62 



THE FORESTER. 



March, 



Studying the American Forests. 



Forestry and Water Storage. 



The famous Johnstown flood of May 

 31, 1889, will probably soon be recalled to 

 the public by an attempt to reforest a large 

 portion of the Conemaugh watershed to 

 prevent further damage from freshets. 

 The Johnstown Water Company, which 

 controls =;ooo acres of mountain land, has 

 asked the Division of Forestry to devise a 

 plan by which the area can be re-covered 

 with timber and the too rapid run-off of 

 the rainfall prevented. 



The region is peculiarly liable to fresh- 

 ets, owing to its geological character and 

 the removal of its timber. The now his- 

 toric catastrophe, which swept away $10,- 

 000,000 in property and half as many lives 

 as the battle of Gettysburg, was but an ex- 

 aggerated instance of many similar floods. 

 This tendency has been increased by log- 

 ging off the timber and clearing numerous 

 farms, so that the rainfall flows quickly 

 from the surface, causing high water at one 

 time and the drying up of springs later. 



The Johnstown Water Company has 

 bought up many of these farms and torn 

 down their buildings, and now wishes to 

 expedite their return to the forest. The 

 tract is in a sandstone region, much 

 broken, with valleys averaging 3^0 feet in 

 depth. The timber consists of Hemlock, 

 Oak, Locust and Ash, with some Beech 

 and Poplar. The openings are from 

 twenty to fifty acres. 



As soon as the weather permits, J. W. 

 Tourney, Superintendent of Tree Planting, 

 and another working-plan expert of the 

 Division of Forestry, will examine the 

 region and decide on a plan of reforesta- 

 tion. In the clearings, tree planting will 

 be required. An attempt will probably 

 be made to increase the stand over the 

 whole. area by skillfully assisting natural 

 reproduction. Protection from fire and 

 cattle will also be required. The expense 

 will be shared by the Government and the 

 Water Company, the former furnishing 

 the expert work and, possibly, some of the 

 material for planting. 



Pacific Coast Timber. 



The investigation of the timber resources 

 of the Pacific coast, begun last summer by 

 the Division of Forestry, as described in 

 the January FORESTER, will be continued 

 during the coming season of field-work. 

 The Redwood belt of California and the 

 Red Fir forest of Washington will be 

 visited by several parties which will start 

 about June ist, and will be composed prin- 

 cipally of young college men working 

 under the direction of the Government ex- 

 perts. In each state there will be from 

 fifteen to twenty-five men at work. 



Under the system adopted, the rate of 

 growth and general life history of an ex- 

 isting forest will be ascertained to foretell 

 the behavior of a future one growing under 

 like conditions. Measurements will be 

 made and the age found of several thous- 

 and trees in the logging districts, and large 

 tracts will be cruised and surveyed to find 

 the stand of timber in varying situations. 

 By measuring and counting the annual 

 rings of a tree at several sections, an ex- 

 pert can determine not only its age but at 

 what stage it grew fastest, when it reached 

 maturity, and the exact amount of wood 

 added during any period. By obtaining 

 these figures for large areas it will be pos- 

 sible to compute the time necessary to 

 raise successive crops in the Pacific timber 

 regions. This work will be especially 

 valuable to owners of timber lands who 

 are in doubt as to the profit of paying taxes 

 on their property after it has been logged. 



Remunerative Tree Planting. 



The Division of Forestry is in consul- 

 tation with three important railway com- 

 panies over a contemplated innovation in 

 American railway methods. These roads 

 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the 

 Chicago, Milwaukee &. St. Paul, and the 

 Zanesville & Ohio are considering rais- 

 ing tie and pole timber on a large scale 

 on their non-utilized right-of-way lands. 

 Other large western roads are interested. 



