The Mississippi River alone is estimated to transport yearly four hundred million tons of sediment, or about twice the amount of material to be excavated from the Panama Canal.

This material is the most fertile portion of our richest fields, transformed from a blessing to a curse by unrestricted erosion.
The destruction of forage plants by overgrazing has resulted, in the opinion of men most capable of judging, in reducing the grazing value of the public lands by one-half.

This enormous loss of forage, serious though it be in itself, is not the only result of wrong methods of pasturage.

The destruction of forage plants is accompanied by loss of surface soil through erosion; by forest destruction; by corresponding deterioration in the water supply; and by a serious decrease in the quality and weight of animals grown on overgrazed lands.

These sources of loss from failure to conserve the range are felt to-day.