524 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



southern exposure below the 3,500 

 feet level. About this altitude there, 

 is found in places the knob cone pine, 

 though not in great numbers or of 

 large size. In the area visited by fire 

 last December the writer found the 

 trees completely killed. Especial at- 

 tention was paid to the ground condi- 

 tions in order to find some indications 

 of the seed starting, but without suc- 

 cess. Of the fire area, where the chap- 

 parral grew, was found an abundance 

 of young growth as the result of cop- 

 pice. The scrub oak was especially 

 noticeable, as affording considerable 

 cover, to the black, dry ground. This 

 would go to recommend the chappar- 

 ral as a ground cover on southern 

 slopes, where it is impossible to grow 

 timber of commercial value. It cov- 

 ers the ground much better than the 

 knob cone pine and will grow on steep 

 slopes where pines will not. It is much 

 more resistent to fire and will send up 

 coppice to cover the ground soon af- 

 ter the fire. 



Near the crest the cutter pine is 

 found and in some few places where 

 uncut a fairly good stand is observed. 



At Fredalba at an altitude of 5,600 

 feet a good stand of Jeffrey pine is 

 seen where uncut. At this place the 

 mill of Brookings Lumber and Box 

 Company is located, with a capacity 

 of 60,000 feet per day. The Brook- 

 ings Company own about 650 acres 

 of what was until cut the best timber 

 land in the reserve. Of their hold- 

 ings about 5,000 acres have been cut 

 over. The slogan of the Brookings 

 Company seems to be, "Get lumber, 

 all of it, and quick." The result is 

 that when they leave, the forest is 

 denuded. They are cutting everything 

 that will make a 2x4 and are leaving 

 all brush where it falls. About 2,500 

 acres of their property was visited by 

 fire, which originated from one of 

 their donkey engines, and the result is 

 that this much of their holdings is en- 

 tirely bare. The fire also spread to the 

 adjoining government land, burning 

 over about 1,500 acres of it, making 

 a total area of 4,000 acres. The long 

 haul to the vallev below, and the small 



demand for wood as fuel, make it 

 unprofitable to utilize the tops for cord 

 wood, and as a result all this is left 

 to make a big hot fire when it is once 

 started by a spark. 



The area visited by the fire last De- 

 cember is still entirely bare. There is 

 a movement on foot at San Bernar- 

 dino which has as its object the pur- 

 chase of the holdings of the Brook- 

 ings Company in order that the re- 

 mainder of the timber owned by them 

 may be saved, or at least cut by sys- 

 tematic methods, thus preserving the 

 young growth and some of the ma- 

 ture trees for seeding. The writer is 

 of the opinion that this would be an 

 excellent plan. There is undoubtedly 

 a good deal of timber on the Brook- 

 ings property that could be cut with- 

 out serious damage to the watershed, 

 should conservative forest methods be 

 strictly adhered to. Tyler Brothers 

 and later Mr. James Fleming cut con- 

 siderable timber in the reserve. These 

 gentlemen cut for constructive pur- 

 poses only and took nothing that 

 would not scale two feet at the butt. 

 They used oxen and horses in logging 

 and as a result the young growth was 

 not broken by having logs dragged 

 over them by donkey engines. The 

 Brookings Company are cutting 10 

 make boxes, and practically every- 

 thing is cut, and what is not cut is 

 either broken down in logging or else 

 consumed by the fire that is fed by the 

 limb stuff and brush left after cut- 

 ting. If this denuding is allowed to 

 go on as at present, it will be but a 

 short time before there will be no tim- 

 ber left to condense the many fogs 

 that pass over the mountains, and 

 which are condensed and precipitated 

 by the cool forest when the stand is 

 heavy. The timber is confined to the 

 northern slopes of the southernmost 

 ridges, and consists of Jeffrey pine, ce- 

 dar, and fir, underneath which is a 

 fairly good stand of young growth, 

 among which is dogwood. Especially 

 is this true in and around Little Bear 

 Valley, where the Arrowhead Reser- 

 voir Company is building a dam and 

 a series of tunnels, through which 



