4 6 



THE FORESTER. 



February, 



view of a mountain-side irrigation canal 

 in Larimer County, Colorado, showing 

 how its former forest protection has been 

 killed by fire. It is scarcely to be 

 expected that, by natural means, a new 

 growth will rapidly replace the pro- 

 tective forest thus destroyed.* In such 

 a case there is a possibility that it may 

 at times be necessary to remove gravel 

 and other coarse materials from the bed 

 of the canal as well as the usual deposit 

 of fine sediment. 



Storage reservoirs may supplement 

 protective forests, but they cannot be sub- 

 stituted for them. Since no agency can 

 take the place of forest preservation, 

 this subject is one of deepest concern to 

 intelligent irrigators. They realize that 

 with the destruction of protective forests, 

 great material loss must fall upon them. 



In order that all conditions may be 

 made the most favorable, that the main- 

 tenance and operation of irrigation works 

 may be made successful with the least 

 expenditure of labor and money, the 

 forests must be restored and properly 

 cared for. This must be done sooner or 

 later, and the sooner it is done the less 

 it will cost. 



In a communication to the St. Paul 

 Pioneer Press Mr. Otis Staples, a veteran 

 lumberman calls attention to the enor- 

 mous extravagance involved in the annual 

 cutting down of young Spruces and Firs 

 for use as "Christmas trees." The 

 young growths used for this purpose 

 for one Christmas in Minnesota would, 

 according to his figures, if left standing, 

 produce 37,500,000 feet of lumber in 

 twenty-five years. It is to be inferred 

 that Mr. Staples bases his figures upon 

 the assumption that each of the small trees 

 thus destroyed would, if left standing, 

 grow to full maturity. Such an assump- 

 tion would seem to be scarcely war- 

 ranted by facts, for the mature forest, in 

 the point of numbers, is but a fraction 

 of its earlier composition, the surviving 



*See article on "New Growth on Burned 

 Areas" by Prof. C. S. Crandall in The Fores- 

 ter, Vol. V, No. 1 (January, 1899). 



trees having crowded out their weaker 

 neighbors. It is well, however, to call 

 attention to the abuses of which the 

 Christmas-tree cutters are guilty. Their 

 methods are generally indiscriminate 

 and, in effect, are destructive. A young 

 forest is benefited by judicious thinning, 

 but the prevailing practice of these tree 

 cutters is not based upon any thought of 

 benefit except that of personal gain to 

 the offender. This practice of making 

 a clean cut of all young forest growth 

 for this purpose, particularly near the 

 larger cities in a mountain region, is a 

 most reprehensible one, and should be 

 made subject to regulation by law. 



The "Report on Floods of the Mis- 

 sissippi River, " by the Senate Committee 

 on Commerce, which details the results 

 of the investigations made pursuant to a 

 resolution of the Senate, has been 

 printed. Under the head of "Destruc- 

 tion of Forests" the report says: 



Nothing in the evidence or other data ob- 

 tained by your committee discloses the fact 

 that the destruction of timber at or near the 

 headwaters of these river systems tends to 

 cause or promote the floods referred to. It 

 was shown that where timber is cut down 

 for purposes other than cultivation the under- 

 brush remains and grows more luxuriant than 

 ever, and such underbrush serves to retard 

 rather than hasten the movement of water on 

 the slopes and hillsides ; and where timber is 

 cut down for purposes of clearing and cultiva- 

 tion the plowed area becomes an enlarged 

 absorbent of surface moisture. It is a generally 

 accepted opinion that the destruction of timber 

 tends rather to diminish than to increase the 

 rainfall. 



A very important phase of the flood 

 question is passed over with a very brief 

 mention. That the effects of forest de- 

 struction would seem to warrant a more 

 extended discussion in such a report 

 there can be no question, for it has been 

 proven over and over again that the re- 

 moval of forests in mountain regions is 

 always followed by disastrous results in 

 seasons of great flood. Of the fires that 

 burn through the cut-over lands and 

 of the soil erosion which follows in the 

 wake of the fire on the steeper slopes, 

 and the consequent destruction of its 



