202 



THE FORESTER. 



September, 



examination made by expert civil 

 engineers on section lines, and mapped 

 by the old State Board of Forestry, shows 

 in its reports that the mountain land 

 with merchantable timber is substan- 

 tially all in private hands. There is, 

 speaking generally, no timber of mer- 

 chantable quality and accessibility in 

 California not in private hands. 



Fuel and small wood costs more to 

 bring out of the high Sierras at present 

 than it will bring. There are restricted 

 districts where the waste and fallen wood, 

 or small standing timber could pay its 

 way for use as ties, posts, fuel or mining, 

 but no large revenue is in sight from this 

 source at present. Consequently, the 

 sources of revenue and support of for- 

 eign systems is absent in California. 



We may assume that the known con- 

 ditions of California in this respect in one 

 or another of its districts apply to those 

 of the entire West. 



There is, however, a source of reve- 

 nue to the Government from a rational 

 management of its mountain forest lands, 

 when handled in conjunction with the 

 development by public irrigation works 

 of the vast area of arid public land. 



The reason why there is such a large 

 amount of public land in California and 

 in the West generally, is that the land 

 is all in an arid climate, and that it is 

 therefore incapable of supporting a 

 farmer or settler, without a secure sup- 

 ply of water for irrigation, and often for 

 domestic use. 



The mountain forested areas are all 

 incapable of agriculture in the South- 

 west. There is consequently no gain of 

 productive area, as in the settlement of 

 Ohio, for instance, by denuding them. 

 On the other hand, these forests are the 

 natural reservoirs of the Southwest. 



The forests in this section are of the 

 highest importance both to the irrigation 

 districts already developed, and also to 

 the enormous areas that may by future 

 irrigation works be made fertile. 



Storage reservoirs, diversion works, 

 ditches, etc., are all safer and more per- 

 manent when under a forested water- 

 shed than when under a bare one. In 



the first case, with forest covering, there 

 is a minimum of flood action, and prac- 

 tically no torrential detritus to fill up the 

 works. From a denuded water-shed, 

 the water delivery is irregular, torren- 

 tial and detritus-laden. 



The public land now at its limits, or 

 near its limits of support of population, 

 can, by judicious irrigation works, be 

 made capable of supporting a popula- 

 tion of between fifty and one hundred 

 millions. Irrigated land has always 

 been as capable as that for supporting 

 the densest population from agricultural 

 returns. We see this in the history of 

 the Euphrates and the Nile. In both of 

 these cases, and in the more modern de- 

 velopments in India, we see that the im- 

 portant works were carried out by the 

 community or Government, were man- 

 aged by the community, are thus man- 

 aged, and that new work for further de- 

 velopment in the application of water 

 to land in genial and dry climates, such 

 as those of India and Egypt, is planned 

 or being executed solely as Government 

 undertakings. 



There are three good reasons with us 

 for this policy. The first is that the 

 lands susceptible of improvement are 

 largely public lands. The second is that 

 the undertakings are too large for most 

 private initiative, and the third is that a 

 public administration of irrigated lands 

 is the only one in which the land occu- 

 pants can feel safe in not becoming serfs 

 of the water company, as is now practi- 

 cally the case in the rich, irrigated val- 

 ley of the Po, where the returns are 

 large, but the people in misery. 



Governments in the past and Govern- 

 ments now recognize the advantage and 

 propriety of making their lands produc- 

 tive by public irrigation works. The 

 peoples who have done this in the past 

 have been among the greatest. One 

 of the most powerful governments of the 

 present day, that of Great Britain, is 

 now, as it long has been, engaged in 

 such irrigation development. The dam 

 on the River Nile, near Assouan, will be 

 the greatest land reclamation work in 

 the world. The values created by the 



