PURVEYS OP FOREST RESERVES. 69 



CASCADE RANGE FOREST RESERVE. 

 SCJIMAEY. 



Situation ; Western Oregon. Acres. 



Area within present lines 4, 492, 800 



Adverse holdings, railroad land 461, 920 



Per cent of 

 lot.al area. 



Area of forest land.. r (^) 95 



Area marked by lire ( ?^ 75 



Area badly bnrue<l (?) 20 



Revised lines can not be recommended without fnrther study and a map. 

 Force recommended: Two rangers, 5 forest guards, and 30 lire watchers. 

 Sources of information: Report of F. V. Coville, botanist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. Report of Henry S. Graves to G. Pinchot. Personal examination, August 

 27 to Soptemlier 1, 1896. 



A rngjred mountainous legion, densely timbered on the western slope, with much 

 open land cleared by fire, and suitable for grazing. 

 Fire has done, anil is still doing, very serious injury. 

 Irrigation is but little practiced on either slope. 

 Mining has little present or prospective importance. 

 Agriculture can attain little development within the reserve. 



The grazing of sheep should be permitted tentatively and under careful restrictions. 

 The commercial development of this reserve is not demanded for the present. 



The (Jascade Range Forest Reserve occupies a narrow and irregular 

 strip along the crest and on both slopes of the Cascade Mountains in 

 western Oregon, and extends from near the Columbia River to within 

 about 20 miles of the California line. Adjoining it on the north and 

 west is the Bull Run timber land reserve, which, for the purposes of this 

 description, may be considered as forming part of its larger neighbor. 

 The Cascade Range Forest Reserve has an area of 4,492,800 acres, and 

 includes 401,920 acres of railroad land, of which 34,500 acres are now 

 in litigation. The Bull Run timber land reserve, with an area of 142,080 

 acres, includes 24,160 acres claimed as railroad land, but as to which a 

 suit is now pending. The eastern slope of the Cascade Range is com- 

 paratively dry, and the forest is generally open enough to furnish pas- 

 turage, while the forest on the western slope is exceedingly dense and 

 affords grazing only in the numerous areas which have been burned. 

 The trade relations of the reserve have, so far, been restricted to the 

 cutting of small amounts of timber on the western slope and to supply- 

 ing settlers and ranchers outside of the reserve from the forests of yel- 

 low and lodge pole pine east of the summit. It will be convenient to 

 describe the two slopes separately. 



THE FOREST, EASTEEN SLOPE. 



The forest on the eastern slope is open and grassy in its lower part, 

 dense and composed of smaller trees Higher up, and interrupted through- 

 out by burned areas, often of great size, on many of which grass has 

 entirely replaced the forest. The principal trees are yellow pine and 

 Douglas fir (red fir) in the lower portions, and lodge pole pine and low- 

 land fir (white fir) at higher elevations. Occasionally the latter tree 

 predominates in a mixed forest of Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, larch, 

 hemlock, and mountain white pine (silver pine). The Douglas fir is 

 here a tall tree with a long, clear trunk. In the open its reproduction 

 is vigorous, but less so under cover. It is of much smaller size here 

 than on the western slope. The yellow pine forms the bulk of the 

 forest at moderate elevations. Below 4,000 feet its reproduction is gen- 



