. American forestry. Forests and forestry. LIBRA NEW Y qa; Vol. XVI APRIL, 1910 No. 4 CHECKING FLOODS IN THE FRENCH ALPS By HARRINGTON MOORE, , United States Forest Service O^ DOUBTLESS we all have seen ac- counts of terrible losses and suffering- caused by floods in France, not only in Paris but through- out the whole country. We must also have seen in all the papers and periodi- cals, particularly in Collier's, that the conservation policy so splendidly started by Gifford Pinchot and so ably backed by Theodore Roosevelt, which from its very beginning has from time to time been a
. American forestry. Forests and forestry. LIBRA NEW Y qa; Vol. XVI APRIL, 1910 No. 4 CHECKING FLOODS IN THE FRENCH ALPS By HARRINGTON MOORE, , United States Forest Service O^ DOUBTLESS we all have seen ac- counts of terrible losses and suffering- caused by floods in France, not only in Paris but through- out the whole country. We must also have seen in all the papers and periodi- cals, particularly in Collier's, that the conservation policy so splendidly started by Gifford Pinchot and so ably backed by Theodore Roosevelt, which from its very beginning has from time to time been attacked by all the large interests, is now undergoing the fiercest test to which it has ever been subjected. The connection between the two oc- currences may not at once be apparent to the man who reads as he runs. But to those who have given the matter more than a passing thought there is a vitally important lesson to be learned. The lesson is that if France had had a conservation policy a good many vears ago, the damage caused by the recent floods would have been greatly lessened. It cannot be asserted that the flood which inundated Paris was due entirelv or even chiefly to deforestation, since in the case of Paris so many different factors, such as the situation of the city immediately in the river bed and the particularly porous nature of the rock and soil comprising that part of France drained by the Seine, must be taken into consideration. But at the same time it cannot be denied that equally destructive floods did occur and often have occurred before in less conspicuous parts of the country, and that these floods were largely if not en- tirely, due to the effects of deforesta- tion. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that if the people of the LTnited States allow their present attempts to establish a conservation policy to be ])locked by the big interests, large areas of our country will be subjected to the same dangers. Hence a short account of the damage caused by
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectforestsandforestry
