FOREST PLANTING ON PIKE'S PEAK 



B ,;,.,, A. DUTHIE, Deputy Superior Pike National Forest 



O 



. 



n( ] 5 of 



l- >l' '..imiU-s ' 5 ," H 



: of ""Lortant watershed 



within the mta "? 



"hjch Lave been rendered 



by forest nres, none an ore 



^ VS Peak wate - 

 Forest 



fore these burns would again be fully 



r ef ore sted if natural regeneration were 

 ^oreste ^ ^ ^ ^ 



forest cover But these burns comprise 

 ores cove ^ The 5treams 



p ^.^ a domestic water 



supply as well as electric light and 

 powe? to a number of tourist resorts, 



. ,000 feel to an altitude of more than 

 feet. It was a prominent land- 

 mark fur the first explorers and trap- 

 \\ ho crossed the plains to the south- 

 ern Rocky Mountains, and the first set- 

 tler- who followed close behind them 

 laid their course by the famous peak 

 and -ettled in the surrounding country. 

 Then came the discovery of gold in the 

 Cnpple Creek district at the western 

 the mountain, and, as the story 

 of fabulous wealth of the mines traveled 

 . thousands of settlers rushed to the 

 mining camps which became small 

 cities in a day. The region was there- 

 fore well settled at an early date. 



\\ hen the first white men reached the 



Tike'- Teak region they found it cov- 



': with an almost unbroken forest 



r With the advent of the settlers 



and pro-] .ectors forest fires became 



numerous. Karly settlers have told of 



that raged for weeks unheeded, 



and tlie-r tires recurred year after year 



until thousands of acres were com- 



pletelv denuded of tree growth and the 



\irgiu timber remaining was in 



stands in the deep, protected 



A careful reconnaissance of 



the region made in I'.Ml showed that 



tln-Tv are over lo.OOO acres of land from 



diich all forest cover was consumed by 



tlu-s,- fires half a century ago. and upon 



ch there has Wen practically no nat- 



lt is estimated that 



t\\o HI- three centuries would elapse be- 



year adds an aesthetic reason for im- 

 mediate reforestation, to say nothing of 

 the loss through ^e unproductiveness 

 of so large an area which should be pro- 

 ducing timber for the market. Since 

 the natural restocking is so slow and 

 need so urgent, the reforestation of 

 these burns has resolved itsel 

 large job of forest planting and sowing 

 by artificial means which, to complete, 

 will require a liberal appropriation and 

 extensive planting operations annually 

 for a number of years. 



Already this work has been started. 

 For several years past planting and 

 sowing of coniferous seedlings and 

 seeds has been done by the Forest Serv- 

 ice on these burns in an experimental 

 way. Various methods of reforestation 

 have been tried with a view to solving as 

 soon as possible the difficulties arising 

 in the various situations, so that a sys- 

 tematic reforestation plan could be 

 made. A preliminary plan was devel- 

 oped following the reconnaissance of 

 1911 which contemplates the reforesting 

 of 10,594 acres at a cost of $80,111, 

 the work to extend over a period of ten 

 years. All of this work is to be done 

 upon the water sheds which supply 

 water to the cities and towns of Colo- 

 rado Springs, Victor, Colorado City, 

 Manitou and Cascade, Colorado. 



During the vears 1910 to 1912, in- 



