{"id":3706,"date":"1963-12-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1963-12-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T01:32:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T01:32:20","slug":"december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/","title":{"rendered":"December 1963 &#8211; VOL. 44, No. 12 &#8211; Saving Our Watersheds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\">No single factor has a more decisive                     influence on human beings than water, and every drop we use                     comes from our watersheds.<\/p>\n<p> Limited comprehension about this has wasted millions of                     acres of land, caused sharp drops in crop yields, raised the                     crests of floods, starved cattle, spread deserts over the                     face of the earth, destroyed recreation beaches, lowered the                     quality of the water we drink and polluted it to the menace                     of our health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Man,&#8221; said William Vogt in his dynamic book <em>Road to                     Survival<\/em>, &#8220;is the only organism known that lives by destroying                     the environment indispensable to his survival.&#8221; Parasites                     tend to do this, but their destructive effectiveness is limited                     by their lack of intelligence. Man uses his brain to tear                     down; he glories in his relentless &#8220;conquest&#8221; of the wilderness                     as if it were an enemy; the emblem of his species is the bulldozer.<\/p>\n<p>Only recently have our nature scientists started to make                     us realize that if we are to survive, much less improve our                     standard of living, we must create for ourselves a healthy,                     harmonious relationship with our total environment, animal,                     vegetable and mineral.<\/p>\n<p>Hitherto, we have thought of conservation as something a                     farmer does to grow more and better crops; now we must start                     to think of it as part and parcel of our individual hold on                     life.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes we get excited about the short-run effects                     of lack of conservation practices, such as dirty drinking                     water, foul beaches, water shortages when lawn-sprinkling                     is forbidden, and the like. But these things would not plague                     us if former generations had known what we know and had done                     something about it.<\/p>\n<p>It is fifty years since a United States Secretary of Agriculture                     issued a foresighted directive to the forest service: to pursue                     their duties &#8220;for the greatest good of the greatest number                     <em>in the long run<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The history of dead civilizations tells tragically what                     our future will be if we continue to abuse our water resources.                     Throughout history, water has dominated human life. Nations                     reached great heights and toppled and were entombed by the                     drifting soil brought to their doorsteps because they had                     cut away the trees and shrubs and grass that gave it anchorage.<\/p>\n<p>In the heart of the Arabian desert is buried a big town                     which may have been the home of the Queen of Sheba. It was                     abandoned hundreds of years ago because something went wrong                     with the watershed and the water supply failed. Erosion destroyed                     or sapped all the Mediterranean civilizations past and present,                     from Athens and Rome to the fertile plains of North Africa                     where once flourished great Carthage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But that was long ago and far away,&#8221; some may say. &#8220;It                     can&#8217;t happen here.&#8221; Look, then, at the Prairie Provinces in                     the &#8216;thirties, and the pictures they presented of abandoned                     farms, the skeletons of cattle, the sand-buried fences,                     and the blasted hopes of men and women who had sought to make                     their homes there. Merely to drive in the blowing dust through                     parts of Saskatchewan in mid-1937 was to make oneself                     physically ill, mentally depressed and spiritually sad.<\/p>\n<p>We cannot be content to look back pityingly upon the mistakes                     of ancient civilizations which have become part of the dust                     created by their disregard of the laws of nature.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we have more people on the earth, using water for                     more purposes and in beyond-measure greater quantity                     per capita. At the beginning of the Christian era this planet                     supported a population of about 250,000,000; when the Pilgrim                     Fathers stepped ashore in 1620, the figure had increased to                     about 500,000,000; it was announced in October 1963 that the                     world population was estimated at 3,180,000,000. By the year                     2000, said Aldous Huxley in <em>The Politics of Ecology<\/em>,                     6,000,000,000 of us will be sitting down to breakfast every                     morning.