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THE FORESTER. 



February, 



of the irrigable West and of the commerce 

 tributary thereto is impossible without the 

 conservation of the forests ; it is, 



"Resolved, That the protection and 

 perpetuation of our forests by selective 

 cutting and conservative use under expert 

 forest management is a matter of National 

 moment ; and, 



"Resolved, That the National Board 

 of Trade respectfully urges the extension 

 of the forest reserve system throughout the 

 United States; and, 



" Resolved, That the concentration of 

 all responsibility for the care and preserva- 

 tion of our national forests under a single 

 head in lieu of the present division of 

 jurisdiction among three unrelated organ- 

 izations, is of prime necessity to all the 

 interests which depend upon our forests ; 

 and, 



"Resolved, That the National Board of 

 Trade respectfully urges upon Congress 

 the establishment of the proposed Minne- 

 sota National Park, and of the proposed 

 Southern Appalachian Forest Reserve, as 

 a just and necessary measure of forest pro- 

 tection to those portions of our country 

 which at present contain no National 

 forest reserves." 



Committee on Irrigation and Fores- 

 try: Wm. H. Chadwick, President, Chi- 

 cago Commercial Association ; F. B. 

 Thurber, President, United States Export 

 Association ; D. R. Francis, Ex-Secretary 

 of the Interior and Ex-Governor of Mis- 

 souri ; Geo. F. Stone, Secretary, Chicago 

 Board of Trade; Geo. H. Maxwell, Ex- 

 ecutive Chairman, The National Irrigation 

 Association. 



S 



Forests and 

 Erosion. 



Mr. Gifford Pinchot is 

 now conducting a page 

 devoted to Forestry in 

 07iting which all who see that magazine 

 will do well not to pass by. On page 23 

 of the last Forester a paragraph about the 

 increasing adoption of forestry by private 

 land owners was quoted from this depart- 

 ment in the January Outing. In the issue 

 for February, Mr. Pinchot considers the 

 influence of forests on the flow of streams 

 and the successful operation of irrigating 

 works, and says among other things: 



"Just how necessary to the prosperity- 

 of the irrigable West the forests really are, 

 is not always evident at first sight. The 

 loss of water from evaporation, and the 

 practical destruction of storage reservoirs 

 (and less completely of the distributing 

 canals as well) by their filling up, with 

 silt carried by the streams from denuded 

 slopes, are two of the most vital dangers 

 to irrigation ; and, for them both, the for- 

 est is the remedy. When we remember 

 that the loss of water by evaporation in an 

 irrigated part of Arizona has risen to thir- 

 teen inches in a single month, the pos- 

 sible waste is nothing less than appalling. 

 Against it, the forest is the first and great- 

 est safeguard, as it is also against the tying 

 up (to use a term not strictly applicable) 

 of irrigation works by silt. 



" The consequent impoverishment of 

 large numbers of once prosperous farmers 

 is as old a story as it is a sad one. 



" ' The reservoirs,' says Vice-President 

 elect Roosevelt, ' cannot last if they fill 

 full of silt, and the only way to prevent 

 this filling with silt is to preserve the for- 

 ests themselves. The forest is a great 

 sponge for absorbing and distilling water. 

 It is the great preventor of erosion, and 

 erosion is always the danger point in any 

 irrigation system.' 



" The far-reaching effectiveness of in- 

 telligent foresight in dealing with such 

 questions, as these is almost beyond over- 

 statement, as the lack of it is almost cer- 

 tain to be punished beyond our expecta- 

 tion. From perfectly preventable over- 

 grazing, I saw, this spring, a dam filled so 

 full of silt, from the erosion of denuded 

 slopes above it, that the owner had dug a 

 ditch through the center of it, to let the 

 water through. We are far too apt to 

 consider that obvious, and, so to say, hab- 

 itual evils like the loss from fire and 

 flood are without remedy. In the pres- 

 ent instance, the remedy is perfectly well 

 known." . 



More About the The Iowa Academy of 

 Proposed Min- Science recently passed 

 nesota Park. the following resolutions 

 in favor of the proposed 

 Minnesota National Park: 



