488 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



December, 



for the interests of its own citizens is 

 conceded, and until in some wa}^ Con- 

 gress asserts its superior power, and the 

 necessit}- of preserving the general in- 

 terests of the people of all the states, it 

 is assumed that state action, although 

 involving temporarih' an obstruction to 

 the free navigability of a stream, is not 

 subject to challenge. " ( 1 74 U. S. , 703. ) 



California 

 "Water and 

 Forest 

 Association. 



The fourth annual con- 

 vention of the Califor- 

 nia Water and Forest 

 Association was held at 

 San Francisco, Decem- 

 ber 5 and 6. The first day's session 

 was given up to the adoption of a series 

 of resolutions. These ask Congress to 

 appropriate $75,000 for the irrigation 

 investigations carried on b}' the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture ; pledge the sup- 

 port of the Association to the California 

 Club's bill for the establishment of a 

 school of forestry in the State Univer- 

 sity ; ask the Secretary of the Interior 

 to have definite determination made of 

 the lands under the proposed storage 

 reservoir in Clear Lake, Lake count3% 

 to reclaim the arid lands, and also re- 

 quest him to inform the association what 

 lines to proceed upon that the district 

 may organize to enjo}' the benefits of 

 the law for the reclamation of arid land. 

 A resolution was also adopted to have 

 a committee appointed to lay before the 

 government the facts concerning for- 

 estry in its relation to agriculture in 

 the northern part of California, and im- 

 press the need of the preservation of 

 forest areas, especially on the eastern 

 slope of the Coast Range. It was re- 

 solved further that a withdrawal of the 

 forested lands of the state from private 

 entry would accomplish the objects in 

 view withovit the objections which are 

 being urged to withdrawal b}- means of 

 the Forest Reservation act. 



The Association thanked the Califor- 

 nia Federation of Women's Clubs for 

 work in cooperation with the Associa- 

 tion, and commended the efforts of the 

 California Club toward the preserva- 

 tion of the Calaveras Big Trees. 



The second daj^'s sessions were de- 

 voted to the discussion of irrigation 

 problems, most of the time being taken 

 up with criticisms of an irrigation and 

 forestry bill as a substitute for the one 

 vetoed b}' Governor Gage at the last 

 session of the legislature. This bill 

 was framed by a committee of the Asso- 

 ciation, consisting of W. H. Beatty, 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ; 

 ex-Justice John D. Works, who will 

 urge its passage at the next session of 

 the legislature, as the Association's rep- 

 resentative ; President Wheeler and 

 Prof. Frank Soule, of the University 

 of California ; President Jordan and 

 Prof. C. D. Marx, of Stanford Univer- 

 sity ; El wood Mead, of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and F. H. 

 Newell, hydrographer of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. The bill is volumi- 

 nous, and embraces eighty-five different 

 sections, but its principal objects are as 

 follows : 



To declare the state's ownership of 

 its flowing waters subject to vested 

 rights ; to define riparian rights and 

 limit them to beneficial and needed uses 

 of water ; to provide means by which 

 water may be appropriated ; to fix rates 

 and compensation for water supplied to 

 the public ; to abolish the offices of 

 Commissioner of Public Works and the 

 auditing board to the Commission of 

 Public Works, and substitute a board 

 of engineers, of which the governor 

 shall be ex officio member, and to vest 

 in the board of engineers thus provided 

 all powers necessary to carry out the 

 provisions of the act, to provide a sys- 

 tem of administration and control of 

 distribution of water, and to prevent 

 illegal use and waste ; to authorize the 

 state to acquire any and all water and 

 water rights, and to protect the federal 

 government in the proposed storage of 

 and distribution of flood waters. 



Chief Justice Beatty was elected pres- 

 ident ; William Thomas was elected 

 first vice-president ; Arthur P. Briggs 

 and J. B. Lippincott, respectively second 

 and third vice-presidents ; T. C. Fried- 

 lander, secretary, and F. W. Dohrmann, 

 treasurer. 



