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recrossing the faces of steep slope, tread 

 out the plants sheep do not relish and, 

 loosening the forest floor, produce condi- 

 tions favorable to floods. Their destruc- 

 tion of the undergrowth of the forest and 

 of the sod of alpine meadows hastens the 

 melting of snow in spring and quickens 

 evaporation. 



The pasturage of sheep iu mountain for- 

 ests thus increases the floods of early sum- 

 mer, Avhich carry away rapidly the water 

 that under natural conditions would not 

 reach the rivers until late in the season, 

 when it is most needed for irrigation, and 

 hy destroying the seedling trees, on which 

 the permanency of forests depends, pre- 

 vents natural forest reproduction, and 

 therefore ultimately destroys the forests 

 themselves. In California and Oregon the 

 injury to the public domain by illegal pas- 

 turage is usually increased by the methods 

 of the shepherds, who now penetrate to the 

 highest and most inaccessible slopes and 

 alpine meadows wherever a blade of grass 

 can grow, and before returning to the val- 

 lej'S in the autumn start fires to uncover 

 the surface of the ground and simulate the 

 growth of herbage. Unrestricted pastur- 

 ing of sheep in the Sierras and southern 

 Cascade forests, by pi-eventing their repro- 

 duction and increasing the number of fires, 

 must inevitably so change the flow of 

 streams heading in these mountains that 

 they will become worthless for irrigation. 



A study of the forest reserves, in their re- 

 lations to the general development and 

 welfare of the country, shows that the se- 

 gregations of these great bodies of reserved 

 lands can not be withdrawn from all occu- 

 pation and use, and that they must be 

 made to perform their part in the economy 

 of the nation. According to a strict inter- 

 pretation of the rulings of the Department 

 of the Interior, no one has a right to enter 

 a forest reserve, to cut a single tree from its 

 forests, or to examine its rocks in search of 



valuable minerals. Forty million acres of 

 land are thus theoretically shut out from 

 all human occupation or enjoyment. Such 

 a condition of things should not continue, 

 for unless the reserved lands of the public 

 domain are made to contribute to the wel- 

 fare and prosperity' of the country they 

 should be thrown open to settlement and 

 the whole system of reserved forests aban- 

 doned. Land more valuable for its mineral 

 deposits, or for the production of agricul- 

 tural crops, than for its timber should be 

 taken from the reservations and sold to 

 miners and farmers; the mature timber 

 should be cut and sold ; settlers within or 

 adjacent to the boundaries, unable to pro- 

 cure it in other ways, should be authorized 

 to take such material from reserved forests 

 as is necessary for their needs, and pros- 

 pectors should be allowed to search them 

 for minei-als. 



But it must not be forgotton that the 

 public domain of which these reserves form 

 a part belongs to the people of the whole 

 country, and not to those of any one sec- 

 tion. It is right, therefore, that the forest 

 reserves should be managed for the benefit 

 of the people of the whole country, and not 

 foi' Tiny particular class or section. Steep 

 and elevated mountain slopes should not 

 be cleared of their forests for the sole bene- 

 fit of the prospector or the"miner, because 

 this by its influence on water flow might 

 mean permanent injury to persons living 

 hundreds of miles away. A few foreign ' 

 sheep owners should not be allowed to ex- 

 terminate great forests at the expense of 

 the whole country, and prospectors and 

 miners should not be permitted to burn 

 willfully or carelessly forests in which all 

 classes of the community are equally in- 

 terested. 



Our examination of the Western forests 

 shows that the existing methods and forces 

 at the disposal of the Interior Department 

 are entirely inadequate to protect the for- 



