FOREST PLAXTIXG OX TMKE'S PEAK 



31 





LABORERS PI,ANTING DOUGLAS FIR ON NORTHERN EXPOSURES IN THE PIKE'S PEAK 



REGION, PIKE NATIONAL FOREST. 



The primary object in making these 

 plantations is for watershed protection, 

 and the plantations are being made 

 upon the watersheds of Colorado 

 Springs and other adjoining towns. It 

 is impossible at this time to show in 

 actual figures just what value the efifect 

 of the establishment of a stand of tim- 

 ber upon these watersheds will have, 

 but since the Forest Service is working 

 on the theory that standing timber has 

 a very beneficial effect on the regula- 

 tion of stream flow, and observations 

 seem to prove this theory correct, it is 

 reasonable to assert that these planta- 

 tions will have a great economic value 

 when the value of the water secured 

 from these watersheds is considered. 

 Recent investigations on the subject 

 have shown that at present the water 

 used by the city of Colorado Springs 

 alone for municipal and domestic water 

 supply has an annual value of $80,000. 

 In addition there is 2,000 horsepower of 

 electric water power developed on this 

 watershed which has an annual value of 

 $■10,000, making a total annual value of 

 the used water $120,000. In addition 

 there are 40,000 horsepower still unde- 

 veloped, which it is estimated will have 



an annual value when developed of at 

 least $400,000. Then add to this the in- 

 crease in the value of the municipal 

 water supply as the city grows and the 

 demand for water becomes greater. 

 With these figures on the present value 

 of the water resources of one city in 

 mind and the possibility of beneficial in- 

 fluence by a new forest cover in regu- 

 lating and increasing the flow of these 

 streams and keeping them clear and 

 cool, the expense must be considered 

 reasonable and justifiable. 



There is small chance for appraisal 

 of the aesthetic value of stands of tim- 

 ber in such situations, and yet it is by 

 no means negligible. The Pike's Peak 

 region is visited each year by no less 

 than 200,000 people for the purposes of 

 sight-seeing and recreation. It is to the 

 wooded canons that the pleasure seekers 

 go and not to the open burns, and it is 

 not unusual to hear unfavorable com- 

 ment from tourists about the great bar- 

 ren, unsightly burns. And so there is 

 no doubt about there being a real 

 aesthetic value to forest planting on 

 Pike's Peak, even if the exact measure 

 of this value in dollars and cents can 

 not be named. 



