FOREST POLICY. 



south to the center of the State and thence towards the southeast 

 corner. Mountains appear only in the southwest, i. e., the Black 

 Hills on the Wyoming line, drained by the Cheyenne River. A 

 strangely large number of rivulets have their sources in South 

 Dakota. 



3. Distribution: South Dakota, like all other prairie 

 States, is the meeting .ground of the eastern and western tree 



flora, the former represented by the hardwood groves in the 

 river bottoms (burr oak predominating, in addition, sycamore, 

 cottonwood, willow, box elder, green ash) ; the latter (western 

 flora) occurring on hillsides and represented by western yellow 

 pine. This species shows in the Black Hills splendid natural re- 

 generation and better trunks than in the Rockies. White spruce 

 (canadensis) occurs in the Black Hills near streams, on high 

 northern slopes. Aspen and canoe birch appear on moist slopes 

 in dense thickets after fires. 



4. Forest ownership: Farmers own little aside from prairie 

 plantations. Six lumber firms control 6,000 acres. The federal 

 government has reserved 76% of the wooded area in the "Black 

 Hills reserve." 



5. Use: Yellow pine only used for timber and for the 

 lead mining interests centering at Deadwood. The cut of timber 

 in census year equals 30,000,000 feet b. m., drawn from a growing 

 stock of 1,500,000,000 feet b. m. Logs are worth, on stump, $1.80 

 per thousand; at mill $5.25. There are 28 saw-mills of $5,000 aver- 

 age investment. 5,000 head of stock find pasturage in the hills, 

 A plague of bark beetles occurred in 1900. Hardwoods largely 

 used for firewood and fences. Planted forests have perished, 

 usually through fire ox neglect, in the majority of cases. 



6. Forestry movement: Arbor Day for ornamental plant- 

 ing. South Dakota Agricultural College makes tree planting ex- 

 periments and issues bulletins bearing on forestry questions. 



7. Laws: As in North Dakota. 



8. Reservations: The Black Hills forest reserve comprises 

 1,211,680 acres, one-third of which lies in Wyoming. The opportu- 

 nity for forest management in this reserve is unrivalled. The 

 financial problem is easy, since stumpage values are high and the 

 demand good. The silvicultural problem is easy, since regenera- 

 tion is excellent, and since only one species has to be dealt with. 

 There are no "weed trees." Finally, utilization is easy, the moun- 



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