<\/p>\n<p>In the past three centuries Canada has grown from a number                     of scattered settlements on the eastern seaboard and the lower                     St. Lawrence, where 3,215 people lived under primitive pioneer                     conditions, to a continent-wide nation of great wealth                     and resources numbering nearly 20 million. This expansion                     has come about with almost total disregard for conservation                     of water, the resource most needed for life and agriculture                     and industry.<\/p>\n<h3>What about watersheds?<\/h3>\n<p>Solomon and the ancient philosophers explained that springs                     were fed from the sea by subterranean channels. It was not                     until around 1650 that we started to connect the amount of                     water in streams and wells with the rainfall on the watershed.                     We know today that rivers cannot be studied without examining                     the land through which they flow. It has dawned upon us that                     good forests, good soil and good water go hand in hand.<\/p>\n<p>This brings us to the drainage basin or catchment area,                     now generally referred to as the watershed, the natural land                     unit which continuously receives and stores and delivers our                     water supply. It may be a few thousand or several hundred                     thousand acres in extent. By managing it properly we may expect                     it to produce a maximum regular flow of clear, clean, high-quality                     water.<\/p>\n<p>A watershed that is well cared for will hold water throughout                     the year. Its tree and plant roots, its dead leaves and topsoil,                     hold a great deal of water in their spongelike mass. Some                     water stays in the subsoil, but much goes still farther down                     to form hidden rivers and lakes.<\/p>\n<p>On a watershed where 24 inches of precipitation reaches                     the soil a plot only ten feet square receives and disposes                     of about 6.25 tons of water a year. An acre receives 2,718                     tons. In the orderly disposition of this huge amount of water                     every piece of ground, a square foot, an acre, or a square                     mile, performs a vitally important function.<\/p>\n<p>Yet water is the commodity most taken for granted, most                     abused, most wasted. Many a city and town that only a few                     years ago had adequate reservoir capacity always comfortably                     full of water now finds that its expansion is limited by shortage.                     Farmers have to dig deeper wells.<\/p>\n<h3>Breaking the cycle<\/h3>\n<p>Never before has the hydrologic cycle been badly dislocated                     in the presence of so many hundreds of millions of people.                     This is the most damaging impact of civilized man on his environment.<\/p>\n<p>In the wilderness of Canada, before the coming of Europeans,                     there had been built up a mutual society of balance among                     the waters, soils, grasses, forests and all animal life.<\/p>\n<p>How it operated is well told in <em>Canadian Restoration                     <\/em>by E. Newton-White: To this society each member contributed                     its powers of control and protection, and was in turn itself                     controlled and protected. As a result, the streams and rivers                     ran clear, cold and constant, and carried away, with little                     disturbance, the surplus water left after all the demands                     of the natural reservoirs and animal and vegetable life had                     been satisfied.<\/p>\n<p>But we have broken off our contact with nature, hiding behind                     our mechanistic contraptions with a sense of security that                     is false. We harvest grain, grind flour, and bake bread by                     machinery and electric power, but disregard the fact that                     the materials of a pound loaf have used up almost two tons                     of water. We use square miles of corn either to eat on the                     cob or to feed our livestock, without remembering that an                     acre of corn in its growing season transpires 3,000 tons of                     water, equal to about 15 inches of rainfall.<\/p>\n<p>It is legitimate to bake bread and to eat corn, and the                     change from a scattered population to the present day mass                     population consuming great quantities of these things could                     have been effected without damage or loss, if made wisely                     and carefully. Instead, we have removed natural barriers so                     that the precipitation does not reach the ground-water                     reservoir, but runs so fast down our hillsides and across                     our wheat and corn fields that it fails to penetrate to the                     roots. Instead of nourishing our crops it picks up soil and                     carries it away out of usable reach.<\/p>\n<h3>Delaying the runoff<\/h3>\n<p>The age old law of hydraulics is easy to understand. Man&#8217;s                     job is to control, so far as lies in his power, a flow of                     energy emanating from the sun. This flow, or cycle, is seen                     concretely in the water chain: from cloud to rain to headwaters                     to river to sea to cloud, ad infinitum.<\/p>\n<p>When rain falls upon a barren hillside it eats away channels                     for itself, racing to plunge itself into a watercourse headed                     directly for the sea. There is the first place to catch and                     retain it. The amount of water stored in the ground is dependent                     upon the condition of the soil and the grass and the forest                     cover of the watershed. When forested hills are denuded by                     burning or cutting, when upland ranges are overgrazed, when                     cropland becomes eroded, the rainfall runs off the hard surface                     of the ground without performing its proper function.