198 Forestry Quarterly. 



along and spread the fire by sparks in front of the main fire. Be- 

 sides it is desirable to keep fire out of the Upper Slope type en- 

 tirely. The fire would be started around the edges of the burn 

 and there would be little danger of it spreading into the green 

 timber for more moisture from the first few rains is retained in 

 the green woods than in the burn. The success of the plan de- 

 pends largely upon the judgment of the man put in charge of 

 the undertaking. He should have large experience in handling 

 fires and should be familiar with the country. There are several 

 local forest officers who are well qualified and competent for the 

 job. The responsibility of inviting a possible disastrous con- 

 flagration in the dry season by permitting the present condition 

 to continue is a greater one than that assumed by the man who 

 would undertake to fire the burn after the close of the fire season. 

 A portion of the burn in the valley is included in the Cispus classi- 

 fication project and if it is decided to list any of the land it 

 would be advisable to fire the burn before the land is opened to 

 entry and avoid additional complications by increasing the num- 

 ber of private holdings. 



The natural reseeding of the Upper Slope type 

 The Upper is a much slower process and the problem a more 

 Slope Type complicated one. A larger number of seed trees 

 is required in this type than in the lower one, and 

 in the absence of seed trees it is sometimes a difficult matter to 

 predict of what composition the coming stand will consist. Fire 

 in the uplands is a dangerous instrument, for the results differ 

 widely. But then the quantity of debris is never so great after 

 the first fire as on the bottom lands, for the timber is smaller 

 and the fires have stronger drafts and burn more of it up. Fire 

 is followed by huckleberry brush and willows. In the eastern 

 part of this burn numerous patches of huckleberry have come in 

 since the fire. When fire recurs frequently, chaparral sometimes 

 replaces the huckleberry brush as is illustrated on Lone Tree 

 mountain, which is a part of this burn and was fired continually 

 every spring for a number of years before the big fire by a home- 

 steader who settled at its base. On this mountain there is three- 

 fourths of a section captured by chaparral, and there are several 

 other patches of it, from 10 to 30 acres apiece scattered over the 

 eastern one-third of the burn. But chaparral is otherwise of in- 

 frequent occurrence on this forest, although it might become 

 more common if fire was not suppressed at the higher altitude 



