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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



4500 square miles. The area, therefore, of the proposed Catskill 

 park is only about 15 per cent of the area of the Catskill 

 Forest preserve, which includes the catchment area of the 

 headwaters of the streams as enumerated on a preceding 

 page. The balance of the territory is mostly deforested, and 

 chiefly in use for grazing purposes. In the Catskill region 

 therefore, the forested area would be, on this basis, about 1/7 of 

 the deforested, or the real effect on stream flow would be to in- 

 crease it 1/7 of 5 inches. An average annual increase of about 

 0.7 of an inch may be expected. 



Moreover, if forestation is valuable in increasing stream flow, 

 there should be a number of other forest parks in various parts 

 of the State. Genesee river issues from the Allegheny water center. 

 With the exception of a small tract of timber at the extreme 

 headwaters, this stream is practically deforested, with the result, 

 as shown by table No. 43, Runoff Data of Genesee River, that the 

 average annual runoff for a period of nine years is only 14.2 

 inches, while the minimum runoff is 6.7 inches. If forestation is 

 specially valuable for increasing the flow of a stream, here is a 

 marked case to which it could be applied. The writer, however, 

 does not wish to be understood as stating that forestation is 

 not of value, and he cites from the Genesee River Storage Report 1 

 the following specific case, showing that on Genesee river foresta- 

 tion has value in increasing the summer flow. The proposition 

 is that, by itself, it is not of enough value to justify any such 

 expenditure as has been proposed. The benefits, in short, are 

 not commensurate with the expense. 



Gagings of the low-water flow of Genesee river were made by 

 Daniel Marsh, C. E., in July and August, 1846, and the quantity 

 flowing at that time was found to be 412 cubic feet per second. 

 Mr Marsh gives this figure as the average of nine gagings made 

 at various times during the summer of 1846. The meteorological 

 records of western New York for the years 1844-46 show that the 

 period covered was one of low rainfall. At Rochester the rain- 

 fall for the storage period of 1846 was only 11.57 inches, and 

 the total for the year was 36.03 inches; in 1845, the total for the 



J 3d Genesee River Storage Report, Jan. 1, 1897, pp. 40-41. 



