iSS 



THE FORESTER. 



August, 



the future good of the country by as 

 statesmanlike acts as any that have marked 

 the history of the last decade, can be 

 saved from deterioration and brought to 

 the point of greatest usefulness only by 

 prompt and efficient care and protection. 



The reserves of which the examinations 

 are reported are the San Gabriel, San 

 Bernardino, and San Jacinto reserves of 

 southern California, the Flathead reserve 

 of Montana, the Bitterroot reserve of 

 Montana and Idaho, and the five reserves 

 of Colorado known as the Pikes Peak, 

 Plum Creek, South Platte Battlement 

 Mesa, and White River Plateau Timber 

 reserves. But although these are only ten 

 of the thirty-five tracts already set apart in 

 the West, the fact that the conditions which 

 exist in them prevail over the whole Rocky 

 Mountain region and that of southern 

 California give to the reports a wide in- 

 terest and significance. 



Of the i 7,000 square miles which these 

 reserves contain much the same general 

 statements can be made. The land is 

 all, either because of altitude, or rough- 

 ness, or poverty of soil, unfit for agricul- 

 ture ; grazing can be carried on profitably 

 on only a limited number of acres and 

 mining seems to have met with small suc- 

 cess. So that it may be said justly that 

 the value of the reserves depends almost 

 wholly on their forests. Yet these are 

 m>\v practically lacking in many places, 

 and but a comparatively small part of the 

 area supports timber that has commercial 

 importance. This state of things is not 

 due to any such cause as the climate, but 

 almost wholly to the effects of timber- 

 stealing, and of the fires which have been 

 burning all through the Rocky Mountain 

 ion for centuries, and which are now, 

 t anything, more frequent and destructive 

 than ever before. 



Some of the papers which make up the 



tli part of the Twentieth Report are 

 ter described as surveys of the land and 

 \\liat is on it than as examinations of the 

 reserves and the conditions which are af- 

 fecting their history. In these reports a 

 good deal of information about the causes 

 the extent of damage done by 

 them, and the relations of settlers, grazers, 



hunters and others, to the welfare of the 

 reserve can be gathered between the lines 

 and from brief specific statements. In 

 others, however, notably in two by Mr. 

 George B. Sudworth, the economic and 

 social conditions to which the administra- 

 tion of the reserves will have to be adapted 

 are more fully considered. These, as also 

 others though with less clearness, show 

 that the destruction of the forest which is 

 now going on is almost entirely due to 

 human malice or carelessness. Avalanches 

 and land slides destroy some trees ; occa- 

 sional fires are started by lightning ; insects 

 and fungi are also ever-threatening enemies 

 of a forest. But were man excluded from 

 the reserve these enemies of the trees would 

 do comparatively little harm. 



The fires that are now so common are 

 due first of all to the carelessness of 

 thoughtless hunters and tourists " tender- 

 foot campers " and of irresponsible 

 herders. In his report on the White 

 River reserve Mr. Sudworth says of this 

 latter class, "They have no interest be- 

 yond their season's or month's wages, and 

 the burning, through even their own care- 

 lessness, of a few hundred acres of re- 

 serve timber is of little moment to them. 

 The writer saw a few such irresponsible 

 herders light their pipes and afterwards 

 throw the burning matches among dry 

 grass and forest litter. Several incipient 

 conflagrations from such sources were pre- 

 vented, but through no effort of these 

 herders. The common sentiment among 

 this class is expressed in the following: 

 'Well, I guess Uncle Sam can stand the 

 racket, if the whole shootin' match burns 

 up! 



After a fire is thus once started its his- 

 tory is that of most other fires. In case 

 there is rain or snow it is apt to go out ; 

 but otherwise it smolders and burns 

 slowly, pershaps burrowing into the soil 

 and destroying the roots of the trees, send- 

 ing up a small column of smoke which 

 can often be watched for days from miles 

 around, until finally it is fanned into fury 

 by a wind, and blown across scores or 

 maybe hundreds of acres. Often valuable 

 timber is thus destroyed, but where the 

 growth is still young the damage though 



