than that of our whole country to-day if the waters that now run to
waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems
are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the United States.

Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the
wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected
from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great
injury done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer,
elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be
expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law and
properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface
vegetation by overgrazing that the ground breeding birds, including
grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have been
exterminated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing capacity
of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus promoting floods in
times of rain and diminishing the flow of streams between rains.

In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few
years, vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are
coming back, and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate
neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping.
Some at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection
to the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds, and free camping grounds
for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned
to find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and
flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set
apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a whole and not
sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few.