| Show ReForesting Required The forest reserve on the western side of the Sierra Nevada which is to be established estab-lished under proclamation of the President Presi-dent has become a necessity The slopes of the mountains are being denuded of their timber by wholesale The effect is to jeoperdize the water resources of there the-re ions to the west California is likely to be seriously affected by the cutting down of the forests If they were only thinned out in places the effect would not be so injurious But of course the log I ger and lumberer have no care for the future fu-ture they only think of present gains The mountain timber belts are being rapidly I rap-idly removed and no replauting goes onto on-to supply their places Not only are the snows of winter held in place by the forests of the mountains till the spring sun melts them down for needed water supply but it is claimed that moisture from the sea borne on the I western winds is absorbed by the trees in the Sierra Nevada and afterwards returned I turned down the ravines and canyons at least in part The laying bare of those heights is thus detrimental to the country coun-try watered from that source of supply and the injury threatens to be of vast magnitude Under the proclamation of the President Presi-dent six thousand square miles of the Sierras in Merced Fresno Talare and Kern counties in California are set aside as a forest reservation and it is not unlikely un-likely that other portions of the timber region will be protected in a similar way so that themountain forests will not be entirely swept away by the lumber manufacturers manu-facturers It If some effectual means could be devised and carried out for the replanting of mountain forests the objections raised against the havoc that is going on in the upper timber regions would not be so I strong as they are at present The neces I sities of a growing country are great and the lumber demand must be supplied But there should be some means provided i for the needs of the future and a remedy for forest destruction is a requirement of i the times |
