Watershed‐management from the viewpoint of the forester

Abstract

American foresters have been ardent propagandists and zealots in the cause of watershed‐conservation. Their claims that forests and a mantle of vegetation ameliorate or prevent floods, accelerated erosion and silting of streams and reservoirs have been, however, seriously questioned. For 25 years this controversy has continued, the foresters being charged as extremists with no facts to support their philosophy on watershed‐protection. These contentious discussions chiefly between engineers, meteorologists, and foresters nave produced a voluminous literature; but in spite of this, floods and drouth continue to plague us.