UNITED STATES 



OREST SERVIC 



The Month in Government Forest Work 



Assistant Forester Olm- 

 insp^ction sted returned on Sep- 

 tember 20 from a trip 

 through the Alaska reserves, the par- 

 ticular purpose of his visit being to 

 investigate complaints. He found that 

 most of the complaints were based on 

 misunderstanding of the objects of the 

 reserves, but, since conditions in Alas- 

 ka differ from those in the Western 

 States, special regulations are appa- 

 rently necessary. 



Mr. Olmsted reports that the diffi- 

 culties of administration in Alaska are 

 great, since there are no roads, but 

 few trails, and a very sparse popula- 

 tion. All travel is by boat. 



Forest Supervisor Bar- 

 Management trum has secured the 



clearing of a portion of 

 a fire break around the Ashland For- 

 est Reserve in the vicinity of the city 

 of Ashland (Oregon) by confining 

 free use to this strip. The forest along 

 the reserve boundary is an inferior 

 stand of yellow pine and red fir. The 

 ground is nearly everywhere covered 

 with a dense growth of chaparral, 

 making fires especially hard to fight. 

 T11 sales and free-use cases the cutting 

 and piling of the underbrush has been 

 required, as well as the piling of the 

 brush from all trees cut. The ground 

 so cleared has then been burned over 

 at safe seasons. The result is a clear 

 strip of ground, across which no fire 

 can run, and from which back fires 

 may be started with perfect safety. 

 Tbe break has already proved itself 

 useful by stopping two fires, supposed 



to have been set by lightning, which 

 would otherwise have been almost im- 

 possible to control before they burned 

 through a considerable stretch of tim- 

 ber to a ridge top. 



Certain portions along the fire line, 

 however, belong to the Southern Pa- 

 cific Railroad Company, and the com- 

 pany has given permission to the For- 

 est Service to clear a line on its lands, 

 since this will protect these lands as 

 well as the reserve, and will be a great 

 benefit to the city of Ashland and the 

 country tributary to the lands of the 

 railroad. 



Water Shed 

 Studies 



Forest Reserve officers, 

 in response to Reserve 

 Order No. 17, recom- 

 mended examinations of city water- 

 sheds in the Mount Graham, Pinal 

 Mountains, Chiricahua, Santa Rita, 

 Santa Catalina, and Tonto forest re- 

 serves in Arizona. During the sum- 

 mer Mr. L. C. Miller examined the 

 first three of these reserves and also 

 part of the San Francisco Mountains 

 Reserve. He found no important city 

 watersheds in need of planting, but ad- 

 vised certain utilization planting, and 

 established two small nurseries. The 

 city watershed work on the other Ari- 

 zona reserves will be continued this 

 fall. 



It is found that the Pocatello For- 

 est Reserve offers a watershed project 

 much needed for the city of Pocatello. 

 A nursery, 48 by 72 feet in size, will 

 be started this fall under the direction 

 of Mr. A. E. Oman. 



Mr. J. M. Fetherolf, who has been 



