172 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



The U. S. Weather Station at Lake 

 Moraine records no decrease in precipi- 

 tation for the past ten years. This 

 being true, the yield of water must be 

 increased or at least more evenly dis- 

 tributed throughout the year on ac- 

 count of the improved forest conditions. 

 Therefore the cause of the water short- 

 age must rather be sought in the multi- 

 plied consumption of the growing in- 

 dustries and population. 



The longest straight line which could 

 be drawn in virgin timber still remain- 

 ing is hardly a mile in length. The 

 major portion is scattered in smaller 

 parcels, excepting certain areas in the 

 western and southern parts of the tract, 

 which are practically denuded. Rather 

 less than nineteen square miles is still 

 covered thus with virgin forest. To 

 this may be added six square miles of 

 young growth thick enough to replace 

 the original stand, making a total of 

 twenty-five square miles, or thirty-one 

 per cent, that may be called forested. 

 More or less reproduction exists wher- 

 ever the great fire scourge left a crip- 

 pled tree to bequeath its legacy of 

 seed to Mother Earth before it died. 

 The area thus occupied embraces some 

 twenty-eight square miles. 



After deducting three-and-one-half 

 square miles for land above timber line, 

 an equal area for "parks," lakes and 

 reservoirs, and one square mile for talus 

 slope covered with loose gravel or rock, 

 there remains an area of eighteen square 

 miles, or nearly twenty-three per cent, 

 without any forest growth whatever 

 except the ubiquitous aspen. This 

 area, and especially those portions of it 

 which at higher altitudes partly cover 

 the sources of the different water sys- 

 tems, needs afforesting attention. How- 

 ever, the greater part of such work here, 

 as elsewhere on the tract, must be left 

 to Nature. The one paramount part 

 that man must play is keep out fire. 



The aspen exists abundantly in all 

 altitudes and aspects of denuded land to 

 timber line ; yet some areas form cu- 

 rious exceptions. It is of various ages 

 up to fifty years, but almost never older: 

 Only in a few instances does it fulfill 

 the office of nurse to the conifer much 

 younger than itself. The case is con- 



spicuous by its general absence. Not 

 only is this true far from seed-trees, but 

 on seemingly favorable sites among trees 

 that have borne cones at least ten years 

 ago. The Engelmann spruce, under 

 best conditions, bears its first cones at 

 about twenty-five years of age, while 

 twenty years approximates for limber 

 pine. Why no reproduction takes place 

 is one of the problems to be solved. 



The reproduction of Engeltnann spruce 

 is practically even- aged. The over- 

 whelming number are from thirty-five 

 to forty-five years old. Lumber pine 

 and red fir both predominate at twenty- 

 five to thirty, coming in after the fire 

 more tardily as well as more persist- 

 ently. These three form the bulk of 

 the young generation, with the Engel- 

 mann spruce far in the lead. 



A striking feature of these high wood- 

 lands is the great amount of dead tim- 

 ber standing and lying among the liv- 

 ing. It is not unusual to see every third 

 one of the standing trees dead. The 

 novice concludes that the forest is dying 

 by some unknown pest. The investiga- 

 tor finds that these trees have long been 

 dead, and are preserved intact like the 

 mummies of Egypt. The great preserva- 

 tive is the dry, cool rarity of the Rocky 

 Mountain air, which is death to the 

 organisms of decay. Timber killed by 

 the fire half a century past is to-day sold 

 at Colorado Springs at $4.50 per cord. 

 For mine timbers it is preferred to green 

 wood. To lessen the fire danger, it 

 should be removed wherever there is 

 much young growth. 



The eleven cone-bearing species that 

 follow are mentioned inversely to the 

 order of their relative abundance, which 

 probably coincides with the order of 

 importance viewed from the standpoint 

 of water conservation. 



Only four or five specimens of lodge- 

 pole pine {Finns murrayana)were dis- 

 covered in as many months of observa- 

 tion by several men. A few red juniper 

 {Juniperus scopuloruni} occur along the 

 south boundary of the reserve, in the 

 valley of Little Fountain Creek. In the 

 same locality is found a considerable 

 sprinkling of the bushlike pinyon (Pi- 

 nus cdulis). Isolated seedlings were 

 seen elsewhere as high as 9,700 feet. 



