50 rOKEST KESEKVES IN IDAHO. 



posed irrigation system all of the waters of the Payette will be used, 

 and Payette Lake must be made a reservoir. There is no difficulty 

 about providing a canal system to convey water to the lands. The 

 problem is the storing of the spring floods for use at a time when the 

 natural stream flow gives out. The greatest discharge of water by 

 these streams occurs in the months of May, the rise commencing about 

 the second week of April and reaching the lowest level gradually 

 about the last of July. There is ample supply of water for the irriga- 

 tion of all available lands, but careful storage will be needed for the 

 maturing of crops over a larger acreage Every advantage of forest 

 protection on both these streams is necessary to carry on successfully 

 the great irrigation enterprises which the Government has under- 

 taken. 



The larger sheep owners, as a rule, favor the establishment of the 

 reserve. They realize that it will prolong grazing in the region, as an 

 industry, and will insure them a definite range area Avhich they are 

 not certain of now. The opposition among sheep men has come either 

 from one of two large owners who wish to monopolize the whole 

 industry in that region, or from smaller owners who misunderstand 

 the real purposes of the reserve and who believe the larger owners are 

 back of the movement, and, if established, the reserve would be con- 

 trolled by these large owners. 



Miners w^ho understand the regulations in regard to the develop- 

 ment of mines in the reserves, are favorable to the movement. The 

 ojDposition from the miners, the same as is the case with the sheep 

 men, comes largely from a misunderstanding of what a reserve means, 

 so far as it affects their individual interests. 



The most active opposition to this proposed reserve is found 

 among some of the large lumbering concerns who have large holdings 

 near or surrounded by the reserve. I will again quote from the 

 Forestry Bureau the advantages which will come from the establish- 

 ment of this reserve. I am glad to do this because it will show plainly 

 the object which the Administration seeks to accomplish not only on 

 this particular reserve but in all reserves and should go far toward 

 quieting the fears of those who think that the particular industry in 

 which they are engaged will be injured by the creation of the reserve. 

 The advantages will be as follows : 



(1) That all of the proposed area is at such an altitude and has so 

 short a grazing season that farming is not practicable. 



(2) That there is great need for the protection of the watersheds 

 of all streams flowing west and south, not because of the use of water 

 in the area itself, but for the large irrigation interests along the lower 

 waters of these streams. 



(3) That the present grazing area will not be limited, but be ex- 

 tended, and that the proper division of the range will consider more 

 fully the interests of all sheep owners, and that the range will be so 

 guarded that it will not be overgrazed and destroyed and the future 

 of the industry ruined. 



(4) That the present continual danger from fires, set by pros- 

 pectors and sheep herders, will be reduced to a minimum by having 

 necessary regulations thoroughly understood by all who enter the 

 reserve and effectively carried out by the reserve officers. 



(5) That protection to the forests will cause their rencAval and 



