Turtle Mountain Forest Reserve. 91 



three years an average of 425 permits have annually been granted 

 to settlers, who have taken out 4,900 cords of fuel, 25,000 b. ft. of 

 logs, 3,350 fence posts, 715 roof poles and 200 fence rails. As 

 private land outside the Reserve becomes cleared and the popula- 

 tion increases, the demand on the Reserve timber will become 

 greater. 



The present stand contains approximately 75,000 cords of 

 green wood and 60,000 cords of dry wood, fit for fuel. About 

 1,333,000 b. ft. of saw material could be cut from the green wood. 

 Though the amount of mature timber is small, there is a most 

 excellent reproduction throughout the Reserve, which, from the 

 standpoint of the forester, is the most important part of the stand. 

 On account of their ability to throw up suckers, the aspen and 

 balm reproduce more readily than the other species and form 

 respectively 69% and 12% of the reproduction. 



From the data collected this summer the following table 

 gives a conservative estimate of what may be expected from the 

 dense stands of reproduction now one to twenty vears old. 



Ao-e ^°- ^'^^^^ ^^^- '^'^- ^^- ^^'' height Av. volume Yield per 



'^ per acre inches feet cubic feet acre-cords 



10 4,000 1.5 13.5 .1 4 



20 2.500 3.2 28.0 .8 7^ 



30 1,200 4.7 38.0 2.4 30 



40 850 6.0 46.5 4.3 41 



50 625 7.2 51.0 6.8 47 



60 425 8.7 54.0 11.1 59 



70 335 10.1 56.5 14.0 55 



80 300 11.1 58.0 17.4 58 



With a rotation of forty to fifty years, which would be 

 sufficient for fuel production, an annual cut of one cord per acre 

 or 55,000 cords could be made without reducing the capital stock. 

 This amount would supply a farming area of over 2,000 square 

 miles with fuel and fence material. 



This supply of wood in the midst of a bare prairie country 

 is of great value to the settlers and there is no reason why, if 

 protected from fire and indiscriminate cutting, there should' not 

 be sufficient timber produced on the area now reserved to supply 

 the local demand for all time to come. 



In a plan of fire protection the first requisite is a system of 

 trails which will enable the ranger to thoroughly patrol the 

 Reserve and to quickly get to a fire. At present the greater part 

 of the Reserve is inaccessible in summer. These trails will also 

 act as fire guards and will often prevent the spread of fires before 

 they reach large dimensions. Outfits of fire fighting tools should 

 be kept at two or three convenient places ready for use. It i 