<\/p>\n<p>It is legitimate in this plight to think along the lines                     of the tank-building kings of ancient Ceylon. They resolved                     that none of the rain falling in the mountains should reach                     the sea without paying tribute to man on the way, so they                     built great tanks and passed the monsoon rains from one to                     another far out into the plains. The only way to get ample                     water is to intercept it in the run-off.<\/p>\n<p>It seems ridiculous to think of Montreal harbour having                     to move somewhere else, but the prospect was mentioned by                     Jacques Simard at a conference of the Community Planning Association                     in October 1963. The majestic St. Lawrence can one day become                     feeble and sick, incapable of meeting navigation requirements,                     hydraulic power needs, and the mass of industrial and domestic                     demands of a corner of the continent in full economic development.                     In this drainage basin &#8220;we have two nations, eight states                     and two provinces,&#8221; said Andr\u00e9 Gagnon, chairman of                     Cadres Professionnels Inc., &#8220;grouping myriad cities and enterprises                     for whom it is a question of life or death&nbsp;&#8230; we have                     hardly 40 years left to find new sources of water.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While remedial measures are being taken to build up the                     St. Lawrence watershed, it has been suggested that we might                     divert the Harricanaw River from Hudson Bay to Lake Huron,                     at an estimated cost of $200 million. This would feed the                     Great Lakes with 13,000 million gallons of water a day, six                     times more than the amount drained away by Chicago.<\/p>\n<h3>Where to start<\/h3>\n<p>A key factor in conserving water is our forest.<\/p>\n<p>There are three stages of forest history in an industrial                     country. The first is marked by energetic and often ruthless                     exploitation of virgin forests. This is generally followed                     by a period of increasing dependence on foreign supplies,                     such as the United States is now suffering. Then comes the                     third chapter, in which an effort is made to rehabilitate                     or partially restore the forest resources.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the problems posed by this purely commercial                     cycle, we are now coming to realize the effect our treatment                     of the forest has on climate and stream flow. E. W. Zimmermann                     said bluntly in <em>World Resources and Industries<\/em>: &#8220;Forests                     exercise a decisive influence over the distribution of water                     and are a necessary means of safeguarding the national soil                     resources. Mountainsides denuded of their natural forest products                     are a national menace.&#8221; In other words, forests not only offer                     an opportunity for private profit but they also vitally affect                     the life of society.<\/p>\n<p>The violation of natural laws governing the extent of forest                     cover is one of the most tragic examples of human folly in                     the face of nature&#8217;s wisely ordered system.<\/p>\n<p>We have pushed back the forest with fire and axe and bulldozer;                     we have used the hoe and the plough where only trees should                     grow. We have ignored the fact that forests are living societies                     of trees, shrubs and other forms of plant cover, playing a                     necessary part in evolution, of which we think of ourselves                     as being the highest form.<\/p>\n<p>Our destiny is wrapped up with that of the forest. We in                     Canada have been supplied by nature with the kinds of trees                     best suited to meet human needs. Because our climate provides                     growing conditions so satisfactory that in most regions, if                     fire is kept out, there need be no fear of not securing a                     second growth after cutting, we may have ample trees for all                     our needs if we prove ourselves to be good stewards.<\/p>\n<p>Ninety per cent of Canada&#8217;s forested land is owned by the                     Crown, and operating companies are required by law to prepare                     management plans for leased lands. This is important, because                     of the time element in the regrowth of trees. A man who cuts                     down a tree is limited in his outlook by his own lifetime,                     and may have no interest in whether another tree replaces                     it in fifty or a hundred years, but the outlook of governments                     is for the lifetime of the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Governments are interested, too, in other functions of the                     forest besides providing commercial products. In their broad                     view the conflicting uses of forest land must be reconciled                     so that harvesting of wood for marketing shall not menace                     watershed protection. Their broad view enables them to plan                     so that excess forest, with its great capacity for storing                     water, shall not interfere with the summer flow of water necessary                     to irrigation and the development of electric power. Instead                     of forest, they may decide that part of the watersheds shall                     bear grass or shrubs, which have relatively low water requirements                     and disperse less into the atmosphere by evaporation, and                     at the same time protect the soil from erosion.