Notes and Correspondence 



97 



has made two of the payments called for as they fell due. Obviously, 

 the district is entitled to consideration in connection with the suggestion 

 that the gates be reopened, and we have therefore suggested to the State 

 Biologist of Oregon and others interested that they get in touch with 

 the district in order that all concerned may agree as to the best thing 

 to be done. Cordially yours, Franklin K Lane 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON 



Dr. William Frederic Bade, President Sierra Club, ^^^^ 

 Berkeley, California. 

 Dear Doctor Bade: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of No- 

 vember 3 in regard to conditions at Klamath and Malheur lakes reserva- 

 tions in Oregon. 



The reservation on Klamath Lake was created in 1908, subject to the 

 use of the area by the Reclamation Service. Whatever reservation we 

 have at this point is necessarily dependent on the reclamation project. 

 The question of opening the dikes and flooding the marshland is solely 

 in charge of the Reclamation Service in the Department of the Interior, 

 and not one directly under the jurisdiction of this department. 



Conditions at Malheur Lake are entirely different, but complicated by 

 the fact that much of the land within the reservation boundaries has 

 been alienated. The whole question is receiving careful consideration 

 by the department, and we hope that a solution may be found in a way 

 to safeguard the welfare of the birds and insure the permanence of the 

 reservations. Very truly yours, 



J. R. RiGGS, Acting Secretary 



Urgent Need of Protection for the Toyon 



We are glad to publish this appeal to our membership from Mrs. 

 Bertha M. Rice, the efficient and active secretary of the California Wild 

 Flower Conservation League. The situation has been by no means over- 

 drawn, and we comment upon it editorially: 



"California has her game preserves, her State and national parks and 

 forests, and other valuable safeguards of the wild. But there are no 

 laws to protect our beautiful wild flowering shrubs and interesting 

 native plants, many of which have become candidates for extermination. 

 The population of California is increasing with such rapidity and the 

 cultivation of the land in vast areas is so extensive, that, together 

 with the cutting down of forests and forest fires, the irrigation of 

 deserts and drainage of marshes, and the numerous grazing herds, they 

 have all but erased our once bewilderingly beautiful gardens of wild 

 blooms. 



"The balance of nature has been sadly disturbed by the rapidity with 

 which the progress of agriculture has changed the fair landscapes of the 



