American Forest Congress 6i 



water and, growing out of that, the conservation of 

 the forests. 



It is desirable to review briefly something of what is 

 going on in the Western States and Territories. Take 

 Arizona, for instance: Here the Reclamation Service 

 is building a storage dam at Roosevelt, costing probably 

 $3,000,000. When built it will enable the creation of 

 homes for many thousands of people, and render pro- 

 ductive a large area now desert. In California is the 

 Yuma project, which it is expected will be begun soon ; 

 and also another project in the northern part of the 

 State, around the Klamath lakes. For the protection of 

 an Arizona reservoir a forest reserve must be had above 

 the reservoir in order to prevent, as far as possible, the 

 washing of soil which follows upon the destruction of 

 tree growth. In Colorado is the Gunnison tunnel, the 

 contract for which is being let now — a tunnel 30,000 

 feet in length, to take water from the Gunnison River 

 into the Uncompahgre Valley, a broad, fertile, but arid 

 plain. The head waters of that river must be pro- 

 tected in part by the forests as well as by reservoirs. 



In Idaho, the same is true ; there on the Snake River 

 a dam is being built across the stream. Its utility for 

 all time depends largely upon the good treatment ac- 

 corded to the head waters of that stream. This matter 

 of the development of the West is not a State question, 

 but is interstate. We must build reservoirs in Wyo- 

 ming ; we must conserve forests in Wyoming to benefit 

 the arid plains of Idaho. For Western Kansas, Mr. 

 Reeder has already spoken briefly of the great interest 

 in irrigation, and although having no forests, yet the 

 rivers that come into Kansas, as the Arkansas, depend 

 partly for their continuity of flow on proper treatment 

 of the woodlands on the mountains in the central part 

 of Colorado. 