<\/p>\n<h3>Watershed management<\/h3>\n<p>We must respect the basic principles and laws governing                     the whole living community if we are to be successful in maintaining                     human life. The trees, the grass, the shrubs, the soil and                     the living creatures that inhabit them are parts of one vast                     living organism. That is the principle on which watershed                     management rests.<\/p>\n<p>Natural laws impose limitations and obligations on us. Whether                     it is convenient to us or not, whether it is politically expedient                     or not, water is going to run downhill, and its destructive                     force is going to increase with the rate of runoff; water                     is going to become impure if we pour impurities into it; water                     tables are going to sink if we pump water out of them and                     turn aside the replenishment that is their due.<\/p>\n<p>To know about these things we need a norm, something against                     which to measure the state of the earth after we have changed                     some part of it. This is why nature and conservation associations                     and those who engage in the professions having to do with                     natural resources are urging the maintenance of certain parts                     of the country as &#8220;wilderness areas.&#8221; These would preserve                     wild land in its primitive condition, without roads or other                     man-made installations not necessary to their protection.                     They would exhibit the whole community of life at work. Study                     of them would provide the basic rules for watershed management.<\/p>\n<p>Management is necessary if we do not wish to balance the                     supply of water by rationing it. Instead of putting meters                     on our taps to cut off our supply of water after we had drawn                     enough for two percolators of coffee a day and one bath and                     one washing per week, we would be wise to increase the supply                     by providing the proper water conservation environment in                     our watersheds.<\/p>\n<p>This goes far beyond narrow emergency measures. It seeks                     to control and distribute the storage and distribution of                     water according to the needs of our increasing population.                     It becomes the sum of all the grass stems, tree roots, and                     the leaves of shrubs; it counts in all the trickles of water,                     the snow banks on the high peaks, summer storms and marsh                     drainage. It is total receptivity, adequate storage and elimination                     of waste. It takes account not only of present yield and profit,                     but also of inventory and deferred benefits.<\/p>\n<p>In a well-managed watershed forests and grassland will                     be preserved or augmented according to need. Cutting of timber                     will be done in such a way as to cause the least possible                     damage to the forest floor and to keep ample timber growing.                     Farming will use methods that prevent erosion and increase                     the absorptive quality of the soil. Industrial use and sewage                     treatment will avoid pollution. Watchfulness will subdue fires                     started by natural causes and the law will prevent the setting                     of fires by human beings who are malevolent or careless. Grazing                     will be regulated so as to avoid destroying the plant cover                     or compacting the soil.<\/p>\n<h3>Whose job is it?<\/h3>\n<p>To protect our watersheds must be, because of the magnitude                     of the task, a job for governments working together. Quebec                     and Ontario need to act jointly on the Ottawa River Valley                     problems; interprovincial and national co-operation is                     necessary for such river basins as the Fraser, Columbia, Saskatchewan,                     Nelson and Saint John. The St. Lawrence watershed involves                     international as well as inter-provincial action.<\/p>\n<p>Smaller watersheds, we might call them &#8220;local&#8221;, require                     the co-operative action of individuals, of municipal                     and county councils. The concept of the local watershed approach                     to water resource conservation and development is just beginning                     to be effectively understood and applied. The farmer who plants                     a woodlot on a hillside and terraces or contours his fields                     is not only contributing to his own welfare but is discharging                     a duty to everyone between him and the ocean. When he bands                     together with neighbouring farmers to form an integrated plan                     he makes his neighbourhood a better place to live in, improves                     his social and economic conditions, and gives the higher authorities                     an example they will be ashamed not to follow.