228 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



would lead too far to discuss these 

 here. 



The stupendous physical forces that 

 have upheaved and convulsed this bit 

 of the earth's surface belong to the 

 unknown past. The more constant and 

 more silent forces that little by little 

 have worn this watershed down to its 

 present topography may never have 

 been so active as at present. The not 

 infrequent cloudbursts corrugate the 

 upper, and especially the north slopes 

 to a remarkable degree, bring down 

 countless tons of rock debris and soil, 

 tear great, gaping channels through 

 the ranches of remarkably rich alluvial 

 adobe soil along the streams, only fur- 

 ther down to double devastation by 

 spreading sand, rock, and uprooted 

 trees over other fertile fields and or- 

 chards. During the rainy season it is 

 the rule for roads to be impassable. 

 At Ft. Bayard the pumping station 

 and the water supply for the 500 pa- 

 tients has been put in jeopardy. The 

 springs upon which the ranches de- 

 pend are often obliterated. 



Various recently eroded streambeds 

 disclose 10 to 15 feet below the present 

 flood plain the surface of an older one, 

 rich with humus, and often supporting 

 the roots of oak and walnut. While 

 these trees were growing the stream 

 was probably cutting a channel near 

 by, and later overwhelming them by 

 disposition. One stream has recently 

 exposed a log cabin buried in about 12 

 feet of sediment. Now the cabin was 

 such as white men build, hence was 

 put up less than 400 years ago. Logs 

 not long cut have been buried in va- 

 rious places. These are strong indi- 

 cations that active erosion and deposi- 

 tion takes place in certain cycles, and 

 that these have continued from geolo- 

 gic down through historic time to the 

 present day. 



Local testimony bears witness, that 

 a long period previous to 1903 had 

 been very dry. The unusually heavy 

 rainfall of the last two years has 

 caused a tremendous amount of fresh 

 gullying. It is possible that a new 

 cycle of erosion has just begun. The 

 severe grazing of past years that killed 



the grama sod over considerable areas, 

 and caused such hardy shrubs as the 

 mountain mahogany to succumb in 

 large numbers, has without doubt con- 

 tributed much to erosive activity. On 

 several north slopes the last of the 

 pines had been removed. The grasses 

 and herbs of the ground cover had 

 been literally shaved off by cattle and 

 goats. The succeeding rains tore fur- 

 rows into these slopes fully ten feet 

 deep in places, and no further apart. 



But it must not be inferred that had 

 there been no grazing or wood-cutting 

 there would have been no gullies. They 

 would only have been fewer and less 

 deeper. Certain rhyolitic terraces are 

 now being cut clean. The rains are 

 washing the white rock bare of all 

 soil and humus. But it should not be 

 concluded that a forest should stand 

 on those rocks had there been no cut- 

 ting. If all influence -of grazing and 

 wood-cutting, past and present, could 

 be obliterated, the timber would still 

 be scrubby, and it is more than likely 

 that run-off and erosion should still 

 take place to a remarkable degree. The 

 factors that cause this large amount of 

 run-off, erosion, and deposition can be 

 safely put down in the following or- 

 der : Character of rainfall, soil and 

 rock, topography and vegetation, ma- 

 jor factors. Grazing and wood-cut- 

 ting, minor factors. 



Being human factors, grazing and 

 wood-cutting can be controlled. In 

 fact, on the public land in the water- 

 shed, they are now being prohibited, 

 and for the present rightly so. But 23 

 per cent, of the total area is either in 

 private and territorial holdings, or in 

 process of passing into such, the latter 

 in some cases unrightfully. As a re- 

 sult of the prohibition much of this 

 land is now being absolutely denuded 

 of both grass and wood, nor can the 

 bona fide owners be blamed. As an 

 offset it is possible on certain areas of 

 the public domain to reverse the fac- 

 tors of grazing and wood-cutting into 

 that of tree-planting. 



A forest nursery was established on 

 the watershed by Mr. Geo. F. Cloth- 

 ier, of the Forest Service, in the sum- 



