WSP04775 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1=;'1 ,) j .' . ./ '-L TH8\RIZONA WATERSHED PRO&M OBJECTIVES, GENESIS AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION By JOSEPH F, ARNOLD Director, Watershed Management Division Arizona State Land Department INTRODUCTION The Arizona Watershed Program is aimed at achieving such multiple-use objectives as: increasing water yields, increasing production of high quality timber pro d u c t s, increasing forage and browse for livestock and game, improving conditions for recreation, reducing erosion and reducing destruc- tive wildfires, While some of these objectives are being realized onan oper- ational scale, others are still undergoing research and project testing. But, the program has produced some initial benefits that go beyond these basic objectives. It has, for example, provided the climate favoring establishment of a new pulp and paper industry for the State. It has increased consumer demands for heavy equipment like tractors, root plows and tree cutters, It has increased demands for various types of chemicals used to increase the efficient production and use of water, It has increased demands for power saws and seeds for reve getating lar ge areas. Finally, by increasing demands for highly skilled professionals of many disciplines, it has encouraged our Colleges and Universities to establish new departments and new courses of instruction in forestry, watershed management and hydrology, The origin and development of the Arizona Vvatershed Program provides an excellent opportunity to observe how citizens can participate effectively in State and National programs of resource management, It is hoped this his- torical review will be of value to other neighboring States, several of which have inquired about the Arizona Program, GENESIS Tall Pines Farm Bureau Meeting on the sunny Sunday afternoon of July 1B, 1954, at the Old Apache Maid Ranch near Rimrock, Arizona, members of the Tall Pines Farm Bureau set in motion a chain of events that culminated in what is now known as the Arizona Watershed Program, A senior member of the group, the late D. W, Wingfield, not trusting himself to extemporaneous speaking, read a paper he had carefully prepared for the occasion, Published later in the July, 1955, issue of the Journal of Range Management, his paper was based on 50 years of observations - observations that had been carefully recorded in a daily diary, Having the inquiring mind of a scientist, but without college education, many of Mr, Wingfield's observations were supported by home-made experi- ments. Having placed coffee cans at graduated distances from the base of trees, he understood how pines could intercept snow and rain, He watched an earthen stock tank eventually go dry from the invasion of the watershed by dense stands of sapling pines, Drawing on his recorded experiences, Mr. Wingfield reported gradual reduc- tions of livestock numbers from specific Forest Allotments amounting to 85 per cent since 1910, During this time he watched the range become over- stocked with sapling pine thickets, and stands of pinyon-juniper and brush