The Meteorology of the Woods
An 1880 meteorologist argues that deforestation is responsible for the drying of rivers and the loss of rainfall, a warning from the early days of Washington Territory.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
John H. Tice, the meteorologist, gives the press an interesting epitome of facts relating to the relations between forests and electricity: There is no physical fact more incontestably established by observation than that forests are a protection against extremes of weather, such as aridity from protracted droughts, or torrential local rains that produce devastating floods, and besides they assure regular rains and their distribution. The rivers of our own country do not roll nearly so large a volume of water to the ocean as they did fifty years ago. Even the waters of the Mississippi are diminishing. What is true of the Mississippi river, is true of all the rivers, whether east or west. It is universally admitted that in Europe, Asia, and Africa, where once fertile regions have been smitten with barrenness and turned into inhospitable deserts, the cause has been the denudation of the country of its primitive forests. But in what manner do forests assure regular rains? The cause is electric action between the trees and the clouds. The positive electricity on the clouds that distend the vapor is neutralized by streams of negatively electrified vapor released from the trees. As they approach each other, they coalesce, form droplets of rain, and fall to the earth.
“It is universally admitted that in Europe, Asia, and Africa, where once fertile regions have been smitten with barrenness and turned into inhospitable deserts, the cause has been the denudation of the country of its primitive forests.”
While John Tice’s specific theory on 'electric action' between trees and clouds has been debunked by modern physics, his central thesis—that forest loss fundamentally disrupts hydrological cycles—is now a cornerstone of climate science. His 1880 concerns about the drying of rivers and the desertification of fertile lands echo modern anxieties over how Washington’s own regional forest management impacts local droughts and water security.
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