<\/p>\n<p>Major works, such as large dams or levees or big reclamation                     projects are beyond the scope of local watershed management.                     Although the British North America Act retained for the federal                     authority jurisdiction over certain aspects of water use,                     responsibility for regulation and development rests largely                     with the provincial governments. This does not mean that political                     views should intervene. Only by shifting attention from the                     merely political to the basic biological aspects of the human                     situation regarding water supply can we mitigate and shorten                     the times of troubles into which our present course is leading                     us.<\/p>\n<p>Huxley referred in his paper to two menaces under which                     we live: sudden destruction by scientific war and the more                     lingering destruction by biological agencies. He went on to                     say: &#8220;Only when we get it into our collective head that the                     basic problem confronting twentieth-century man is an                     ecological problem will our politics improve and become realistic.&#8221;                     Then he added emphatically: &#8220;Or, preferring to be wantonly                     stupid, shall we choose to live like murderous and suicidal                     parasites that kill their host and so destroy themselves?&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Responsible individuals<\/h3>\n<p>Water is so important in life that its conservation and                     distribution must override the geographical boundaries of                     private property, counties and provinces; the political boundaries                     of federal and provincial jurisdictions, and the economic                     domains of agriculture, forestry and industry. If jurisdictional                     disputes prevent effective action, our heritage will be lost                     by default, because above all boundaries is the supreme natural                     law whose edicts are indisputable.<\/p>\n<p>All that is to be done must start in the minds of citizens.                     &#8220;We may well ask,&#8221; said John H. Storer, renowned lecturer                     on the natural world, in his book <em>The Web of Life<\/em>,                     &#8220;whether man will develop understanding before he destroys                     himself by destroying his environment.&#8221; To which may be added                     what was written by Marya Mannes, United States writer and                     commentator, in her book <em>More in Anger <\/em>when she referred                     to &#8220;people who conserved their convenience at the expense                     of their heritage, and whose ephemeral prosperity was built                     on waste.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The least we can do as responsible individuals is to become                     informed about the problems and make our voices heard in demanding                     conservation of our most priceless material resource, water.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it is right to say that we should approach this                     enterprise in the steps of the Taos Pueblo Indians, who wear                     soft soled shoes so that they may feel the earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[43],"class_list":["post-3706","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-43"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>December 1963 - VOL. 44, No. 12 - Saving Our Watersheds - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"December 1963 - VOL. 44, No. 12 - Saving Our Watersheds - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No single factor has a more decisive influence on human beings than water, and every drop we use comes from our watersheds. Limited comprehension about this has wasted millions of acres of land, caused sharp drops in crop yields, raised the crests of floods, starved cattle, spread deserts over the face of the earth, destroyed [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-28T01:32:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/\",\"name\":\"December 1963 - VOL. 44, No. 12 - Saving Our Watersheds - RBC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1963-12-01T01:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-28T01:32:20+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"RBC\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"December 1963 - VOL. 44, No. 12 - Saving Our Watersheds - RBC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"December 1963 - VOL. 44, No. 12 - Saving Our Watersheds - RBC","og_description":"No single factor has a more decisive influence on human beings than water, and every drop we use comes from our watersheds. Limited comprehension about this has wasted millions of acres of land, caused sharp drops in crop yields, raised the crests of floods, starved cattle, spread deserts over the face of the earth, destroyed [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/","og_site_name":"RBC","article_modified_time":"2022-11-28T01:32:20+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/","name":"December 1963 - VOL. 44, No. 12 - Saving Our Watersheds - RBC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"1963-12-01T01:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-28T01:32:20+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/","name":"RBC","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/december-1963-vol-44-no-12-saving-our-watersheds\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"December 1963 &#8211; 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