i8 9 9- 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



35 



sense, and recognize the fact that we must not 

 discuss it from the standpoint of a cattle man 

 or as a sheep man. 



Mr. Barries, of Arizona, in discussing 



the question said : 



On some of the Arizona ranges where the 

 sheep have been for twenty-five years the range 

 is as good as ever. It seems the conditions 

 are different in the various States. I would 

 offer an amendment to the original resolution 

 recommending that the order be changed so as 

 to prohibit all animals from the forest reserves 

 except under such regulations as the Secretary 

 of Agriculture may prescribe for each. 



Col. J. M. Dougherty, of Nebraska, 

 moved the previous question, but with- 

 drew it to allow Mr. Mackay, of Utah, to 

 make an explanation. Mr. Mackay spoke 

 with intense feeling as he said : 



I am sorry to see you gentlemen admit by 

 your action the theory that sheep are a curse 

 to our country. I realize the way this conven- 

 tion feels. I say that to-day in Utah, where 

 we irrigate more land in proportion to the total 

 area than any other State, we have plenty of 

 water. We do not need the timber reserva- 

 tions for protection, but we do need the grazing 

 privileges. Our sheep industry goes down 

 without them. 



The previous question being again de- 

 manded it was ordered, showing an over- 

 whelming vote in favor of the strict en- 

 forcement of existing regulations. The 

 Barnes amendment was then adopted 

 also. This placed the convention on 

 record as favoring the prohibition of all 

 grazing on the forest reserves except 

 when the Secretary of the Interior may 

 issue orders permitting such grazing as 

 the diversified interests concerned may 

 approve of. 



A PRACTICAL VIEW. 



The friends of the forest movement 

 have so often been called "blind en- 

 thusiasts" and "misguided theorists," 

 that it is a pleasure to be able to quote 

 from authorities that cannot, even by 

 inference, be accused of taking any other 

 than a practical view of an economic 

 question. The American Lumberman, 

 from which the following is copied, cer- 

 tainly cannot be accused of sentimen- 

 talism : 



The public, through the forestry advocates 

 and the public prints, has become fairly settled 



in the belief that forests covering the land 

 about the headwaters of streams conserve the 

 fountains and maintain a good stage and 

 equable flow of water throughout the dry 

 season. 



This doctiine was the strong argument for 

 passing the laws for the segregation of the 

 national forest reserves in the mountain dis- 

 tricts of the West. Not only has the National 

 Government set apart such reserves but State 

 governments have taken up the enterprise and 

 legislatures are passing laws to preserve the 

 moisture of the soil and thus maintain the 

 streams. A notable example is in New York, 

 which has provided for a State park in the 

 Adirondacks. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Min- 

 nesota and other States have done something in 

 behalf of forestry. The governor of Utah is 

 also stirred up in behalf of the forests of that 

 State. In his late message to the legislature he 

 said that the increasing spoliation of the tim- 

 ber of the State was affecting seriously the 

 source of the water supply for the valleys, and 

 something should be done to arrest denudation^ 

 C. L. Sessions, of Bountiful, Utah, writes to> 

 the Salt Lake Herald a& follows : 



I notice in the governor's message that he- 

 says the increasing spoliation of our timber 

 areas is seriously affecting the source of water 

 supply for our valleys. I would like to ask 

 what relation the timber in the mountains has 

 to supply of water in the valleys, and how. If 

 the governor is a close observer, or had asked 

 a canon man, he never would have made such 

 a remark. Every person acquainted with trie- 

 source of supply knows that the water used for 

 irrigation does not come from the timber sec- 

 tions but from the drifts or pockets where the 

 wind piles the snow in great banks, or from 

 slides which come down from the mountain 

 sides and pack the snow in ravines. Timber 

 hinders this, for it is a windbreak and prevents- 

 the snow from making drifts. It also stops the 

 slides from piling the snow up in vast banks to 

 draw from in late irrigation, which is the water 

 we want. The snow that lies all over the 

 ground and melts just moistens the ground 

 where it lies and never gets into the creeks, 

 at all. 



Mr. Sessions proceeds to ask the governor 

 what the bona fide settlers are to do for timber 

 if cutting is to be stopped, and calls for practi- 

 cal men to make laws for the protection of tim- 

 ber. He asks that business men, farmers and 

 laboring men shall have their say in determin- 

 ing on a method to control the forests. 



After commenting to the effect that 



