66 Wyoming Experiment Station. 



climate of adjacent regions, i. e., temperature, moisture 

 and healthfulness are affected by them. Of greatest im- 

 portance, however, is their conservation of moisture 

 whether it falls in the form of rain or snow. To the 

 wooded summits and slopes of our mountains we owe the 

 fruitfulness of the valleys and plains below. The rain is 

 taken up by the loose soil and leaves and sinks into the 

 crevices among the rocks. Days and even weeks pass 

 by before it all finds its way into the brooks and streams. 

 When it does reach these it literally filters into them as 

 clear and sparkling as if it had verily been distilled. The 

 snows of winter, protected in the shade of the dense 

 woods and piled in great drifts in the canons, linger even 

 in the lap of summer, feeding slowly but surely the many 

 life giving streams upon which the vegetation in the val- 

 ley and on the plain depends. It will easily be seen that 

 the forests hold back what would otherwise be flood wa- 

 ters in the streams that drain the region. So it happens 

 that communities hundreds of miles from the great forest 

 reservations are interested in their perpetuation. 



Contrast the condition in open country or where the 

 timber has all been removed. Rains that fall upon naked 

 slopes run off with a rush, carrying the soil off with the 

 water and washing out gullies, ravines and even canons. 

 In open regions we have seen the muddy streams over- 

 flowing their banks after a shower or following the melt- 

 ing of the spring snows. The soil is all washed away, 

 making worthless many a once valuable acre. The water 

 courses in such regions, during dry periods, instead of 

 being clear, flowing streams are little more than stagnant, 

 muddy pools.' 



Wyoming is fortunate in the possession of several 



