American F^or^st Congress 373 



necessity of protecting these works by every available 

 natural resource. These great works might be seri- 

 ously injured if individuals were permitted to come in 

 above them and secure vested rights inimical to the 

 larger irrigation interests of the country ; therefore the 

 Reclamation Service has asked that large areas of 

 public land embracing forests or woodlands be with- 

 drawn and held permanently, so that there might be 

 no interference with the larger development of the 

 waters. 



In mapping the forest reserves and in recommending 

 their boundaries all the large matters of this character 

 have been taken into consideration. Frequently an 

 individual, looking at the matter from his standpoint, 

 is inclined to criticise the drawing of boundaries and 

 to assert that too much land has been included ; but if 

 he would study the problem from the community or 

 public standpoint he would find that this land is of 

 great importance in connection with the control of the 

 water supply necessary to the development of a recla- 

 mation project. 



By carefully and systematically permitting the 

 younger growth to accumulate, and perhaps by seeding 

 the steeper barren slopes, it will be possible to reduce 

 the destructive eiifects of the so-called cloudbursts or 

 local storms which wash the loose soil into the reser- 

 voirs or clog the hydraulic works. The beneficial 

 effect of this protection is well understood and every 

 reasonable effort is being made to bring about the best 

 possible conditions in the catchment basins of the 

 streams. 



Abundance of wood is one of the prime necessities 

 for successful mining. There are four chief factors 

 in the mining enterprise — the value of the ore, the cost 

 of production, the cost of transportation, and the cost 



M 



