52 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



tive power of the lodge-pole pine, grass takes possession of the soil, 

 and tlie subsequent return of the forest is very slow. Since the parks 

 are due to fire, it is true that by far the largest pai t of the reserve 

 has been burnt over. Probably the whole area, in the past, has been 

 swept clear over and over again. During the past summer alone about 

 70,000 acres were devastated by fire. The stand of this area, if 

 untouched by fire, cau not reasonably be estimated at less than 2,000 

 feet per acre. It is interesting to note that the total product of all the 

 mills drawing their timber from the reserve is less than 2,000,000 feet 

 per annum, while the 70,000 acres burnt over last summer would have 

 been capable of producing 140,000,000 feet, or seventy years' supply, if 

 they had been permitted to grow uninjured by fire. 



The whole available flow of the streams which proceed from the east- 

 ern side of the Big Horn Eange is utilized for irrigation in the town of 

 Sheridan and the tributary region, while a considerable amount is also 

 required in the Big Horn Basin to the west. The preservation of these 

 watersheds is intimately bound up with the prosperity of the regions to 

 which they give fertility and value. 



MINING. 



Mines in this reserve have not yet been extensively developed, but 

 expectations are large. If they are even partially realized, as it seems 

 probable they will be, the preservation of timber for their use is essen- 

 tial. Mines can not be operated without timber, and the cost of trans- 

 porting it from other forest regions to the Big Horn would be altogether 

 prohibitory. 



AGRICULTURE. 



The elevated situation aud the climate of this reserve make it totally 

 unfit for agriculture, nor has it received any development of this kind 

 whatever. 



GRAZING. 



The Big Horn Eange was estimated to support last summer 3,000 head 

 of cattle and about 450,000 sheep. The figures for the latter are those 

 given by the State scab inspector. From 1^ to 1 J acres are required to 

 support a sheep in the Big Horn during the summer, and the number of 

 sheep corresponds closely with the estimate of 600,000 acres of pasturage 

 already given. Injury to growing trees of larger size from the pasturage 

 of sheep is not to be feared here more than elsewhere, nor are they known 

 to feed upon young seedlings of coniferous trees, except under stress of 

 starvation. On the other hand, they trample and destroy these young 

 seedlings under their feet in great numbers, so that the satisfactory 

 reproduction of any forest region absolutely demands their exclusion. 

 To deny access to the reserve to the sheep who have been in the habit 

 of pasturing there would involve serious hardship to their owners, and 

 it appears to be unnecessary for the present. But when the time comes 

 for the reproduction of these forests it will be essential to exclude the 

 sheep from specified areas during the process. Eegulations similar to 

 those recommended for the Cascade Eeserve should be put in force here 

 as soon as trained men can be employed to enforce them. 



