The Evils of Deforestation

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Auckland [N.Z.], Brett Printing and Pub. Co, 1909 "Reprinted from The Auckland Weekly Graphic."

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[Illustration]

WHERE THE OREGON PINE GROWS.

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7

tion of forests in these respects exercises a terribly baneful influence upon the country that has once, prodigal-like, sold its birthright of trees without making any provision to repair their loss in the future. To put it briefly, the worst effect of deforestation is

EROSION.

To estimate the full significance of this term, we must consider briefly the part played by trees in all natural systems of drainage and water supply. Here I may quote Professor Schwappach again: "The water from heavy rains, checked in its descent by meeting first with the foliage of trees, is better retained on forest soil than on bare land. Under a close cover of trees, there collects a 'humus' soil formed from the decay of fallen leaves. Through this sponge-like soil-covering the rain water slowly filters, and its passage is further retarded by the stems and roots of the trees. In this way the erosive effects of violent rains upon bare hillsides is obviated. This is often a very serious danger, not only because the good soil is washed away, but also on account of lowerlying fertile lands being covered by boulders, gravel, and sand brought down in the flooded waters." With this statement of the case, we may compare the following extract from Captain Campbell

Walker's paper, which, as mentioned above, bears more especially upon the effects of deforestation in this country. "The forests by their presence act as storehouses of moisture, both from their leafy canopy which covers the earth, and the bed of dead leaves on its surface, the loss of moisture by evaporation being by these means reduced to onefifth; and, further, the bed of dead leaves acts as a sponge soaking up and retaining the rain and regulating its distribution, while the roots not only act as vertical drains promoting the descent of the water into the lower strata of the earth, there to nourish the springs, but bind the soil on the mountain sides together, and prevent its being carried away into the valley below." It should now be clear what difference forests make to a country's river system and its soil. They store up water for gradual distribution; and they prevent the vegetable mould they form from being washed away. Consequently, it follows that when the bush is cut down, not only do streams tend to disappear with it, but the rain, when it comes, carries the fertile soil from the hillsides down into the valleys, and at the same time, rushing unimpeded along the channels and courses that the stormwater has already excavated in the earth, causes sudden and disastrous floods.

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