108 SURVEYS OP FOBEST RESERVES. 



excluded from all portions of the reserve. This measure uot only is 

 demanded by the facts but will be heartily supported by the Califor- 

 nians themselves, who realize the danger to their prosperity which 

 sheep grazing in the Sierras entails, and would be glad to have it 

 cease. 



FOKKST FORCE. 



For the present, the best protection which could be given to the Sierra 

 Eeserve would be obtained by extending the jurisdiction of the military 

 superintendents of the Yosemite and other national parks to the other 

 forest lands of the Grovernment. This course is strongly recommended. 

 If it is not practicable to follow it, the appointment of 1 forest ranger, to 

 be stationed at Visalia ; 5 guards, one each in the watersheds of the Stan- 

 islaus, San Joaquin, South Fork of Kiugs, South Fork of Kern, and 

 Kern Elvers; and 50 flre watchers at local points would place the per- 

 sonnel of this reserve on the footing already recommended for others. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



The transportation of forest products from the Sierra forests has 

 hitherto proceeded chiefly by railroads and flumes. The great size of 

 the timber prevents it from being driven down the streams, even were 

 this method compatible with the safety and prosperity of the irrigated 

 lands below. The enormous quantity of valuable timber present in this 

 reserve is, for the liiost part, not needed for immediate consumption. 

 Great lumbering enterprises in the big trees of the Sierras and the red- 

 woods of the Coast Eange (the lumber from both of which is known as 

 redwood), together with other minor lumber operations, have sufficed to 

 supply the demand. The measures of most urgency here will consist 

 In protection against flre, the construction of trails, and the satisfaction 

 of local demands for small amounts of timber. 



BOUNDARIES. 



All the information I have indicates that any revision of boundaries 

 should increase rather than decrease the area of this reserve. Further 

 study will be necessary before such lines can satisfactorily be drawn. 



STANISLAUS POEEST RESERVE. 



North of the Stanislaus Forest Eeserve are considerable tracts of 

 country which at one time bore extensive forests. The neighborhood 

 of Lake Tahoe has been cleared and its timber used in the Comstock 

 group of mines, but it remains a forest region capable of bearing forests 

 again. Such regions are as eligible for forest reserves as though they 

 were covered with trees, because only under Government care can they 

 ever regain the value and usefulness which they have lost. Other 

 adjacent areas in the northern Sierras should also be examined with a 

 view to their inclusion in the Stanislaus Eeserve. It is recommended 

 that a study of this region be pushed forward, with this object in view, 

 during the coming summer. 



