CHAPTER XI 



BURNING OF PASTURE LANDS AND ITS EFFECTS ON 

 FORAGE PRODUCTION 



The grandeur and the awfulness of a great range and forest 

 fire which occurred a few years ago in the Blue Mountains of 

 northeastern Oregon left on the author's mind an impression 

 never to be forgotten. As seen from the summit of a hill the 

 sight surpassed even the stately beauty of virgin forests of pine, 

 spruce, and hemlock. The whole landscape, as far as the eye 

 could reach, was covered with a white sea of smoke clouds. The 

 atmosphere had taken on a golden yellow hue, and in the heavens 

 appeared the pale outline of the lonely sun. One moment the 

 angry flames were carried high above the uppermost branches 

 of the mammoth trees; the next moment all was hidden by the 

 ever-forming clouds of smoke (Fig. 71). When the smoke had 

 subsided sufficiently to allow the first hazy view of the land, what 

 a panorama of ruin to behold! The transformation that had 

 been effected in a few hours was so complete that nature would 

 require centuries to recover her lost splendor (Fig. 72). 



The devastation caused by many of these fires cannot be 

 estimated in a pecuniary way. On heavily forested lands the 

 effects of a single fire are felt for centuries. On range and pasture 

 lands repeated fires generally have quite as serious results as 

 severe overgrazing. On both kinds of lands the fires ultimately 

 destroy the plant cover and are followed by erosion of varying 

 degrees of destructiveness. 



History of Burning. — It is probable that fires on prairie and 

 woodland have occurred ever since there was a luxuriant growth 

 of vegetation. Evidence of fires may be found in coal formations, 

 and substances resembling charred wood and other plant parts 

 have been unearthed in the subcarboniferous sandstone in some 

 localities.^ There is undeniable evidence from the fire scars on 



* Plummer, Fred G., "Forest Fires." U. S. Dept. of Agr., Forest Service Bui. 

 117, p. 7, 1912. 



216 



