The 1891 act allowing federal lands to be set aside were for 2 purposes, timber and watersheds of navigable rivers. The tonto was set aside to protect the watershed of the Salt river.
Watershed protection absolutely drove forest reservations, although that was not mentioned in the very, very brief 1891. Water did get specified in the 1897 Organic Act, which (as I understand it) codified what had been in practice. And, for sure, the Tonto was about watershed protection. It's no coincidence that it and the SRP started the same year!
Very good read. I wonder how this might link with the Bureau of Reclamation and the authorization of Roosevelt dam around1907 in Arizona. As I understand this was the first federal reclamation project in the U.S. It is on the TontoNF. I recall there is a “first form reclamation withdrawal” from the NF there.
Good question, Win. I'd need to dig a little deeper. There was a General Dam Act (1906) that provided guidance for permitting dam sites for hydroelectricity. Roosevelt Dam, though, was authorized (as you note) by the Reclamation Act (1902) and prioritized storage for irrigation (even though it also generated electricity). My sense is these sites, before the Federal Power Act, were case-by-case through the USFS when it was on national forest lands and via Congress when parks or monuments were considered. (That was later prohibited.)
That's an amazing photo of the bridge across the Skagit. Wow.
Sometimes it is fun to poke around the digital archives and see what you can find!
Sometimes? All the times!
The 1891 act allowing federal lands to be set aside were for 2 purposes, timber and watersheds of navigable rivers. The tonto was set aside to protect the watershed of the Salt river.
Watershed protection absolutely drove forest reservations, although that was not mentioned in the very, very brief 1891. Water did get specified in the 1897 Organic Act, which (as I understand it) codified what had been in practice. And, for sure, the Tonto was about watershed protection. It's no coincidence that it and the SRP started the same year!
Very good read. I wonder how this might link with the Bureau of Reclamation and the authorization of Roosevelt dam around1907 in Arizona. As I understand this was the first federal reclamation project in the U.S. It is on the TontoNF. I recall there is a “first form reclamation withdrawal” from the NF there.
Good question, Win. I'd need to dig a little deeper. There was a General Dam Act (1906) that provided guidance for permitting dam sites for hydroelectricity. Roosevelt Dam, though, was authorized (as you note) by the Reclamation Act (1902) and prioritized storage for irrigation (even though it also generated electricity). My sense is these sites, before the Federal Power Act, were case-by-case through the USFS when it was on national forest lands and via Congress when parks or monuments were considered. (That was later prohibited.)