310 UNITED S'TATES FOREST POLICY 



The experiments in tree planting on lands which have not grown 

 trees seem somewhat like a revival of the old Timber Culture Act of 

 1873, and some of the results are apparently about as encouraging 

 as the results of the earlier act. As early as 1899, the appropriation 

 bill provided for seeking "suitable trees for the treeless plains," and 

 two of the national forests — one in Kansas, and one in Nebraska — 

 were created especially for working out this problem ; but very re- 

 cently (1916), the Kansas National Forest has been abolished. This 

 indicates that the results accruing from the work there were not 

 satisfactory, although some valuable information was acquired re- 

 garding the adaptability of various species to the arid climate. In 

 the Nebraska National Forests, the Forest Service is still at work on 

 the problem of finding some kind of forest cover which will hold down 

 the sand hills of western Nebraska, and some success has been re- 

 ported. The appropriation bill of 1911 provided for the free dis- 

 tribution of trees from this forest to settlers within the "Kinkaid" 

 district, and hundreds of thousands of trees have been given away.^^ 



INVESTIGATION OF FOREST INFLUENCES 



It was pointed out in a previous chapter that in the early period 

 much attention was given to the question of the influence of forests 

 on climate, and the Forest Service is conducting experiments with 

 a view to determining more exactly the relation of forests to climate 

 and streamflow. 



The study of the effect of forest cover on streamflow is carried on 

 at the Wagon Wheel Gap Station, in Colorado. The object is to 

 determine, by means of the most careful and accurate measurements, 

 the effect of forest cover upon the high and low water stages of moun- 

 tain streams, the total run-off from mountain watersheds as compared 

 with the annual precipitation, and the erosion of the surface of such 

 watersheds. Measurements of the streams in two watersheds, both 

 moderately well covered with forests, will be conducted for a number 

 of years, with the measurements of all the factors which may affect 



^2 Forest Bui. 66, 121: Forest Circ. 37, 99, 145, 161: Report, Sec. of Agr., 19l2, 

 511; 1916, 160, 168: Report, Forester, 1914, 16, 18: Report, Chief of Div. of For- 

 estry, 1891, 206: Proceedings, Society of Am. Foresters, July, 1914, 365, 388: 

 Canadian Forestry Journal, Oct., 1905, 155: Proceedings, Am. Forestry Assoc, 

 1890, 81. 



