THE FOREST SERVICE 



History of a Month's Government Forest Matters 



Forest The establishment of the 



Irri Se at^on and B1 " e Mountains F rest 

 mga ion Reserve, embracing 2,- 



627,200 acres of the mountainous re- 

 gion in the center of Eastern Ore- 

 gon containing head-waters of the 

 John Day, Umatilla, Malheur, Sil- 

 vies, and other rivers, has an im- 

 portant bearing upon the work of 

 the U. S. Reclamation Service in that 

 part of the State. The success of the 

 widely-separated Umatilla, Malheur, 

 and Silver Creek projects, located, re- 

 spectively, at the mouths of the John 

 Day and Malheur rivers and on Silver 

 Creek in Harvey county, depends, in 

 large measure, upon the conservation 

 of the water supply within the great 

 drainage area embraced in this reserve. 

 The creation of the reserve will, con- 

 sequently, have a very direct effect in 

 bringing about the agricultural devel- 

 opment of the greater portion of the 

 State lying east of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains, which needs only irrigation to 

 develop the fertility of millions of 

 acres of land. 



The great agricultural possibilities 

 of this part of Oregon has led the Re- 

 clamation Service to undertake a num- 

 ber of irrigation projects, necessitating 

 extensive examinations by the U. S. 

 Forest Service of the forest cover 

 throughout the several drainage bas- 

 ins involved, with a view to extending 

 the protection of forest reserve admin- 

 istration over all important watersheds. 

 As a result, the wild mountain regions 

 embraced in the forest reserves will be 

 carefully patrolled, at government ex- 

 pense, to prevent disastrous fires, and 

 all other possible efforts will be made 

 to. sustain and regulate the streamflow 

 of those regions. 



In other words, the work of these 

 two scientific branches of the govern- 

 ment is being conjointly directed to- 

 wards bringing about the reclamation 

 of vast areas of land in eastern Ore- 



gon. 



While the tracts thus reserved 

 for the application of scientific princi- 

 ples in conserving and utilizing the 

 waterflow, will be made to conduce 

 directly towards the development of 

 other regions, it should be understood 

 that they will, in no sense, be with- 

 drawn from use by the public for all 

 legitimate purposes. On the contrary, 

 the timber, water, and herbage, the 

 minerals, and other resources, will re- 

 main open to the use of the people, and 

 the control exercised by the govern- 

 ment will be directed towards bring- 

 ing the lands to the highest productiv- 

 ity, in the interest of the various in- 

 dustries involved. The forested lands, 

 for instance, will be administered with 

 a view to insuring a continuous supply 

 of timber to meet local demands, while 

 the fullest utilization of the grazing 

 products consistent with a permanent 

 use of the range, will be allowed. 

 Every effort will be made by the gov- 

 ernment to prevent destruction and 

 wasteful use of resources, in order to 

 husband them properly for the use of 

 the people. 



The government has just 

 established a third re- 

 serve in Western Ne- 

 braska in which to extend the work 

 of forest-planting, recently begun in 

 the Dismal River Forest Reserve, in 

 that State. 



This new reserve, which is known 

 as the North Platte Forest Reserve, 

 embraces about 345,000 acres of sand- 

 hill country in Grant and McPherson 

 counties, which at present is practi- 

 cally worthless, except for grazing. 



The prospects, however, for grow- 

 ing timber on the tract are good, as 

 it contains a suitable site for a nur- 

 sery, and it is thought that successful 

 forest-planting can be effected on the 

 north and east slopes of the hills, 

 where there is always moisture near 

 the surface. Some miles east of the 



New Reserve 

 in Nebraska 



