28 Forest Club Annual 



usually comes in and occupies the area. Where the temporary 

 type of either Aspen or Gambel Oak occurs, the Western Yellow 

 Pine seedlings come in beneath the trees of the temporary type 



The method of restocking is very much the same in the 

 composite type, but in the fir and sub-alpine types the procedure 

 is slightly different. Aspen is almost always the temporary type, 

 Gambel Oak rarely if ever being found at these elevations. The 

 Aspen almost always occurs in very dense thickets with some 

 Mexican Locust and when these two species occur on their 

 optimum site, they form a stand that is very nearly impenetrable. 

 After a few seasons the temporary type has succeeded in partially 

 restoring the litter destroyed by fire. In this restored seed bed, 

 and under the shelter and the protection of the temporary 

 type the seeds of trees of the permanent type are enabled to 

 sprout and establish growth. Under the best conditions it usually 

 lequires about eight to fifteen years after the time of burning 

 for the seedlings of the permanent type to gain a secure footing. 

 However, the time required depends very largely on the site. 



In the fir type the seedlings of the two firs come in directly 

 under the Aspen. The White Fir seedlings often make up as 

 high as 80 per cent of the reproduction of the two species during 

 the first few years, but later the Douglas Fir becomes the more 

 important species. 



The method of restocking in the sub-alpine type is more 

 complex. Among the coniferous seedlings which come in under 

 the temporary type Douglas Fir is decidedly in the majority, and 

 the seedlings of the Engelmann Spruce, which is the predominat- 

 ing species in this type, are very few or may be wanting entirely. 

 This may be accounted for in two ways : first, the scanty supply 

 of litter furnished by the temporary type is not sufficient to 

 provide for the reproduction of Engelmann Spruce; second, 

 the Engelmann Spruce is much less fire resistent than Douglas 

 Fir, and where a large part of the mature trees of the latter spe- 

 cies survive and continue to bear seed, the former species will be 

 killed entirely and their ability to bear seed will be stopped. In 

 all probability the scarcity of Engelmann Spruce seedlings is due 

 to a combination of these two adverse conditions. 



In several areas in this type at high elevations which had 

 been burnt over from forty to eighty years before, the following 

 conditions seemed to be typical. The Aspen had reached matur- 

 ity and was beginning to deteriorate; some of the trees were 

 dead or partially dead. All conifers from 12 inches to 20 inches 

 d. b. h. were Douglas Fir. The poles and saplings beneath this 

 almost pure stand of Douglas Fir standards were made up of 

 both Douglas Fir and Engelmann Spruce. The seedlings were 



