| OCR Text |
Show 12 sites and often to initiate reforestation, the only technically and economically feasible method of widespread avalanche control is restoration of timberline forests and the consequent elimination of avalanche paths. 5. These measures are the responsibility of the provincial and federal governments. The critical conservation problems of the sub- alpine zone demand a systematic and coordinated solution, guided by a single plan. This cannot be achieved alone by the many and diverse economic interests in the timberline zone. These principles have a familiar ring. They echo with remarkable precision those enunciated by von Seckendorff in 1880. The Austrians waited 75 years to heed his words, a delay whose cost has been formidable. In the the province of Tirol alone since 1880 -- the" amount of land which can support cattle grazing has diminished by half, -- economic yield from agriculture and forestry has diminished by two- thirds, -- the area of torrent erosion and avalanche paths has multipiied four-fold. The price that still must be paid is also enormous. The cost of necessary reforestation in Tirol alone is estimated at $ 20,000,000. For all of Austria this figure is quadrupled, a staggering sum for a nation with an annual budget a little over two billion dollars. |
