WHAT THE NATION IS DOING. 11 



By far the most important of the special uses of Forest resources 

 are those involving the commercial use of water for power. The 

 National Forests include the great mountain chains of the West. 

 The rain and melting snow of these ranges feed the mountain streams. 

 The forest cover on the steep slopes acts like a mighty sponge, absorb- 

 ing the excess of rainfall in the wet season and giving it out to the 

 thirsty lands in the dry season. It is for the express purpose of thus 

 '^securing favorable conditions of water flows" (act June 4, 1897, 30 

 Stat., 34) that Congress has authorized the creation of National 

 Forests and expends money for their administration and maintenance. 



Where the forest cover is destroyed by reckless lumbering and the 

 fires which inevitably follow, the rains immediately run off the steep 

 slopes as from the roof of a house, producing destructive floods in the 

 valleys and leaving no store of water for the dry season. Therefore, 

 when a power company puts its plant on National Forest land it gets 

 from the Government two things which it ought to pay for, viz: 

 (a) The use of land of great value for power purposes, for the steep 

 mountain sides give the fall which is essential to a power plant; (b) 

 the guaranty of a steady flow of water as an incident to the land 

 occupied by the plant. The practice of the Forest Service aims to 

 prevent monopoly of undeveloped power resources by imposing the 

 following conditions as a part of every permit, with the penalty of 

 forfeiture for their breech. 



Construction work and productive operation of the plant must 

 begin within definitely stated, reasonable periods, unless the time is 

 extended by written consent of the Forester. From the date of the 

 permit until productive operation begins a construction charge is 

 made at the approximate rates per annum of $1 per acre and $5 per 

 mile of National Forest land occupied by the reservoir site and con- 

 duit line. Upon the beginning of the generation of electric energy at 

 the power house the construction charge ceases and thereafter the only 

 charge is a net operation charge fixed by the Forester. A gross 

 operation charge is made on the basis of the electric energy generated. 

 This charge does not exceed 2 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 

 year, but may be increased not more than 2 cents for each of the four 

 following years, and not more than 2 J cents for each five-year period 

 thereafter, until the end of the fiftieth year. Deductions are made 

 from the gross charge, at a fixed rate, for the area of private and 

 unreserved land used in connection with the National Forest land 

 and for the fall occurring on such private and unreserved land, and 

 the sum remaining is the net operation charge. 



The conditions in the permit as to charges are binding for a period 

 of fifty years. 



Permits provide for payment, at the prevailing rates, for any 

 National Forest timber cut or destroyed in construction work, and 



[Cir. 167] 



