256 Forestry Quarterly. 



Prof. J. E. Church, Jr., University of 



The Nevada, has been making some interesting 



Conservation studies upon the influence of mountains and 



of forests on the conservation of snow. The 



Snow. investigations were conducted on or near 



Mount Rose, Nevada. This mountain is 

 situated between the heavily forested main chain of the Sierra 

 Nevada and the scantily forested ranges of the semi-arid Great 

 Basin, and so forms the natural headquarters for the study of 

 both. An observatory has been established on the top of the 

 mountain at an elevation of 10,800 feet, with sub-stations about 

 half way up and at the base of the mountain. At these stations 

 many measurements have been made in regard to the depth, 

 density and evaporation of snow, and especially the factors which 

 influence its depth and time of melting. 



Some results of these investigations may be given. Comparison 

 of bare and forested mountain tops at an elevation of 9,300 to 

 10,800 feet. Measurements made in April, 1910. 47 stations. 

 Unforested talus slope (3 sites), (a) Cornice below observatory: 

 Snow, 52.5 inches; equivalent water, 25.1 inches, (b) Wind 

 swept slope: Snow, 78.1 inches; equivalent water, 35.1 inches. 

 Forested slope: Snow, 88.6 inches; equivalent water, 41. i inches. 

 It will be seen from the above, that the snow of the forested slope 

 contained an average water content one-fifth greater than the un- 

 forested but protected slope, nearly twice as much water as the 

 cornice at the apex of the mountain, over fourteen times the mois- 

 ture conserved by the wind swept slope, and more than twice the 

 average water content of the three unforested areas combined. 



Measurements were also made to compare conditions on a tree- 

 less meadow, beneath an open stand of pine and fir, and beneath a 

 fir forest of medium density, and it was found that, although the 

 treeless meadow had the maximum store of snow at the beginning 

 of the season, at the end the fir forest still retained one-fourth of 

 its total store after the meadow had been bare for a week. The 

 more open forest of pine and fir, which at the height of the season 

 possessed the maximum store of snow, at the end retained but one- 

 twentieth of it. The ideal forest for the conservation of snow is 

 one of medium density or a dense forest with a maximum number 

 of glades. The author recommends the making of these glades 

 artificially in dense forests by the simple operation of cutting, the 



