Dominion Forest Reserves in the Dry Belt in B.C. 199 



ing in a forest on a misty day will have noticed how the water 

 drips from the leaves, while in the open very little reaches the 

 ground. Observers will also have noticed the almost entire 

 absence of perennial springs and small streams on bare mountain 

 slopes, whereas wooded slopes of similar altitude and other 

 conditions will be dotted with springs. 



Kamloops valley, which lies in the midst of these reserves, 

 has an altitude of 1600 feet, while the hills about rise to 6000 and 

 7000 feet. The valley and lower hills are almost treeless, except 

 for the poplars, willows and alders which grow along the water's 

 edge. At about 2000 feet open park-like stands of bull pine occur 

 and increase in density with the altitude. At about 3000 feet a 

 mixture of Douglas fir occurs with the pine and gradually re- 

 places the pine as the altitude is increased. At 4000 feet black 

 pine becomes prominent andbetween 5000 and 7000 feet forms the 

 main stand with Douglas fir, Englemann's spruce, black and white 

 poplar as secondary species. The supremacy of the black pine 

 is undoubtedly due to the ability of the cones to protect the seeds 

 from fire, and the density of the black pine reproduction following 

 a fire makes it diffictdt for other species to compete with it. 

 Most of the black pine stands are young and are evidently re- 

 placing the fir and spruce. The bull pine being more tolerant of 

 drouth, succeeds over its competitors at lower altitudes. There is 

 very little undergrowth in these forests and the ground is covered 

 with needles. 



Compared with the Coast these reserves do not con- 

 tain the best quality of timber, but it will be useful for mining 

 supplies and fuel and some for saw material. Very little cutting 

 has yet been done on the area reserved. The quality of the 

 timber is largely due to fires which seem to have run almost 

 everywhere, and have injured to a greater or less extent, even 

 those trees not actually destroyed. Many trees die after a fire, 

 even though the bark is not burned, on account of the heat in- 

 juring the tender cambium layer under the bark. Ground-fires 

 decrease the vegetable matter in the soil and remove the mulch 

 of needles which protects the soil moisture, so that the vigor of 

 the tree is decreased. 



The chief causes of the fires have been the railway, cattle- 

 men, prospectors, campers and Indians. During construction 

 and since, many fires have been started along the C.P.R., which 

 have destroyed the timber in the vicinity, but now the officials 

 realize the injury to the road from the loss of freight and spoiling 

 of the scenery caused by fires, and are endeavoring to prevent 

 further devastations. Cattlemen are in the habit of burning the 

 forests annually, in order to increase the grazing area and to 

 improve the grass. This short-sighted practice has been very 

 costly to the forest and irrigation interests and must be stopped. 



