THE WINDFAI,!, probi^em 841 



without a destructive storm. Since then the intervals between storms 

 have been 2 and 3 years. RecalHng the irregular occurrence of -iO-mile 

 storm winds as shown by the study of 25 years of Baker records, it 

 is evident that these Klamath figures rest on too short a time basis to 

 indicate anything definite. 



A comparison, however, of the three storms with each other, aside 

 from the matter of frequency, indicates something more tangible. 

 Investigation of the comparative severity and extent of the several 

 storms shows that the storm of April 2, 1920, was in a class strikingly 

 distinct from the previous ones. It occurred over a comparatively 

 extensive area ; it caused enormously heavier losses and, what is most 

 distinctive, it threw down an alarming number of trees in virgin 

 timber, whereas the other storms threw none or an inappreciable 

 number. This indicates that it was a storm of rarer occurrence than 

 the others. A storm like this leaves its mark in the forest. Such 

 wreckage of criss-crossed windfalls as was caused in the virgin 

 forest by this storm, particularly like that near the mouth of Cherry 

 Creek, would be readily recognizable in the forest for 25 years. A 

 storm like this also makes a lasting impression upon local inhabitants. 

 Inquiry of old settlers in this region usually brought the reply that 

 this was the worst storm they had experienced since the one they had 

 in about 1895. One settler remembered a swath of windfalls caused 

 by that storm near Mare's Eggs Spring. Although his memory of 

 the exact location was poor, the spot was investigated and a great 

 number of old windfalls were observed, though of course it could 

 not be determined whether they had been blown down in the same 

 storm. About 60 per cent of these had fallen toward the east. It 

 was not such a case of tangled wreckage as was caused in several 

 places by the storm of this year. The fact that no such old wreckage 

 was found in the virgin forest and that forest ofificers know of none, 

 is strong evidence that storms which cause it, like the storm of last 

 April, are comparatively of rare occurrence — perhaps of more than 

 quarter-century occurrence. 



That this year's storm, with its alarmingly heavy loss, mav reasonably 

 be expected not to repeat itself for a number of years is fairly certain. 

 This is reassuring in forest management, because it means that there 

 need be no immediate and revolutionary change of silvicultural treat- 

 ment. A sporadic windfall catastrophe like this is a natural liability 

 in forest management, as destructive earthquakes are in the lives of 



