130 ABSAROKA DIVISION OF" YELLOWSTONE FOREST RESERVE. 



Forest conditions. — The forest consists of thin, poorly stocked stands of lodge- 

 pole pine and red fir, and is confined to the mountain areas and to a narrow strip of 

 adjoining foothill region. Small stands of very close-set aspen and lodgepole pine 

 push out from the foothills into the agricultural-areas along the various ravines and 

 points of seepage. Most of the forest is in the pole stage, 25 to 40 years old. 



Gutting. — Fortj? per cent of the stands have been cut over, the cut varying from 

 .50 per cent to total. The timber has been used for props in the coal mines at 

 Red Lodge, and there and at other localities for fencing and fuel. 



Burns. — Fires within the past ten years have destroyed the timber on tracts 

 aggregating 1,200 acres. 



ReproclMction. — Very scant}' on the areas burned over within recent years; 

 abundant elsewhere and composed mostly of lodgepole pine and aspen. 



Undergrowth. — Light or none in the green forest. On the burned-over ground 

 Ceanothus velutinus is springing up in dense masses. 



Litter. — L small quantity of dead and down pole timber remains on the burns. 

 Most of the fire-killed timber was long ago cut off and converted into fencing, mine 

 props, and fuel. There is not much litter in the green stands. 



Humus. — None. 



Classification of lands in T. 7 8., R. ^0 E. 



Acres. 



Forested - 3, 830 



Nonforested ., 19, 200 



Badly burned '. 1, 200 



Logged - 2, 000 



Agricultural-grazing 18, 000 



Total stand of timber {pole and fuel) in T. VS., R. W E. 



' Cubic feet. 

 Limber pine, lodgepole pine, red fir I . . : 750,000 



Composition of forest in T. 7 S., R. SO E., including trees of all species wUh basal diameters of 3 inches and 



upward. 



Per cent. 

 Limber pine 3 



Lodgepole pine 75 



Bed flr 5 



Aspen and cotton wood 17 



Township 8 South, Range 20 East. 



Topography. — The western portion of the township is a part of Beartooth 

 Plateau, a level and rolling tract of alpine and subalpine country rising to alti- 

 tudes of 10,000 and 11,000 feet. The central areas comprise a series of cliffs and 



