FIGHTING AVALANCHES IN THE PYRENEES 



261 



tree and bush seedlings were also gathered to strengthen 

 the cordons. 



Whenever a given spot of soil and rock had been thus 

 temporarily anchored, there began the hazardous occu- 

 pation of tree planting. Seldom has the plantmg of trees 

 been carried on under such unfavorable circumstances. 

 Sometimes man and seedlings were lowered from above 

 on a rope ladder, or a human chain so well known to 

 Alpine climbers, was organized. It was indeed a tes- 

 timonial to the grit of the French laborers that the 

 work was ever accomplished at all. The species of trees 

 used were chosen not upon the basis of any future com- 

 mercial value of the wood, but primarily for rapidity of 

 growth, and ability to send out a mass of tough inter- 

 lacing roots. The foresters took lessons from Nature, 

 selecting those trees which are most often found natu- 

 rally sprouting upon land slide scars ; and just as in this 



accommodation was swept away by the spring slides. 

 Once, even, a whole gang of men who had been sent a 

 little too early to the scene of action lost their lives. As 

 the zone of operations progressed to the higher levels, 

 it was impossible for the men to go to and from their 

 work, but they lived in shacks upon the edge of the scar, 

 and subsisted on supplies brought in, either by mountain 

 pony or upon their own backs. 



Gradually, the work progressed to the very upper lev- 

 els, and the fight became directed not against water ero- 

 sion and loose earth, but against the snow itself, which 

 is the beginning of all trouble. Numberless little stone 

 benches were erected with a sort of hollow behind them, 

 while on either side, large clunij)s of spruce, mountain 

 pine, larch and other sub-Alpine species were introduced. 

 This work began at an elevation of some two thousand 

 feet above the valley, and was continued to the highest 



levels where a timber line could 



be established. 



The really serious problem 

 came in getting seedlings prop- 

 erly acclimated to the high al- 

 titude. Those grown in nurser- 

 ies in the lower valleys were 

 found to be too far progressed 

 n the spring season for introduc- 

 tion to the rigorous climate 



BEFORE AND AFTER 



Two views taken of the same spot ; the first 

 taken in 1887, and the second in 1921. Note how 

 the larch and spruce have almost completely won 

 back the dangerous as well as valueless waste. 



country the willow, birch and alder became 

 favorites. Later, when these had fulfilled 

 their purpose and overcome the danger 

 from slides, more valuable species could be 

 introduced. In fact, all the cutting on steep 

 mountain slopes in France is regulated on 

 the selective system to discourage the 

 growth of inordinately large specimens. 

 Half a dozen medium-sized trees close to- 

 gether are a much more effective protec- 

 tion for the soil than a single forest giant. 

 During the winter, all operations were sus- 

 pended, but time after time the little stone 

 hut the men had built for their summer 



BEATEN AT LAST 



The forest has grown up to cover nearly the whole of the giant scar and insure 

 against a repetition of the disaster. The planted forest has won out, and is 

 now rapidly growing into a valuable stand of timber. 



above. A scheme had to be devised to winter the .seedlings 

 part way up, or to artificially retard them. The best results were 

 obtained by a combination of these methods, and transplanting the 

 year before their permanent use, to high altitude nurseries near 

 the scene of operations. Every spring there were found to be heavy 

 casualties in the planting of the summer before, while nearly all the 

 young trees pointed their branches toward the valley in the position 

 to which they had been dragged by the relentless snow. But, in 

 spite of handicaps, the work progressed, and today a healthy forest 

 of many acres crowns the former danger zone. 

 Very little had to be done to the mud delta at the bottom. 



