious and destructive because of erratic flow. 

 As an example, I need only refer to the Ohio 

 River, where, in consequence of the denuda- 

 tion of its drainage basin, the navigability of 

 the stream has been greatly impaired and the 

 destruction of property by freshets and floods 

 now annually reaches millions of dollars. 



The Inland Empire has for nearly a half- 

 century hoped for an all-water route to the 

 sea. Thanks largely to the efforts of your 

 people here, that hope is at last practically 

 realized, and the Snake River from Lewiston 

 to the Columbia is an important part of that 

 route. Have you considered the fact that the 

 total amount of water appropriated for irri- 

 gation purposes from the Snake River and 

 its tributaries above Huntington, Oreg., ex- 

 ceeds the mean low-water flow of the river 

 at Huntington Bridge? Within a very few 

 years, when the great reclamation schemes of 

 South Idaho now in course of development 

 shall have been put in full operation, unless 

 some system different from what is now 



outlined be adopted regarding the waters 

 of that great stream, the Snake River at 

 Huntington will cease to deserve the name ; 

 its bed will be practically dry for a good 

 part of every season, its waters diverted to 

 subject the desert to the beneficial use of 

 man. We wish our neighbors of the South 

 the fullest measure of success, prosperity, and 

 happiness, but we must remember that what 

 they are doing directly and injuriously af- 

 fects the navigability of the Snake River 

 below Lewiston. We cannot complain at 

 that, but it compels us to be the more careful 

 in conserving the supply of water for naviga- 

 tion that is available from other sources. 

 Below Huntington every considerable affluent 

 of the Snake has its headwaters protected 

 from denudation and injurious use by the 

 national government through the establish- 

 ment of national forests. The most impor- 

 tant of these tributary streams are the Salmon 

 and Clearwater rivers, whose vast drainage 

 basins nature has clothed with magnificent 

 sylvical growth. Properly managed, conserv- 

 atively handled, the forests there will pro- 

 duce enormous quantities of timber indefi- 

 nitely and at the same time perform the many 

 other functions to which they are so ad- 

 mirably adapted, and chief among which is 

 the maintenance of a stable, uniform stream- 

 flow. On the contrary, if they be abused or 

 neglected, if they be exposed to uncontrolled, 

 unregulated use by those who look for quick 

 profits and personal aggrandizement rather 

 than ultimate good and public benefit, the 

 forests will be devastated, the timber supply 

 will quickly be exhausted, the flow of the 

 rivers will become irregular and uncertain, 

 their capacity to generate a steady amount of 

 power for the multitudinous uses of the peo- 

 ple will be impaired, your labors in the cause 

 of _ Snake River navigation will be rendered 

 vain, and the all-water route from Lewiston 

 to the sea will be but the memory of a 

 dream. Much as it is to be desired that 

 every branch of industry should be estab- 

 lished and made to prosper in this city, it 

 would be a shortsighted policy that would 

 encourage the exploitation of the forests 

 upon which reliance must be had for a nav- 

 igable stage of water in the Snake River 

 from here to the Columbia for the longest 

 possible time every year. Do not allow the 

 prospect of a great temporary lumber in 

 dustry at this point or elsewhere in this 

 section to blind you to the incalculable per- 

 manent good to the whole community that 



*This article is the substance of an address delivered by Major Fenn May 19, 1909, in 

 Lewiston, Idaho. 



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