TATES 



FOREST 



SERVTC 



The Month in Government Forest Work. 



In its investigations for 



Cleaning Out ,, , 



,, the improvement ot 



the Springs . f , .. . . 



grazing land? within the 



Xational Forests carried on during 

 the past year, the Forest Service has 

 found that the ranges on some of the 

 forests can not be fully utilized by 

 stock because of a lack of a proper 

 water supply. Plans have been made 

 for bettering these conditions. 



Work to improve the water supply 

 will be started this year in two for- 

 ests, and before the coming of another 

 grazing season a number of ranges 

 will be improved very materially. 



In the Leadville National Forest, in 

 Colorado, the men in charge will clean 

 out and protect twelve different 

 springs and pipe the water into 

 troughs. The work on the Tumacacori 

 Xational Forest, in Arizona, will be 

 somewhat more extensive, although 

 only half as many springs will be af- 

 fected as in the Leadville Forest. This 

 method of cleaning out and protecting 

 springs and other watering places will 

 result in much benefit to stockmen 

 grazing on the strips of ranges within 

 the forests. Improvement work along 

 the same general lines will also be 1 

 gun on other Xational Forests. 



Utilization 

 of Tan 

 Bark Oak 



For many years the tan 

 bark oak in California 

 I Q u c r c n s dcnsiflora, 

 Hook, i has been exploited in a very 

 wasteful manner. The lumbermen 

 have gone into the forests, cut down 

 the trees, stripped them of their bark, 

 and after cut ting up a small per cent 

 of the body <>f the tree fur o i:-<l\v< n nl. 

 have left the remainder t" n>t or to 



be burned up in the redwo 1 lagging 

 operations which follow. 



The wood of tanbark oak has h> 

 tofore been regarded as unsuitable for 

 anything but fuel, but this prejud 

 has been mainly due to the difficulty 

 of seasoning it. The Forest Service, in 

 cooperation with the Xurth western 

 Redwood Company, are studying on 

 this problem. If it is found that sea- 

 soning can be done as well with trees 

 cut in the spring as in the fall, this 

 will be preferable, because it is easier 

 to peel the bark from trees cut in tin- 

 spring. 



Other experiments will be made in 

 the way of flexure, end compression. 

 side compression and sheer tests on 

 small specimens. Strength determina- 

 tions will also be made on larger 

 pieces suitable for wagon stock, coop- 

 erage, etc. 



The tan bark oak grow- in the Cali- 

 fornia Coast Range from the Santa 

 Cruz Mountains north into Southern 

 Oregon. The tree is tall and of; 

 spreading. Its average diameter i- 

 about twenty-four indie-. 



Despite the inroads of the tan bark- 

 industry on the stand, there i- 

 mated to be about 1,000.000,00 

 yet uncut. To utilize the tree' for lum- 

 ber would result in the annual savil 

 of many thousands of dollars. 



A City 

 Forest, Grif- 

 fith Park 



The city of LOS \' 



les is planting a forest 

 which should In- self- 

 supporting and profitable, on a tl 

 thousand acre tract of waste land, 

 known as ('.riftith Park. The Fo 

 Sen at the rei|ue-t ' 'f the city, 



made I'lanting plans. 



