6 Fibst Annual Report of the 



To this end, the law vests the Conservation Commission 

 with jurisdiction over investigation of water resources ; regulation 

 and use of water in the principal watersheds ; safety of dams and 

 reservoirs ; prevention of floods ; supply of potable water to munic- 

 ipalities; disposal of sewage; drainage and irrigation, as well as 

 tree culture and reforestation, the care and custody of forests and 

 parks, and the protection and propagation of fish and game. In 

 order that consolidation might not mean confusion, the framers 

 of the Conservation Law wisely provided for three grand divisions 

 of the Conservation Department, along the natural and logical 

 lines of (1) lands and forests, (2) fish and game and (3) inland 

 waters, and directed that each of the three deputy commissioners 

 to be appointed should perform duties relating to one of these three 

 divisions. Thus, the general scheme of organization centers in 

 a commission, directly responsible to the Governor, and through 

 him to the people; while each of the divisions, with its bureaus 

 or subdivisions, has its well-defined duties and responsibilities. 

 While each of the divisions will be taken up later in this report, 

 it may be well, by way of general summary, at this point to note 

 that the forest preserve placed under the care of the Conservation 

 Commission embraces 1,600,000 acres; that there are 100,000 acres 

 of swamp land in the State which may be advantageously drained ; 

 that 7,200,000 acres of forest lands are to be protected from fire ; 

 that more than 15,000,000 trees are being grown from seed, in 

 the six State nurseries, for purposes of reforestation; that the 

 commission is now propagating for distribution, approximately a 

 billion fish ; that there is a steadily increasing demand for an ex- 

 tension of the invaluable work of protection of fish and game, now 

 performed by ninety-five regular game protectors ; that more than 

 a million horsepower to-day remains to be harnessed and utilized 

 for the general good, — the equivalent of 10,000.000 tons of coal 

 per year. But whereas coal once consumed is destroyed, water is 

 an ever renewable natural resource. 



Herein are involved far-reaching problems whose solution calls 

 for intelligent, concerted administrative and legislative action; 

 but a plan which shall save and store the vast horse-power now 

 annually dissipated in flood and freshet, and utilize it for com- 

 mercial use, to the benefit alike of public treasury and of private 



