18 RECLAMATION OF CAPE COD SAND DUNES. 



arc present as foreruniuu-s of the forest. The order of the succession 

 of the wood}' phuits is practical!}' the same as that <^iven for the other 

 classes of sand areas, except that the beach plum is not conspicuous. 

 It is these low areas that constitute the nuclei of the forests, as it is 

 here that they first develop and then gradually extend to the hig'her 

 areas. This fact, as will be mentioned under the development of cran- 

 berry bogs, constitutes the chief reason for the State's objection to 

 the utilization of these areas for this purpose, as it retards the natural 

 development of the forested condition desired by those who have the 

 preservation of the harbor in mind. 



While it is not probable that all of these low areas will ever become 

 entirely forested, yet it is evident that this is the stage to which the 

 low areas, as well as the dunes, are slowly trending. The recent recla- 

 mation processes will hasten this condition as the encroachment of the 

 dunes has been checked. 



Eakly Accounts. 



The early accounts of the New England coast, dating back to the 

 earliest French and English explorers, and possi))ly even to the 

 Norsemen, essentially agree in their descriptions of the general out- 

 lines and forested condition of the Cape. The wooded area appears to 

 have been much more extensive at those dates than at present, although 

 there has ahvays been, at least within historic times, more or less 

 shifting sand exposed to the action of the winds. Champlain in one 

 of his A'oyages described the Cape and named it Cape Blanc on account 

 of the white color of its sand areas. 



The old forest beds, now for the most part covered with sand, but 

 outcropping in places, demonstrate that the wooded areas, at least 

 three times, extended much farther toward the north side of the Cape 

 than they do at present. The tree stumps visible at low tide near 

 Wood End light-house substantiate the local tradition that the forest 

 extended well out on to the extreme point of the Cape a century and a 

 half ago. It is safe to say that at least three-fourths of the non- 

 forested sand areas of to-day were well covered with trees within 

 historic times. However, the devastation is not so marked as it was 

 three-quarters of a century ago, at which time extensive reclamation 

 processes were inaugurated. 



DEVASTATION OF THE ESTABLISHED DUNE AREAS. 



The principal causes of the rejuvenescence of the sand areas and the 

 incident encroachment upon the forest were the pasturing of stock 

 and the partial destruction of the forest covering. The early statutes 

 show many instances where these practices were forbidden under 

 heavy penalties. Much of the injury has been due to tires, as is 



