2 FOKESTS OF MOUNT KAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 



succeeded by the suppressed younger trees. The forest remains 

 mature, not uniformly sound and vigorous, yet not decreasing as a 

 whole in size and volume. Individuals perish, but the character of 

 the forest is constant. The deep alluvial soil covered with moss and 

 decayed vegetation nourishes a luxuriant tangled undergrowth of 

 vine maple, willow, and devil's-club. The forest floor is covered with 

 a deep layer of decayed vegetation and is encumbered with fallen 

 and mossy logs and upturned stumps. The explorer who leaves the 

 trails must be a strong and active man if he can carry his pack 

 6 or 8 miles in a long summer day. 



Ascending from the river bottoms to the lower slopes of the divid- 

 ing ridges the forest becomes more open and the trees are smaller. 

 Salal, Oregon grape, and huckleberry bushes take the place of the 

 taller undergrowth of the valleys. Up to 3,000 feet the Douglas fir 

 and the hemlock still are the dominant species. Above this altitude 

 new species are found intermingled with the trees typical of the low- 

 land, but forming a distinct forest type. The noble and amabilis 

 fir appear, sometimes growling in pure stands, but more often 

 associated with the Douglas fir and western hemlock at the low r er 

 limits of the type, and with alpine fir and mountain hemlock at the 

 upper limit. 



Nearly all the trees of this type have deep and widespreading 

 roots which serve to hold in place the surface deposit of volcanic 

 pumice which covers the slopes of the mountain. Evidence afforded 

 by the after effects of forest fires in other parts of the Cascades 

 indicates that the destruction of the forest on the mountain sides is 

 followed by erosion. Heavy rains and the melting of the upper 

 snow banks by warm Chinook winds combine to produce a surface 

 run-off that denudes the steeper declivities down to the underlying 

 bedrock. 



At elevations above 4,500 feet the lowland trees have disappeared 

 entirely. Subalpine species adapted to withstand the burden of deep 

 snow take their place. Mountain hemlock, alpine fir, and Engel- 

 mann spruce grow singly and in scattered groups or form open 

 groves alternating with grassy parks and rocky ridges. The sym- 

 metrical outline of the slender pyramidal crowns and rapidly taper- 

 ing trunks of the spruce and alpine fir trees that stand singly on the 

 greensward of the open parks bring to mind the closely trimmed 

 cultivated evergreens that adorn city parks and lawns. Their lower 

 branches reach the ground and the tops terminate in slender upright 

 spires. 



As timber line is approached tree growth is confined to dwarfed 

 and flattened mountain hemlocks, alpine firs, and the white-bark 

 pines firmly rooted among the crevices of the rocks. 



