Show SEE lEE HARM DONE BY BARREN LAND Experts Say Reforestation Will Help in Flood r Control Any plan for flood control which does not Include a comprehensive com om- reforestation program as one ot of Its Important phases cannot be successful In the opInion of federal and civilian forestry experts None ot of the experts assert that reforestation of Itself will prevent floods but all of them agree that forested areas are ot of Incalculable value In halting run off and loss ot of millions of dollars annually annu annu- ally by erosion The h importance of at n a definite na na- reforestation policy and the development de- de of at closely r related state programs was emphasized according to Charles Lathrop Pack president ent ot of the AmerIcan Tree assocIation bythe by bythe the recent Mississippi l rIver flood which he describes as one of at the most gIgantic defeats engineerIng science has ever suffered I Three Part Solution The flood control as viewed by Mr Pack calls for tor a three part solution 1 Restoration to forest condItIons ot of an all those portions of at land suited for practical forest growing that ar are today today to to- day and wastefully washing away through lack of trees 2 The application of at the very best engineering technique availablE forthe for forthe the building ot of levees storage dams spillways or It If need be n a of aU all these S. S Correction Md and regulation of at the destructive grazing which causes mil lions of acres east of at the Rocky moun talus to erode and flow cow away The UThe MississIppI has brought to usan us usan an obligation for action must be squarely and Immediately met asserted asserted as- as Mr Pack In a recent brochure on the subject of at Floods Forests and the Future which Included B a history of at the adoption of reforestation tion programs as flood prevention measures In France Italy Switzerland and other European countries In his contribution to Mr Packs Pack's booklet W. W B B. B Greeley chief of at the United States forest service declared Every forest fire to In the Mississippi basin tends sooner or later to aug meat ment flood condItions Every ery aban abandoned or neglected piece of poor hillside hill hill- side farm land has the same tendency D Destructive lumbering and ng which leave naked soil solI behInd them are sure to contribute at one onetime onetime time or another to some flood crest Behind and supplementing the levees or other structures that must be built we get back to the land And we should not fall fail to restore as far faras faras as It may he be done the natural storage stor stor- storage age and protection from erosion that m may be derived ed from common sense and practical wisdom In our everyday every every- day use of lund land For forty years or more according to Mr Pack the United States has put Its faith and money Into levee construction as a flood prevention measure but almost over o nIght he continued a great rIver rising In Its angry wrath has broken our man made levees as a summers summer's shower carries away the mud toys of at a little child Levees Alone Not Enough Probably he continued we shall shaU have to devote many millions more to this form torm of river development but It Is folly foUy longer to depend for flood protection on levees alone The uThe problem of at the MissIssippi Is far too huge and too IneXtricably bound up with our national welfare to approach from anything less than a national vIewpoint It Is a problem to whose solution we must bring not only the best engineering skill but also the best knowledge and scIentific attainment In the fields of forestry range control and soils management Wo we have got to formulate a vast thoroughly thoroughly thor thor- correlated scheme whereIn the the- engineer the forester and other r experts experts ex- ex shall give their best toward vard devising de de- effective means of at taming once for tor ali air the tle turbulent Father of Waters A wealth of at forest facts exists poInting to the moderating action of at 0 forests on floods and to the deterring effect on erosIon And after atter aU all It Is erosion that furnishes arms and ammunition am am- to flood waters Not water but solid soUd matter Is the destructive f stuff stull that floods are made ot of I AppalachIans Need TreesA Trees I A large percentage of the water water-I 1 that flows past New Orleans comes from the combined sources of at the Ohio and Cumberland rIvers These three rivers are the chief flood breeders of at the MississippI All arise arise- I among the steep slopes and heavy soils solis of at the Appalachians From this area enormous normous quantities ties of at silt are torn annually to add to the volume and destructiveness yf f the lower river In flood stages Here Bere It If anywhere Is the region where land should be acquired and put under for est management by the federal government gov gov- and by the states In n this section more than any other forests can caD make theIr greatest contribution as ameliorating factors In flood con Yet the rate at which land for tor this thle purpose Is being purchased there Is pitifully Incommensurate wIth the need At the northern headwaters of at the Mississippi the topography Is gentle and the soil soli more sandy or gravelly Little silting occurs there and except except- for a few localities little erosIon However the headwaters of at the Mississippi MIs- MIs river wIth literally i t able lakes and forested swamp are Ilfe |