200 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



planting, and a large number of spe- 

 cies will be handled under different 

 methods. H. P. Baker, Forester for 

 the College, will be in direct charge, 

 but the Forest Service will have gen- 

 eral supervision. 



. Notice has been received 



Coa^fnds hat the Panting plan 

 which was prepared by 

 the Forest Service for certain lands 

 owned by the H. C. Frick Coke Com- 

 pany, in western Pennsylvania, has 

 been accepted and that planting will 

 be begun this spring. Plant material 

 for use on the areas to be reforested 

 has been ordered from dealers, and a 

 nursery will be established for the pro- 

 duction of seedlings for future use. 

 This work will be supervised by a rep- 

 resentative of the Forest Service. A 

 similar request for supervision has 

 been received from the Keystone Coal 

 and Coke Company, for whom a plant- 

 ing plan was prepared last summer. 



Planting on The War Department 



Military has requ ested the Forest 



Reservations ^ . ^ , 



Service to make an ex- 

 amination of the military reservations 

 in and around San Francisco Bay with 

 a view to their improvement by forest 

 planting. This work will soon be un- 

 dertaken, and it is expected that de- 

 tailed plans will be made for planting 

 on certain portions of the reservatons. 

 The aim will be to establish useful for- 

 est plantations which will at the same 

 time improve the appearance of the 

 islands and military grounds, which 

 are now without tree growth. Special 

 attention will also be given to the 

 planting of windbreaks and shelter- 

 belts for the protection of the parade 

 grounds and buildings. 



San Francisco Bay is acknowledged 

 to be one of the safest and most beau- 

 tiful harbors in the country. By es- 

 tablishing a forest cover on the shores 

 and islands it will be made still more 

 attractive. Instead of barren bluffs 

 and islands covered only with brown 

 grass, passengers on inbound ships will 

 see groves of flourishing green trees. 



Rise of The demand for lodge- 



pr n d e gepole p le P ine ties b y the 



western railroads, which 

 prefer them to any other because of the 

 ease with which they take preserva- 

 tives, has greatly increased the market 

 value of the Rocky Mountain forests 

 in northern Colorado, Wyoming, east- 

 ern Idaho, and southern Montana, 

 where lodgepole pine is the predomi- 

 nant tree. These forests are largely 

 within the existing or proposed Na- 

 tional forest reserves, and are conse- 

 quently under government control, so 

 that the Forest Service has felt the 

 need of preparing plans to permit the 

 sale of such mature timber in them as 

 may be safely spared. During the past 

 year a working plan was completed for 

 about 46,000 acres in the Wyoming 

 Division of the Medicine Bow Reserve. 



It was found in the first place that 

 the protective value of the forest as a 

 cover for the watersheds is so great 

 that any utilization of the timber crop 

 must be subordinated to it. Through- 

 out the region the control of stream- 

 flow by the forest cover is the prime 

 consideration. The mining industry, 

 which is of high importance, will not 

 be hampered by the disposal of reserve 

 timber, since all the mining claims lo- 

 cated in or near the tract include tim- 

 ber sufficient for the needs of the own- 

 ers. The present moderate grazing 

 of cattle is carried on without risk to 

 reproduction of the forest. 



The Medicine Bow Forest Reserve 

 contains the largest continuous body of 

 lodgepole pine to be found in the 

 Rocky Mountains. The timber on the 

 tract for which the plan was made is 

 accessible ; tie cutting has been carried 

 on in the reserve for some years ; and 

 it was definitely known that all the 

 timber which could safely be removed 

 would find sale. Measurements in the 

 woods and careful studies of the rate 

 of past growth and of the forest's 

 power of self-renewal furnished data 

 from which the government foresters 

 calculated what the forest can be ex- 

 pected to yield and what per cent can 

 be cut safely now. It was found that 

 165,000,000 feet B. M. of lodgepole 



