PROBLEMS FROM LAND OCCUPANCY 181 



rock. The sediment, washed into the Ocoee River, has com- 

 pletely filled the reservoir above Ocoee Dam No. 2 and 

 slopped over into that at Dam No. 1 downstream. (These 

 dams were constructed in 1912 and 1913.) Sediment from 

 this watershed is now filling the reservoir formed by Ocoee 

 Dam No. 3, constructed in 1943 by TVA upstream from the 

 other two. The Copper Basin is by far the most serious 

 erosion and sedimentation problem area in the entire Ten- 

 nessee Valley and is the only one which TVA regards as an 

 "engineering" problem (because of its effect on reservoir 

 storage). 



Many agencies have been interested in improving the 

 condition of the Copper Basin. For several years a program 

 of reforestation has been underway by the Tennessee Copper 

 Company, in partnership with the TVA and U.S. Forest 

 Service and interested state and county agencies. The pro- 

 gram has already achieved some success, and the sponsors are 

 hopeful of developing a managed forest that will eventually 

 meet the company's lumber requirements, in addition to 

 reducing erosion. 



In the eyes of the thirsty West, the major economic value 

 of the mountains is the water that comes from them in streams 

 and canyons and produces both the surface-water and ground- 

 water supplies of the intermontane valleys. The values of 

 soils, forests, wildlife, recreation, and ground water in the 

 mountains are subordinate and must be weighed in relation 

 to the cost of their maintenance in terms of depletion of the 

 water that the mountains provide for the inhabited and de- 

 veloped valley areas. However, the West is heavily dependent 

 for sustained water supplies on storage in reservoirs along the 

 streams. Because these reservoirs can be rendered useless by 

 the sediment carried into them by the streams, a very im- 

 portant element in the conservation and utilization of the 

 water resources is the holding of erosion and sedimentation to 

 a minimum. A vegetative cover is one of the most effective 

 means of holding loose earth materials on mountain slopes. 



