1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



wholly coniferous. The trees are of 

 greatly different ages. Stands 15 to 20 

 years old are associated with growths 

 75 to 100 years of age and with veteran 

 stands 200 to 300 years old. This con- 

 dition has been brought about by fire, 

 the stands of different ages marking 

 burns of different periods. 



The timber in the reserve, which is 

 valuable for commercial purposes, may 

 be divided into two classes, that of suffi- 

 cient dimensions and suitable qualities 

 to furnish saw-logs, and that fit only 

 for fuel, fencing, poles, railroad ties, 

 and mine props. Owing to the prepon- 

 derance of the lodgepole pine, with its 

 slender, pole- like growth, and the gen- 

 erally low, stocky stature of the other 

 species of trees, mill timber is scarce. 

 Most of it is obtained, however, from 

 the lodgepole pine, because that tree is 

 accessible and abundant and uniformly 

 distributed over the areas that have the 

 most favorable climatic and soil condi- 

 tions. 



Next in volume comes the Engelmann 

 spruce, which is little used either for 

 mill timber, fuel, or fencing material, 

 because the heaviest and best stands of 

 the species occur in localities remote 

 from transportation or demand. The 

 red fir ranks next. Little of it is utilized, 

 however, as it usually grows on rocky, 

 steep slopes whence there is no means of 

 transporting it to the outside world. 

 The white pine and yellow pine form 

 only an inconsiderable, portion of the 

 mill timber. The yield of mill timber 

 varies from less than 1,000 feet, B. M., 

 per acre in the higher areas and in the 

 tracts adjacent to the foothills to 10,000 

 feet, B. M. , on the tracts embraced in the 

 Davis Creek and Middle West Boulder 

 River bottoms, the Slough Creek bot- 

 toms, and portions of Buffalo Creek 

 Valley. Notwithstanding rocky and 

 comparatively barren soil, the region is 

 capable of sustaining at least twice the 

 amount of timber it now carries if fires 

 were totally suppressed, grazing and 

 cutting restricted, and sheeping abso- 

 lutely prohibited. 



Mr. Leiberg also includes a report on 

 the Livingston and Big Timber quad- 

 rangles of Montana, which contain parts 

 of the Absaroka division of the Yellow- 



stone Forest Reserve. The examination 

 was made primarily in order to classify 

 the lands and estimate the timber within 

 the boundaries of the reserve, but the 

 land was classified and the timber esti- 

 mated beyond the reserve boundaries in 

 order to include all of the Livingston 

 and Big Timber quadrangles. 



& 



Good Plank The following request 

 for Any Party, for a plank in the Dem- 

 ocratic state platform fa- 

 voring needful forest legislation was 

 submitted to the convention by a com- 

 mittee from the Colorado Forestry As- 

 sociation : 



To the Democratic State Convention. 



GENTLEMEN: We, the undersigned, a 

 committee duly appointed by the Exec- 

 utive Board of the Colorado State For- 

 estry Association for the express pur- 

 pose herein named, respectfully present 

 the enclosed resolution, asking that you 

 insert it in your party platform: 



For the reason that when we consider 

 the importance of our forests in their 

 bearing upon the leading industries of 

 the state; when we see the vast destruc- 

 tion of timber on almost every mountain 

 side ; when we are told by those who 

 best know that at least four to five-sixths 

 ofour virgin forests have been destroyed 

 chiefly by careless fires, and when we 

 further realize that the state has made 

 no provision for forest management, 

 that there is no executive officer to see 

 that our forest laws are enforced, we are 

 impressed that it is imperative that 

 something be done, and done at once, 

 to establish some well-defined and ra- 

 tional forest policy. 



For this purpose, therefore, we ap- 

 pear in this manner, feeling assured that 

 your honorable body will be interested 

 and ready to cooperate in this move- 

 ment, which we believe to be for the 

 present and future welfare of our be- 

 loved commonwealth. 

 Respectfully submitted. 

 PLATT ROGERS, 

 E. B. MORGAN, 

 HELEN L. GRENFELL, 

 A. W. RUCKER, 

 JOHN S. TITCOMB, 



Committee. 



