WHAT THKY ARE FOR. 21 



end. That is where the trouble usually comes. As a 

 rule the rancher has more water than he can use at the 

 beginning of the season and not enough at the end. 

 The flood waters in the spring can not be used ; they 

 run off and go to waste. In order to save these flood 

 waters the Government is now constructing many great 

 reservoirs and canals throughout the West, at enormous 

 cost. These reservoirs store up the flood waters and 

 hold them for use when most needed. That is precisely 

 what the forests of the mountains do, although, of course, 

 in a different way. 



The forest cover is also very important in preventing 

 erosion and the washing down of silt. If the slopes 

 were bare and the soil unprotected, the waters would 

 carry down with them great quantities of soil, gradually 

 filling up the reservoirs and canals and causing immense 

 damage to the great irrigation systems. The Govern- 

 ment engineers who are building these reservoirs and 

 canals say that their work will be unsuccessful unless 

 the drainage basins at the headwaters of the streams 

 are protected by National Forests. 



The home builder, more than anybody else, is vitally 

 interested in a steady flow of water for irrigation. Often 

 his existence depends upon it. 



TO KEEP THE RANGE IN GOOD CONDITION. 



The use of the range by live stock enters unavoidably 

 into the management of National Forests. All through 

 the western mountains the range goes with the timber; 

 it can not be separated from it. It is a great resource, 

 and of course ought to be used. The way in which it is 

 used has a great deal to do with the growth of young 



