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About Roseburg news-review. (Roseburg, Or.) 1920-1948 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1936)
!Jk ,. r "V f m m a ir t su" m m rr m mm mm .vkv 3 A contented American family, J1, nr. ' ri mother grizzly and her cubs. Anl- 2i "i jcS.-, r ml" of ,hi" speeiea will be en- . " 5 courage, to multiply nr-der the 5- CfT $ v ew foreatry t.Up. a.iS, H nMurel in N.tur', ach.me-and SL S thelr """""e P1" m man'a scheme ,t.. CP tk CK&?pr TSf; ? avert xl nd perltoua erosion at mm, - M thesource- Unnnt.:. .L 11 1 It ...... m ln" wnianoi win and greater protectloa when the new foreitation iv.teai to completed on great Government reservation! eashs OuGCJM OGAM. By G. K. Spencer TAIANCED Xorests" to the natural equUibrium which prevailed when America was primitive, with the recogni tion that animal life is vital to the health of the trees, are now sought by the National Forest Service as a cardi nal objective in the attack on the great flood and erosion problem at the very source of the trouble. Engineers and agronomists who are now tenaciously attempting to hold the soil from wastage into the sea with their nation-wide Held works and check dams are merely holding the front lines until vast primitive areas can be re-established on the mountain watersheds, in these "primitive areas," specifically le aned as such by the National tor st Service, great carnivorous animals will again roam, preying on herbivorous ani mals, as they did when America was young. Not all American forest regions will harbor the mighty beasts of prey again, but only those regions farther removed from civilization. Present plans call for retention of such "primitive areas" at the remote headwaters of the great river systems. In such regions the spread of the coyote, fast becoming recognised as a national peril, will be checked by natural biological defense. To meet the coyote in States where It has now appeared notably New York, Pennsylvania, Ten nessee, South Carolina, Oeorgla, Florida and Alabama other measures must be devised. Disappearance of larger ani mals in these states laid the way open for the coyote, which is now inflicting sirlous annual losses on farmers and livestock owners. Feasible methods for restocking our new primitive areas, however, with beasts of prey recognized as necessary In a balanced scheme of nature, have been proposed and are stlU under further study by George M. Wright. Joseph 8. Dixon and Ben H. Thompson, of the Wild Ufe Survey. IN CO-OPERATION with the National 1 Park Service, it is proposed to buy out the properties of Individual private land owners In and near the primitive areas, so the stock and animals of such Indi viduals will not suffer from the occa sional depredations of carnivorous oer.r.j. It has now been recognized that there Is a limit to the elimination of wild animals beyond which a peril rises for humankind. Vast floods In the Missis sippi Valley, in the Sacramento Valley and the Ohio Valley can easily be traced to forest denudation and the disappear ance of "ground cover" which In long past decades held rain and snow mois ture and released it slowly the year round. But the place of wild animal life In maintenance of tree health and porous topsoll is a new discovery. Even rodents normally considered quite obnoxious, such as the gopher, have a large and Important role in -maintenance of the porous topsoil which absorbs and holds moisture. Along with predacious animals, there must be restored the animals, such as deer and mountain sheep, on which they feed. It is admitted by the Torest Service and National Park Service that the restoration of primitive conditions, even in our more remott watershed regions, will involve some losses for man, but these are to be checked against and bal anced with the Immensely vaster losses oy flood nnd the national peril If erosion continues on Its present scale. Even the great Investment in our mighty dams Is threatened by rapid silting of their basins, a silting which can be somewhat ameliorated by engineering works In the Government Scientists to Call on Grizzly Bears, Mountain Lions and Other Carnivorous Animals to Help in Battle Against Floods and Fires str.ams rbove the dams, but which can only be successfully attacked at the source, In the remote regions where the waters originate. Man cannot have an Ideal condition for himself alone; he must discover na ture's balance and in that discovery m-y He his only insurance against fatal peril to his civilization. In areas where glacier remnants are found, as around Rainier, the primitive condition which formerly existed can be This la one of the reasons why America suffers from great floods. Im proper logging methods have denuded the hillsides, leaving the land exposed to the elements and water runs away instead of being absorbed by the soil . easily learned by studies of animals found preserved In the Ice. In other areas there are historical records avail able as to conditions which prevailed when the forefathers began clearing out the forests and the animals with them. And another thing: The United States has targe numbers of O r and elk now on an annual Winter "dole" of hay and grain which Is carted to them In various parts of the West. With the proper number of carnivorous animals, the numbers of these dole-fed herbivorous beast will be held to healthful limits, even though their total census will be greater than at present b-cause they will have natural food In the new primi tive areas. Their very feeding, under natural conditions, helps maintain tree .ealth. Then, too, we have thousands ol jrown bears and even numerous great srtzillcs on a "do.t' diet in National Parks. These bears, mulei natloual con ditions, would fit In with a primitive vheme and also perform their bit to ward forest health without n-rewilty for