December 13, 1901.] 



SCIENCE 



909 



planted or of natural growth. The great 

 part played by them in the creation and 

 maintenance of the national wealth is now 

 more fully realized than ever before. Wise 

 forest protection does not mean the with- 

 drawal of forest resources, whether of wood, 

 water or grass, from contributing their full 

 share to the welfare of the people, but, on 

 the contrary, gives the assurance of larger 

 and more certain supplies. The funda- 

 mental idea of forestry is the perpetuation 

 of forests by use. Forest protection is not 

 an end of itself ; it is a means to increase 

 and sustain the resources of our country 

 and the industries which depend upon them . 

 The preservation of our forests is an im- 

 perative business necessity. We have come 

 to see clearly that whatever destroys the 

 forest, except to make way for agriculture, 

 threatens our well-being. 



The practical usefulness of the national 

 forest reserves to the mining, grazing, irri- 

 gation and other interests of the regions 

 in which the reserves lie has led to a wide- 

 spread demand by the people of the West 

 for their protection and extension. The 

 forest reserves will inevitably be of still 

 greater use in the future than in the past. 

 Additions should be made to them when- 

 ever practicable, and their usefulness 

 should be increased by a thoroughly busi- 

 nesslike management. At present the 

 protection of the forest reserves rests with 

 the General Land Oflfice, the mapping and 

 description of their timber with the United 

 State Geological Survey, and the prepara- 

 tion of plans for their conservative use with 

 the Bureau of Forestry, which is alsocharged 

 with the general advancement of practical 

 forestry in the United States. These various 

 functions should be united in the Bureau of 

 Forestry, to which they properly belong. 

 The present diffusion of responsibility is bad 

 from every standpoint. It prevents that 

 effective cooperation between the Govern- 

 ment and the men who utilize the resources 



of the reserves without which the interests 

 of both must suffer. The scientific bureaus 

 generally should be put under the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The President should 

 have by law the power of transferring lands 

 for use as forest reserves to the Department 

 of Agriculture. He already has such power 

 in the case of lands needed by the Depart- 

 ments of War and the Navy. 



The wise administration of the forest re- 

 serves will be not less helpful to the inter- 

 ests which depend on water than to those 

 which depend on wood and grass. The 

 water supply itself depends upon the forest. 

 In the arid region it is water, not land, 

 which measures production. The western 

 half of the United States would sustain a 

 population greater than that of the whole 

 country to-day if the waters that now run 

 to w^aste were saved and used for irrigation. 

 The forest and water problems are perhaps 

 the most vital internal questions of the 

 United States. 



Certain of the forest reserves should also 

 be made preserves for the wild forest 

 creatures. All the reserves should be 

 better protected from fires. Many of them 

 need special protection because of the great 

 injury done by live stock, above all by 

 sheep. The increase in deer, elk and other 

 animals in the Yellowstone Park shows 

 what may be expected when other moun- 

 tain forests are properly protected by law 

 and properly guarded. Some of these areas 

 have been so denuded of surface vegetation 

 by overgrazing that the ground breeding 

 birds, including grouse and quail, and many 

 mammals, including deer, have been ex- 

 terminated or driven away. At the same 

 time the water-storing capacity of the sur- 

 face has been decreased or destroj^ed, thus 

 promoting floods in times of rain and di- 

 minishing the flow of streams between 

 rains. 



In cases where natural conditions have 

 been restored for a few years, vegetation 



