Government Forest Work 



r^her to burn or to cut, and the development of the 

 country, which calls for timber not only at certain 

 times but all the time, would have been retarded or 

 stopped altogether. 



More than this, the destruction of the forest cover 

 on the watersheds supplying hundreds of streams 

 which rise in the western mountains would have had 

 -k certain effect on stream flow — low water or no 

 water at all during the long dry periods, and destruc- 

 tive floods after heavy rains. This, of course, would 

 have meant disaster to the systems of irrigation ' by 



* which thousands of farmers raise their crops. It 

 would also have very seriously hampered, and in many 

 cases prevented, hydroelectric power development. 



Congress, therefore, in 1891, authorized the Presi- 



* dent to set aside forest reserves, as national forests 

 were for some years called, in order to protect the 

 remaining timber on the public domain from destruc- 

 tion and to insure a regular flow of water in the 

 streams. The first forest reserve — the "Yellowstone 

 Park Timberland Reserve" — was created by Presi- 



\ dent Harrison that same year, and later Presidents 

 1iave created others, until at present there are 146 

 national forests with a total net area of over 157- 

 000,000 acres. Within the forest boundaries are also 



„ some 25,000,000 acres in private ownership, consist- 

 ing of lands granted or taken up for one purpose or 

 another before the forests were created, or of forest 

 homesteads and mining claims patented since. 



The law of 1891 provided that national forests may 

 be set aside from public lands covered wholly or in 

 part with timber or undergrowth. Later laws have 

 prohibited the enlargement of the forests or the crea- 

 tion of new forests in the States of Colorado, Wyom- 

 ing, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 

 fornia through additions from the public lands, ex- 

 : "tfept by act of Congress. Some national forests are 

 heavily timbered, and are mainly for timber produc- 

 tion; others are located in thinly wooded regions 



; primarily to protect and conserve the water supply, 

 without which the countrv would be uninhabitable. 



