until some have an advantage; these will then 

 grow more rapidly, and shade and suppress 

 neighboring competitors. 



The lodge-pole does good work in developing 

 places that are inhospitable to other and longer- 

 lived trees, but it gives way after preparing for 

 the coming and the triumph of other species. 

 By the time lodge-poles are sixty years of age 

 their self-thinning has made openings in their 

 crowded ranks. In these openings the shade- 

 enduring seedlings of other species make a start. 

 Years go by, and these seedlings become great 

 trees that overtop the circle of lodge-poles 

 around them. From this time forward the lodge- 

 pole is suppressed, and ultimately its fire-ac- 

 quired territory is completely surrendered to 

 other species. It holds fire-gained areas from 

 seventy-five to one hundred and fifty years. It 

 is often supplanted by Douglas or Engelmann 

 spruce. Let fire sweep these, and back comes 

 the lodge-pole pine. 



Though it distances all competitors in taking 

 possession of fire-cleared territory, it is less suc- 

 cessful than its fellows in entering a territory 



225 



