SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 91 



• yOP.E-^T MANAGEMENT. 



Transportation within the reserve mu-t be chiefly by rail or flnme, 

 since the streams, because of floods and the enormous size of the tim- 

 ber, are not easily available for that purpose. The duties of the forest 

 force within this reserve, for the present, should consist in protection 

 against fire, and to that end in the important work of constructing trails 

 practicable for horses. The appropriation for trails should be liberal, 

 since the diificulties of building them, and of traveling without them 

 in this densely timbered region, are very great. A forest map covering 

 the whole area of the reserve should be prepared, together with material 

 upon which to base a future working plan. The economic development 

 of these forests should be delayed until it is called for by the necessi- 

 ties of adjacent regions. When it comes, special precautions against fi^re 

 will be ini])eratively needed. The great si^e of the timber requires the 

 use of steam in nearly all the logging operations, and the thick layer 

 of vegetable material on the ground makes the safe disposal of ashes 

 from the engines, to speak of a single phase of the subject, a critical 

 and not always an easy matter. 



BOUNDARIES. 



Changes in the boundaries should be wholly in the nature of an exten- 

 sion. Suitable provisions to enable agricultural land to be entered have 

 already been recommended. Further study and a map are required 

 before changes of boundary can be rightly made. 



PIKES PB4.K TIJIBER LAND BESEEVE. 



SUMMARY. 



Situation ; Central Colorado. Acres. 



Area within present lines 184,320 



Adverse holdings not known. 



Per cent of 

 total area. 



Area of forest land (?) 75 



Area marked by fire (?) 75 



Area badly burned (?) 50 



Revised lines ciin not be drawn wirliout further ^tudy. 



Force recommended : This reserve should be managed in connection with the Plnm 

 Creek and South Platte reserves, which have not yet been studied. 



Sources of information: Personal examination, October 10 and 11, 1896. 



A steep and lofty mountain regioa, sparsely covered with open forest, chiefly of 

 Englemann spruce. 



Fires have done and are doing most serious injury. 



The water supply of Colorado Springs and much adjacent country depends on the 

 streams of this reserve. 



Mines are frequent and mining timber has been very extensively cut. 



Agriculture does not exist within the reserve. 



Grazing is not important. 



Provisions are required by which timber for mining and fuel may legally be cut, 

 80 far ;is the safety of the forest will allow. 



The Pikes Peak Timber Land Reserve is situated in central Colorado, 

 and occupies a narrow strip of lofty mountain region northeast and 

 southeast of the summit of Pikes Peak. Its boundaries inclose an area 

 of 184,320 acres. Its slopes, sparsely covered with forest growth, are 

 for the most part steep, although the outlines of the range are rounded. 

 It is conspicuously moist in climate when compared with the semi-arid 

 regions to the east. This area supplies water for the city of Colorado 



