THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



579 



The following estimates of the amount of accessible redwood standing May ;J1, 1SSO, were prepared by Mr. 

 E. L. Allen, secretary of the l!ed\vood Manufacturers' Association of San Francisco. They embrace only such 

 portions of the forest as can be readied by water, or may in the future be penetrated by railroads, and do not 

 include the small, isolated bodies of timber growing in inaccessible canons: 



ItKDWOOD (.Sr/m i mi: 



No estimate of the amount of pine and fir lumber standing iii the state is now possible, and none has been 

 attempted. An enormous amount of pine of excellent quality, both white and yellow, is contained in the sierra 

 forests. These forests have been invaded by the lumberman at only a few points; their inaccessibility and the 

 cost of getting to market the lumber manufactured in these mountains have thus far preserved them, and these 

 sierra forests, if protected from fire, will serve as a reservoir from which the whole Pacific coast can draw its lumber 

 supply long after its more accessible forests have disappeared. 



The forests of California suffer seriously by fire; during the census year 356,815 acres of woodland were 

 reported thus destroyed, with an estimated loss of $440,750. These fires were set by careless hunters, prospectors, 

 and by farmers in clearing laud. Great injury, every year becoming greater, is inflicted on the mountain forests by 

 stockmen starting fires to improve the herbage of the alpine pastures. These fires destroy undergrowth and young 

 trees, and often consume great quantities of valuable timber, which does not grow again iipon these exposed mountain 

 slopes. 



PASTURAGE OF MOUNTAIN FORESTS. 



The permanence of the mountain forests of California is severely endangered, moreover, by the immense 

 herds of sheep, cattle, and horses driven into the mountains every year, at the commencement of the dry season, to 

 graze. From the foot-hills to the highest alpine meadows every blade of herbage and every seedling shrub and tree 

 is devoured. Young trees are barked and ruined, and only the most rigid and thorny chaparral shrubs are able 

 to resist the attacks of these ravenous herds. The sharp hoofs of sheep winding around the steep acclivities tread 

 out the roots of grasses and other perennial plants and loosen the surface of the stony soil, which, deprived of the 

 protection of its vegetable covering, is gradually washed into the valleys, choking the bottoms of streams and 

 preparing the way for the disastrous torrents which must follow the destruction of the sierra forests; and the 

 destruction of these forests is certain, if the practice of using them indiscriminately as sheep pastures is continued. 

 The life of any forest in which all young trees are destroyed as soon as they appear above the surface of the soil is 

 limited to the life of the fully grown individuals which compose it. A period of unusual climatic conditions, the 

 demand of an increased population for lumber, or the now unforeseen attacks of some insect enemy may at any- 

 time sweep away the old trees of the sierra forests. There are no young trees growing to replace them, and it is 

 doubtful if the forest could ever regain its foothold upon the steep and exposed slopes of these mountains once 

 entirely stripped of the protection of their present covering of trees. 



The sheep which threaten the destruction of the sierra forests threaten also the agricultural prosperity of the 

 state; the streams heading in the sierras and watering the great interior valleys of California are protected in 

 their tio\v by the forests growing about their upper sources. If these forests are destroyed, and the protection to 

 the surface of the ground which they afford removed, the immense accumulation of the winter's snows must melt 

 suddenly in the spring; brooks will become torrents, sweeping with irresistible force gravel and stones from the 

 mountain sides down into the valleys below, and burying rich bottom lands in ruin. And this is not the only 

 danger which must follow the destruction of these forests. If the snow which supplies the mountain streams melts 

 slowly, a steady flow of water will be maintained late into the season; if, on the other baud, the snow melts suddenly 

 and rapidly during the first warm days of spring, the unnatural flow of water in the stream must be followed by 



