FOREST PLANTING ON PIKE'S PEAK 



By Geo. A. Duthie, Deputy Supervisor Pike National Forest. 



OF the countless thousands of 

 acres of important watershed 

 within the Rocky Mountains 

 which have been rendered 

 treeless by forest fires, none are more 

 widely known or of greater economic 

 importance than the Pike's Peak water- 

 shed within the Pike National Forest. 

 The early history of Colorado is closely 

 associated with the Pike's Peak region. 

 The peak itself rises almost abruptly 

 from the Great Plains at an altitude of 

 6,000 feet to an altitude of more than 

 14,000 feet. It was a prominent land- 

 mark for the first explorers and trap- 

 pers who crossed the plains to the south- 

 ern Rocky Mountains, and the first set- 

 tlers who followed close behind them 

 laid their course by the famous peak 

 and settled in the surrounding country. 

 Then came the discovery of gold in the 

 Cripple Creek district at the western 

 base of the mountain, and, as the story 

 of fabulous wealth of the mines traveled 

 afar, thousands of settlers rushed to the 

 mining camps, which became small 

 cities in a day. The region was there- 

 fore well settled at an early date. 



When the first white men reached the 

 Pike's Peak region they found it cov- 

 ered with an almost unbroken forest 

 cover. With the advent of the settlers 

 and prospectors forest fires became 

 numerous. Early settlers have told of 

 fires that raged for weeks unheeded, 

 and these fires recurred year after year 

 until thousands of acres were com- 

 pletely denuded of tree growth and the 

 only virgin timber remaining was in 

 small stands in the deep, protected 

 canons. A careful reconnaissance of 

 the region made in 1911 showed that 

 there are over 10,000 acres of land from 

 which all forest cover was consumed by 

 these fires half a century ago, and upon 

 which there has been practically no nat- 

 ural restocking. It is estimated that 

 two or three centuries would elapse be- 



fore these burns would again be fully 

 reforested if natural regeneration were 

 depended upon to produce a satisfactory 

 forest cover. But these burns comprise 

 important watersheds. The streams 

 draining them furnish a domestic water 

 supply as well as electric light and 

 power to a number of tourist resorts, 

 towns and cities, the chief of which is 

 Colorado Springs, and so for economic 

 reasons they must be restocked as soon 

 as possible. Then, too, the fact that the 

 Pike's Peak region is a recreation 

 ground for thousands of tourists each 

 year adds an aesthetic reason for im- 

 mediate reforestation, to say nothing of 

 the loss through the unproductiveness 

 of so large an area which should be pro- 

 ducing timber for the market. Since 

 the natural restocking is so slow and the 

 need so urgent, the reforestation of 

 these burns has resolved itself into a 

 large job of forest planting and sowing 

 by artificial means which, to complete, 

 will require a liberal appropriation and 

 extensive planting operations annually 

 for a number of years. 



Already this work has been started. 

 For several years past planting and 

 sowing of coniferous seedlings and 

 seeds has been done by the Forest Serv- 

 ice on these burns in an experimental 

 way. Various methods of reforestation 

 have been tried with a view to solving as 

 soon as possible the difficulties arising 

 in the various situations, so that a sys- 

 tematic reforestation plan could be 

 made. A preliminary plan was devel- 

 oped following the reconnaissance of 

 1911 which contemplates the reforesting 

 of 10,594 acres at a cost of $80,111, 

 the work to extend over a period of ten 

 years. All of this work is to be done 

 upon the water sheds which supply 

 water to the cities and towns of Colo- 

 rado Springs, Victor, Colorado City, 

 Manitou and Cascade, Colorado. 



During the years 1910 to 1912, in- 



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