FOREST CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN 



ARIZONA. 



BY 



ROYAL S. KELLOGG, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



THE person who travels across 

 southern Arizona on the railroad 

 is very likely to think that the whole 

 region is nothing but a desert, with 

 little present value and small hope for 

 the future. He passes through an end- 

 less succession of sandy or gravell}' val- 

 leys and slopes, interspersed with rocky 

 ridges, all scatteringly covered with 

 Yucca, Cactus, Mesquite, Creosote-bush 

 and similar growths, which have tri- 

 umphed in the struggle against arid 

 conditions. Mountain ranges are al- 

 ways in sight, and they, too, look bar- 

 ren and forbidding, with little sugges- 

 tion of beautiful forests and streams of 

 clear, cold water which dash headlong 

 down the canyons and over granite prec- 

 ipices, among stateh' pines, firs, and 

 spruces. The timber resources of north- 

 ern Arizona are well known ; but in 

 general only the residents of the south- 

 ern portion of the territory are aware 

 of the extent of the forest areas in the 

 svirrounding mountains. 



Careful estimates show that the Hua- 

 chuca Mountains have an area of 20,000 

 acres capable of sustaining coniferous 

 forest ; the Graham Mountains, 30,000 

 acres; the Chiricahua Mountains, 50,000 

 acres, while the vSanta Catalina Moun- 

 tains bring the total of the four ranges 

 up to at least 140,000 acres. 



The greatest elevations are from 9,000 

 to 10,000 feet, and good forest is not 

 common below 7,000 feet, since it is 

 only from that altitude upward that the 

 precipitation is sufficient for the growth 

 of valuable species. Soil conditions are 

 good except in the .sections that have 

 been visited by fire. While no streams 

 of permanent flow issue from any of 

 these mountains, there are springs or 

 small streams in all of them which fre- 

 quenth' .send water down to the line of 

 the enclosing desert. 



The Bull Pine { Pinus pouderosa) is 

 the predominating tree throughout this 

 region and furnishes nearly all the saw- 

 timber. Conifers associated with it are : 

 Arizona Pine {Pimis Arizouica), Ari- 

 zona White Pine {Pi>nis strobiformis) , 



.\ GOOD SPECIMEN OF BULL PINE, 48 INCHES 

 IN DIAMETER, SANTA C.^TALINE MOUN- 

 TAINS, ALTITUDE 7,600. 



Chihuahua Pine {Pinus cJiikuahuana) , 

 Mexican Piiion {Pinus ceinbroides),'DovL^- 

 las S'p'^nce^yPseudot sugaiaxi/o/ia), White 

 Fir {Abies conco/or), and Alligator Juni- 

 per {Junipcrus pachyphl<ra ) ; while on 

 the high table-lands and slopes of the 

 Graham Mountains all of these species 



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