p. 345 | A CORRECTOR IN ERROR

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 28, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 22.

A CORRECTOR IN ERROR.

Forests and Floods.

In a recent paper in the Bulletin of the Geographical Society, Professor Gannett of the United States geological survey treats of “popular errors,” among which is that pertaining to forests and floods. Public Opinion quotes him as follows:—

Another persistent error is the belief that floods in our rivers are more frequent than formerly because of the cutting down of forests in their draining basins. Where the forests are cut away, the ground is seldom left bare; it is cultivated or quickly becomes covered with bushes, which hold the water quite as effectively as forests. The main fact is, however, that the floods in our rivers are no greater or more frequent now than in the past.

Now what Professor Gannett pronounces a “persistent error” is a demonstrated fact in many cases. Take, for instance, those sections of Pennsylvania which are feeders to the basin of the Alleghany River and its tributaries, or the Adirondac region of northern New York. These mountainous sections were formerly almost wholly covered by heavy forests of oak, pine, maple, spruce, hemlock, cedar, etc. Upon these mountains and high hills the snowfall was heavy, and the deep forests, oftentimes largely composed of evergreens, kept out sun and south wind, and held that body of forest snow in their cool embrace long after the great mass of it had departed from open fields. We have seen snow in the Adirondac region of New York, in the deep shades of its forests, frequently as late as June, and in some specially-sheltered nook as late as July. When the warm spring weather came, the snow melted first in the lowlands and cleared lands, and later and more gradually in the forests. There was high water in the rivers, but not so high nor was the rise so sudden as now. Since the ruthless hand of commercialism denuded the land of forests, the increasing sunlight and warm winds have melted the snow much more rapidly, in fact all over the cleared country at the same time, resulting in overflowing streams and sudden destructive floods.

Neither do the small bushes that may grow up greatly affect the rapid melting of the snow, as the bushes intercept neither sun nor wind. Cultivation greatly accelerates the rapid drainage of lowlands and swamps. Many springs which in the days of “the forest primeval” were strong and constant are now only wet-season or “dry springs,” or have disappeared altogether. It may be remarked that it is reasonable to believe that the cool, damp forests would act as condensers to the moisture-laden clouds much better than the open, warmer, drier fields. The lesson is, retain the forests if possible, or plant more in their place.