16 ABSABOKA DIVISION OF YELLOWSTONE FOEEST EESEEVE. 



general the woodlands have not been badly pastured, chiefly owing to lack of 

 water, and, being situated at easily accessible points, they are still of considerable 

 grazing value. 



Most of the area of this class of lands is capable of bearing forests, probabl}' 

 not in uniform and heavily stocked stands, but in moderate volumes, 1,200 to 1,800 

 cubic feet per acre for mature growths. Their present thin and scattered stockage 

 is entirely due to often repeated fires during the Indian occupancy of the country. 

 In places where grazing for various reasons has been kept at a minimum, and where 

 no fires have run during the past two or three decades, heavily stocked stands of 

 sapling red fir are pqshing out into the previously nontimbered or sparsely timbered 

 areas, conclusively proving that under proper conditions the tracts will bear forests. 



The pasturing of the woodlands is inimical to rapid extension or closer stockage 

 of the timber growth. Any sheeping of the areas will practically destroy whatever 

 seedling growth maybe springing, up on such grazed-over tracts. The pasturing 

 of horses and cattle, while destructive in a less degree, is yet likely, if carried to 

 excess, to have the same effect oh the seedling growth as the sheeping. 



The woodlands do not give rise to any notable quantities of run-off. They are 

 of no particular importance in this region as adding to or conserving the water flow, 

 and extensions or additions to their present stockage would be chiefly beneficial in 

 giving easily accessible wood supplies to agricultural settlements in the adjacent 

 timberless valleys. 



The third class of grazing lands, consisting of open slopes and nontimbered 

 canyon bottoms, comprises 25,000 acres. These exist throughout all parts of the 

 reserve at altitudes ranging from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. In part they comprise slopes 

 generally with a southern exposure, but not infrequently an eastern or western, 

 rarely a northern. In part they are made up of meadows and swales fringing the 

 creeks and canyon bottoms. The slopes chiefly represent ancient fire glades which, 

 before the advent of the white man, were covered with forest. They" were burned 

 over by the aboi-igines, and owing to ensuing soil aridity have never restocked. In 

 most localities the soil cover on these tracts is thin, the underlying rough talus 

 stratum or solid rock comes near the surface, there is a rapid-drainage ratio, and 

 little reserve moisture is stored in the shallow subsoil. Hence when denuded of 

 forest cover restockage is an extremely slow process and the land remains grass- 

 covered for an indefinite time. Thej"^ commonly bear an abundance of grass, but 

 owing to steepness of slope are rarely pastured to any extent. If left undisturbed, 

 the forest will eventually cover them again. Of the total area in this class of graz- 

 ing lands 15,000 acres consist of open slopes, as described. 



The remainder of the lands in this class, 10,000 acres, is made up of many small 

 glades and meadows. Their timberless character is due to the prevailing swampy 

 nature of the ground — the soil-moisture ratio being too high for coniferous growth. 



