132 



FouETH Annual Repoet of the 



which are in a very poor condition. Many of the trees are dead, 

 especially of the beech and birch, thought to be the result of 

 severe winter injury some ten or twelve years ago, leaving the 

 stand in a very open condition. 



As a result of the opening up of the stand a large number of 

 herbaceous plants have come in (see Plate II), also some moun- 

 tain maple and a considerable quantity of balsam lir reproduc- 

 tion now five to ten feet in height and well distributed through- 

 out the whole type. If not interfered with, the balsam should 

 in lime fill the open spaces left by the dying out of the hard- 

 woods, though it is not sufiiciently tolerant to develop very 

 rapidly in the more shaded places. Growth in this type is neces- 

 sarily slow because of shallow soil, lack of moisture during the 

 summer season and a high altitude, all of which contribute to 

 the development of short and poorly formed trees. 



The maintenance of forest cover upon this type is of import- 

 ance primarily for the protection of water supplies and game. 

 Its value for the protection of the watershed of Esopus. creek 

 cannot be too greatly emphasized because of the enormous amount 

 of money recently expended by iSIew York City in building a 

 water supply reservoir upon that stream. 



The general distribution of the trees in this type by volume 

 and number is shown in the stand table and the stock table for 

 the type (Tables 6 and 7). The type comprises a merchantable 

 area of 1,494.81 acres with an average stand of 86 trees per acre 

 and an unreduced volume of about 5,000 board feet of merchant- 

 able material. 



Table 6. — Stand Table 

 Ridge Type — Average number trees per acre based on 79.91 



acres. 



