FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 69 



THE PKAIRIE REGION 



THERE are better opportunities for commercial forest planting in the prairie 

 region than in any other section of the United States except, possibly. 

 New England. This is due, primarily, to the excellent market for fence 

 posts, telephone poles, cordwood and other products. In most portions of the 

 prairie region suitable sites can be found and there are a number of species which 

 are hardy and of rapid growth, and well adapted to be grown on a short rotation 

 for the products chiefly in demand in the region. 



There are two general types of planting sites in the prairie region, namely, 

 the Uplands, consisting of exposed, rolling prairies or plains, and the Lowlands, 

 or the bottom lands and slopes of the valleys. The opportunity for commercial 

 planting on the Uplands throughout the region is practically limited to wind- 

 breaks and small groves around the farm-stead. 



In general, the land is well adapted to farming and is too costly for profitable 

 timber production, except where wind-break protection increases agricultural 

 yields sufficiently to pay for narrow strips of land devoted to shelter belts. 

 Single wind-breaks are less efifective and less profitable than belts of deciduous 

 trees 75 to 150 feet wide, or of conifers 50 to 75 feet wide. The direct financial 

 returns from the products of wind-breaks and shelter belts vary widely, according 

 to climatic and soil conditions, the species planted and the care given the planta- 

 tion, especially during its earlier years. Recent investigations in Nebraska showed 

 that wind-break protection from south winds increased the yield equal in amount 

 to the yield of a strip from an area as long as the wind-break and twice as wide 

 as the height of the trees. The trees in this case were 38 feet high ; therefore, a 

 strip of land 75 feet wide could be devoted to a shelter belt at no cost for the 

 land, and the yield of timber from the area would be clear profit, which, in this 

 instance, was $5.39 per acre per year. 



In the Lowlands, the better conditions of soil moisture are more favorable 

 to commercial planting than on the Uplands, except where the soil is extremely 

 alkaline through seepage. Frequently there are areas in the Lowlands of con- 

 siderable size which are not adapted to agriculture and are, consequently, low 

 in price — as, for instance, steep bluffs and bottoms subject to frequent overflow. 

 Accordingly, it is in the bottoms that we find the best opportunities for com- 

 mercial forest planting on a large scale. 



The species recommended for planting, the care of plantations and the returns 

 differ considerably in various portions of the region. Details can be obtained for 

 a particular region through numerous publications issued by the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, or by the Agricultural Experiment Stations of the several 

 States. Briefly, the Prairie Region consists of three principal divisions, viz: 



The Northern Prairie Region, including eastern Montana, the Dakotas, 

 southern and western Minnesota, and northern Iowa. 



The Middle-West, including southeastern South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, 

 Kansas, eastern Colorado, and western Illinois. 



The Southern Plains, including western Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas, 

 northwestern Texas, and ea.stern New Mexico. 



