426 APPENDIX 



subject to slides; in the zone immediately below, between 5,580 and 6,500 feet, mountain 

 pine, pure or in mixture with Scotch pine; below 5,580 feet, there were Scotch pine and 

 Austrian pine, sometimes mixed with mountain pine. Spruce has been introduced on 

 south slopes as an understory for the pine. The plans provide for little nurseries estab- 

 lished all over the area in order to avoid the cost of transport. These plantations have 

 produced quite variable results. The lower parts of the working group are generally 

 covered with a good sapling or low pole-stand of larch and pine, but the higher areas, 

 because of the rigor of the climate, the nature of the soil, and short growing seasons, 

 have resulted in general failure. Willows, poplars, alders, etc., have been planted and 

 layered at the bottoms and on the slopes of ravines in order to fix the soil and decrease 

 the violence of the water wherever it has been possible. Beginning with the year 1862 

 the sodding of the soil has also been started either by sowing the seed of "fenasse," 

 "luzerne," or "sainfoin," indigenous to the locality, or by planting tufts of "fettique." 

 Results have been very satisfactory. The corrective work undertaken simultaneously 

 with the reforestation and sodding is very important. It consists in the construction of 

 a large number of dams and of sills in dry stone in the bottoms of the ravines, in order 

 to help maintain the mountain sides, in order to dimmish the steepness of the valley 

 bottom, and to decrease the speed of the running water. Between these dams fascines 

 and wattle work barriers have been established. Since 1876, wherever possible, the 

 ravines and the bottoms of the brooks have been thinned where the stands were too 

 dense. This work, which aims at stopping the action of the water on the erodable soil, 

 has given excellent results. The work as a whole has succeeded in almost entirely 

 stopping the action of the torrents in eroding the Seyne working group, with the ex- 

 ception of the torrents of Allevar, Chateau, and Faut, which rise in very steep ground 

 and at high altitudes, and where the growth is very slow, and which do not seem sus- 

 ceptible of correction for some time yet. The working group of Montclar is formed for 

 the most part by the old area of Lachaux, the reforestation of which aimed at preserving 

 the grazing plateau of Lachaux from the danger of floods and avalanches. It extends to 

 the extreme north of the slope, where the Seyne working group is at an altitude which 

 varies from 6,400 to 8,200 feet. The reforestation work, which began in 1864, has con- 

 sisted in sowing and planting larch and cembric pine in the higher areas, and larch, 

 mountain pine, Scotch and Austrian pine lower down. After sowing forage seed and 

 planting willow (as nurse trees) the area has been completely restocked to conifers. 

 Quite a number of sills of dry stone were established in the chief ravines at the same 

 time the work of covering the slopes began. The restoration of this working group is 

 just about completed. The total area reforested is approximately 3,539 acres. 



According to my original notes: "At Barcelonnette, there had been a veritable de- 

 population on account of the damage from erosion. The work of forestation and 

 erosion prevention was started shortly after 1862, and began in the so-called " terre noir," 

 where the damage was the worst. After six years of practice the local inspector re- 

 ported that a large number of small dams were preferred to a few large expensive dams, 

 as was formerly the practice. Below 5,900 feet of altitude white alder was generally 

 preferred along stream beds and green alder at higher altitudes. In this region the 

 annual rainfall is about 43 inches, but during July, August, and September there are 

 very few storms. The torrents seem to have started on slopes 30 degrees or steeper. 

 On slopes up to 20 degrees bad erosion rarely starts in. The main damage at Barcelon- 

 nette seems to have been caused by grazing an average of 2.4 to 3 sheep per acre whereas 

 the grazing ground would only support 0.8 to 1.6." 



Central Plateau Region (Puy-de-D6me Department, La Sioule Forestation Area). 

 La Sioule, which flows into the Allier, rises in the forests of Mont Dore at 

 the Servieres Lake, which occupies an old crater, at an altitude of 3,937 feet. It flows 

 with a rapid slope for 1\ miles through narrow and deep gorges with an average descent 

 of 3.5 per cent. . . . The basin occupies a vast undulating plateau slightly inclined 



