46 What the NATIONAL FORESTS Mean to the WATER USER 



Act. It sometimes happened that areas were encountered which were of 

 value both for farming and for watershed protection. When this was the 

 case it became necessary to determine their relative value for the two 

 purposes. The fact that throughout the West water is such a precious 

 commodity ordinarily led to the classification of such tracts as primarily 

 valuable for watershed protection. 



A good example of the way in which this works out in actual practice 

 is afforded by the Angeles National Forest in southern California, which is 

 the main source of the water supply for millions of dollars' worth of 

 citrus groves and other irrigated lands in the valleys below. These lands, 

 which owe their high productiveness entirely to irrigation, are many times 

 more valuable than the rather mediocre lands within the National Forest, 

 even when the latter can be cultivated successfully. Consequently, all of 

 the land within this National Forest, much of which is easily eroded, has 

 been classified as primarily valuable for watershed protection wherever 

 there was any danger that its cultivation might cause erosion or changes in 

 stream flow that would result in damage to the irrigated lands below. 



The same principle also applies in the case of lands primarily valuable 

 for municipal supply or for hydroelectric projects. Out of the 12,000,000 

 acres of land in the Western States that have been eliminated from the 

 National Forests or opened to entry in the last five years, practically none 

 are primarily valuable for watershed protection. The water user and his 

 needs have been given first consideration. 



Within the National Forests is a large part of the western summer 

 stock range. Before the creation of the Forests, this range had been so 

 badly trampled and so heavily over-grazed that its 

 carrying capacity had been seriously decreased, and, 

 what was worse from the standpoint of the water user, the protective 

 influence of the surface cover of grass, shrubs, and small trees had been 

 largely destroyed. In many localities overgrazing had been the cause of 

 severe erosion, disastrous floods, and reduced stream flow during the 

 dry season. 



Grazing in the National Forests has been regulated in such a way as 

 to repair such damage to the fullest possible extent and to prevent similar 

 damage on areas not already affected. Not only has grazing been restricted 

 in certain localities, but new methods of handling the stock have been intro- 



