June 11, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



899 



ADDITIONAL NATIONAL PAEKS. 



Parts of two forest reserves contain fea- 

 tures of supreme natural beauty, and can 

 best be preserved for the enjoyment and in- 

 struction of the world by creating them na- 

 tional parks and governing them under the 

 rules and regulations which have proved 

 successful in protecting the Yellowstone 

 National Park. The first of these is the 

 upper slopes of Mount Eanier, in Washing- 

 ton, with its glaciers, its alpine meadows 

 clothed with flowers, and the fringe of for- 

 est which maintains a precarious foothold 

 on the steep ridges below the line of its per- 

 petual snows. This mountain is one of the 

 highest and most beautiful in North Amer- 

 ica, and outside Alaska its glaciers are un- 

 rivaled in magnitude and interest in the 

 United States. Memorials have been pre- 

 sented to Congress by the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, the 

 Geological Society of America, the Sien-a 

 Club and the Apalachian Mountain Club 

 favoring the establishment of this national 

 park, and an act setting aside certain lands 

 for it was passed by the Fifty-fourth Con- 

 gress at its second session ; but the bill, by 

 extending to it the mineral-land laws, 

 might have destroyed its scenic value, and 

 it did not receive Executive sanction. 



The second spot which we believe should 

 be made into a national park is that por- 

 tion of the Grand Canyon Eeserve in Ari- 

 zona which is immediately adjacent to 

 and includes the walls of the canyon itself. 

 These two localities, Mount Eanier in 

 Washington and the Grand Canyon of the 

 Colorado in Arizona, are each in its particu- 

 lar way unsurpassed in interest. Their 

 natural wonders should be preserved with- 

 out further defacement than is necessarj' to 

 make them easily accessible to the people ; 

 and unless mining is prohibited in their im- 

 medite neighborhood, and unless thej' can 

 be strictly guarded against fires, their scen- 

 ic value will be seriously impaired. As 



this protection can only be secured by 

 the adoption of the rules and regulations 

 similar to those which govern the national 

 parks, we recommend the establishment of 

 a Eanier national park and a Grand Can- 

 yon national park. 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 



The Secretary of the Interior, in his let- 

 ter of February 15, 1896, asked the Acad- 

 emy whether " it is desirable and practica- 

 ble to preserve from fire and to maintain 

 permanently as forest lands those portions 

 of the public domain now bearing wood 

 growth for the supply of timber." 



Your committee is of the opinion that it 

 is not only desirable but essential to na- 

 tional welfare to protect the forested lands 

 of the public domain, for their influence on 

 the flow of streams and to supply timber 

 and other forest products ; and that it is 

 practicable to reduce the number and re- 

 strict the ravages of forest fires in the West- 

 ern States and Territories, provided details 

 from the Army of the United States are 

 used for this purpose permanently, or until 

 a body of trained forest guards or rangers 

 can be organized. It does not believe 

 that it is practicable or possible to pro- 

 tect the forests on the public domain from 

 fire and pillage with the present meth- 

 ods and machinery of the government. 



In answer to the second question sub- 

 mitted by the Secretary of the Interior, 

 " How far does the influence of forests upon 

 climate, soil, and water conditions make 

 desirable a policy of forest conservation in 

 regions where the public domain is princi- 

 pally situated?" It is the opinion of your 

 committee that, while forests probably do 

 not increase the precipitation of moisture 

 in any broad and general way, they are 

 necessary to prevent destructive spring 

 floods, and corresponding periods of low 

 "water in summer and autumn when the 

 agriculture of a large part of western 



