FOREST POLIO. 



7. Laws: Stock law in many counties. The usual tire 

 laws, existing since 1802, are unobserved. 



8. Reservations: None. 



9. Irrigation: None. 



FORESTRY CONDITIONS OF WASHINGTON: 



1. Area: 71% of the State is classed as forests (H. Gan- 

 nett). Of this area, however, much is burned and cut over. Of 

 the original timber, 55% stands intact, 22% is burned and 23% is 

 cut over. 



2. Physiography: The southeastern part of the State is 

 practically destitute of timber, excepting the region south of the 

 bend of the Snake River, owing to insufficient rainfall. The 

 Coast Range extends northward into the Olympic Mountains 

 where there is the heaviest rainfall in the United States. The 

 valleys of the Chehalis and Cowlitz Rivers, separating the Coast 

 Range from the Cascade Range, are not densely wooded. Mt. 

 Tacoma (Rainier) has highest elevation in the Cascade Range. 

 Irregular mountain chains, sparsely timbered, running north and 

 south are found in the northeastern part, mostly covered by Col- 

 ville Indian Reservation. 



3. Distribution: The Cascade and Coast Ranges bear the 

 heaviest continuous forest belt in the United States. 



The Coast Range is timbered down to seashore, a strip of 

 dunes excepted. Predominating species are red fir (Douglas fir) 

 and red cedar (Thuja plicata). Tideland spruce (Sitka) is saivi 

 to run only 50 miles inland. Black hemlock forms an almost 

 tropical undergrowth and is the smallest among the giants. Sar- 

 gent denies fires ever having swept the virgin forest. Pinchot 

 finds cinders below the vegetable litter all over the Olympics, 



On the Cascade Range, we must strictly distinguish be- 

 tween west and east slope, owing to great difiference in rainfall. 



The west slope has at its highest altitudes alpine fir, hem- 

 lock, alpine larch (Lyalli) and white bark pine. Descending from 

 the crest we meet Engelmann's spruce, white pine (monticola), 

 lowland fir, amiable fir and noble fir. 



Lower down, Alaska cedar (Ch. nootkatensis), western hem- 

 lock and western red cedar are met with, and Douglas fir in- 



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