(Roc6g (mountain TPon&etfanb 



scarred trees was found in the age of the new 

 tree-growth that came up in the fire-swept terri- 

 tory in which, or on the borders of which, were 

 the telltale fire-injured trees. 



Some fires swept so clean that they left be- 

 hind no date of their ravages, but here and there 

 the character of the forest and of the soil in 

 which it stood made me feel certain that the 

 growth had arisen from the ashes of a fire, and 

 that I could tell the extent of the fire. In most 

 localities the fire-killed forest is at once re- 

 stored by nature. That ever enthusiastic sower, 

 the wind, reseeds most burned areas within a 

 year. Burns on the Western mountains com- 

 monly are covered with young lodge-pole or 

 aspen within three years. There are a few dry 

 wind-swept slopes or places left rocky for which 

 years or even centuries may be required to re- 

 earth and reforest. 



Some members of the Pine Family endure 

 fire much better than others. The "big tree," 

 the redwood, and the yellow and sugar pines 

 will survive far hotter fires than their relatives, 

 for their vitals are protected by a thick sheath 



128 



