2.4 ABSAROKA_ DIVrSIOTSr OP YELLOWSTONE FOREST EE8BEVE. 



The red fir ranks next in volume. Its mill-timber yield is only 40 per cent of 

 that of the spruce, while its total volume is 55 per cent. Its volume of fuel and 

 pole timber is stilLmore disproportionate, being only 14 per cent of that of lodge- 

 pole pine, while its total volume is almost 40 per cpnt. These variations are due to 

 the fact that only a small quantity of the red fir is found in veteran or middle-aged 

 stands, most of it being very young and unfit for commercial purposes. The red 

 fir is little utilized. Most of it is difficult of access,' growing on rocky, steep slopes 

 or remote from transportation, and owing to the stringy and tough character of 

 its timber is not very well liked. 



The whitebark pine grows to mill-timber dimensions only in Slough Creek and 

 Hell Roaring Creek bottoms. It has not, so far as is known, been utilized in the 

 region for any purpose, but is included in the estimates because in the localities 

 mentioned it grows to the size required for saw logs. 



The white pine forms only an inconsiderable portion of the mill timber. In the 

 Davis Creek region it is easy of access, and would probably have been cut out long 

 ago had the loggers in the West Boulder Valley been able to distinguish the tree from 

 the limber pine, which also occurs nearby and which, in close-set stands, much 

 resembles the white pine. 



The yellow pine is of still less volume than the white pine. Owing to its occur- 

 rence in the foothills only, it has been logged wherever found, and most of it has 

 been cut out. The climatic conditions and its general altitude are inimical to the 

 growth and extensions of the yellow-pine stands. 



The yield of the mill timber varies from less than 1,000 feet B. M. per acre in 

 the higher areas and in the tracts adjacent to the foothills to 10,000 feet B. M. on the 

 tracts embraced in the bottoms of Davis Creek and middle West Boulder River, the 

 Slough Creek bottoms, and portions of Buffalo Creek Valley. 'The highest yield 

 observed anywhere was in the lower subalpine areas on the east side of Hell Roar- 

 ing Creek Basin, where small tracts with veteran stands of nearly pure growth Engel- 

 mann spruce carry from 20,000 to 25,000 feet per a,cre. The diametral dimensions 

 of the mill timber are small unless the logs are cut from Engelmann spruce, 

 which will yield logs from 14 inches to 2 feet in diameter when squared. Logs 

 from other species are much smaller, the average for the reserve being scarcely 

 above lOi inches squared, and running from 10 to 15 logs per 1,000 feet B. M. 



The yield of pole and fuel timber is comparatively large, owing to the close-set 

 character of the lodgepole-pine stands, which furnish more than 60 per cent of the 

 total volume. The yield of the subalpine forest zone is also considerable, when the 

 generally open character of much of the growth on these areas is considered. This 

 is owing to the preponderance of old growth in this type of forest, which often gives 

 a larger volume of wood on an equal area than do the closer set but less advanced 

 stands at lower elevations. The quantity per acre of pole and fuel timber varies 