noneemed doles from man. In other words, animals now dole-fed as part of the tourist scenery of National TT HAS long been recognized that the serious problem posed by destruction of valuable trees and other herblage by grazing animals In the National Parks is due to swollen numbers of grazing animals because of lack of control by carnivorous animals. Thus, many prob lems will be solved by restoration of predacious animals. How will this encouraged reforestation affect humans? The wild Life Survey has this to say: "A very few park animals are dangerous to human life. A few mora are merely offensive. No specie except certain pc. -mom reptiles art to be considered U-inrrcus at all times. Whenever It is neccsury to act at all against them, man's rciil ciion should be governed by a full rMlltatlon that his ultimate tr.tar. est is best rerted by preserving th fauna Intact" Even the lynx u suggested for restora tion In many arras. Fur-bearing ani mals are very definitely to be encour ged. Tall lairs of "the pioneers" aneiil rlzilles are now discount d largely, be- atisr It has become known that grizzlies vlll not go out of then way to atlerk mankind. However, they will not brook Interference with their own family life, yet phot-gra pliers often take pictures of grizzly mothers and their cubs at cloie range without trouble of any kind. Mountain lions, on which there has been a heavy bounty for many years, s'.-e now being encouraged to return in c ric lu spscifled areas. They will con tinue to be cleared out on other areas, however. These animals, too, shun man and . attack only when closely pressed, and then very Infrequently; they want to put as much distance between them selvos and man as possible. Only with cunning and persistence cr:i hunters get close to them, and they have been destroyed up to date because of their destructive attacks on range eattle. with restoration of their normal wild herbivorous prey, It la expected they will not be pressed Into approach ing man's habitations 01 his ranges. Though one-third of the area of the United States Is forest land or potential forest land, such a wide expanse will not be required for prevention of floods and perilous erosion. At present the National Forests comprise some 192.000, 000 acres and private forests some 430, 000100 acres, with other large potential forest areas which have been denuded by logging and man's agricultural ac tivities. Large acreage In such categories la to be returned to forest. Underbrush, within safe limits, will be permitted to accumulate as conducive to animal life. This goes for predacious and preyed-upon bird life, also. The heron and the osprey, the eagle and the cormorant art wanted back. QNB cardinal difference between the W forests which covered primitive America and the new forests will be that the new forests will be protected from flrns set by lightning snd man's care lessness by an amazing futuristic system of firs control. It Is known that forest tires almost of continental proportions us d to rage over America a Uiousand years ago. To prevent instruction of the work now In progress the new forests and the present ones, rsgardleu of national. State or private ownership are to be protected by t reticulate system of roads, on which aork I now proceeding at a furious pact, over which scientifically equipped lor:st-flre. fighting armlet will move to ittack nr. If temporarily defeated, will or wlthdraaTi In orderly and safe manner. ' Standard specifications have been es tablished for great 120-foot are-observ ing towers, to be erected In all important forests, regardless of ownership. It It recognised that It Is to the publis In terest to protect even private forests If owners are unable to find funds to do It for themselves. Some 300 of these high towers have been erected in the last two years and the Forest Service estimates that thousand more will be required, with observers on day and night relays In every one of them. In the great California forests, ob servers for such towers are now being trained. Deliberate fires are set, under many different conditions of weather and visibility, to train the eyes of the men In spotting fires. Circular handsaws really portable power saws which can be carried by one man have been devised for quick penetration through dense undergrowth. THOUGH the public has scarcely realized It, within the last few years the Forest Service has gone scientific In a big way. It has had to develop many Instruments peculiarly fitted to Its work, Including tractors which cannot Up over on steep mountainsides. Tactics In moving men up In front of fires and In drawing them away safely have been originated. The idea Is to save men or, If casual ties must be Inflicted, that they be hold to a minimum. As In real war, casualties are expected. Seventeen men were killed in action last year, suffering deaths comparable to those by flame-throwers in military war. Those men were not mere amateurs, either. They Included John S. Everltt, supervisor of the Shasta National Forest In California, a veteran of veterans in flre-flghting. He perished In the flames, fighting for America as truly even more so, In real fact than a soldier on front-line action against a foreign enemy. Forest-fire flames frequently reach several hundred feet Into the air. At great Are burnt it heats the surround ing air, which is forced upward by de scending columns of cold air, thus cre ating huge powerful winds over great areas, winds In which not even air planet a thousand feet In altitude can exist. These winds add oxygen to the Ores and whip them up. Often the fires leap a mile ahead in a single huge stepl Ltt year the greatest forest fires of our history occurred; this year may And amelioration in the situation dut to the Immense plans and wide system for checking su:h fires.,. .. .. """"""" ' PAGE THRfcE
