SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 115 



inadequate to keep pace with the development which the reserve must 

 attain in the near future, will suffice to cope with some of the more 

 pressing dangers which threaten it. A liberal appropriation for trails 

 should be placed at the disposal of the ranger, one of whose first duties 

 should be to lay out a system of communications throughout his charge. 

 So small a force as is here recommended makes it imperative that the 

 right of the forest officers to call upon settlers and others to assist 

 them in extinguishing forest fires should be so clearly established as 

 to admit of no evasion. 



FORBST MANAGEMENT. 



Water transportation by the Skagit and Stillaguamish on the west 

 and the Methow on the east, to mention only a few of the principal 

 streams, may be made available for the forest products of the reserve. 

 For the present, however, no steps need be taken toward the commer- 

 cial development of the forests of the reserve, except as they are related 

 to mining and settlement. The enormous bodies of merchantable tim- 

 ber in the State outside of the reserve will suffice for commercial needs 

 for some years to come. Provisions are required to supply settlers and 

 others with small amounts of timber, and to regulate the cutting of 

 mining timber in considerable quantities in the regions where it is 

 needed. 



East of the summit, protection against fire, the construction of trails, 

 and a careful study and mapping of the forest growth should precede 

 any attempt at a commercial disposal of the timber. The forests on 

 the eastern slope have suffered so severely that their recuperation is of 

 the first importance. 



West of the main range the sale of timber supplies should be per- 

 mitted as soon as the demand arises. It is probable that the first 

 development of the reserve in this direction will be through the sale of 

 cedar for shinglebolts. It is recommended that as soon as possible a care- 

 ful study of the conditions which govern the reproduction of this tree 

 be undertaken so as to guard, when cutting is begun, against any dimi- 

 nution of its numbers in the forest hereafter. 



BOUNDARIES. 



It would be possible at this time to recommend the exclusion of some 

 land in the Methow Valley and the inclusion of other areas which 

 should be added to the reserve. In the absence of suitable maps, how- 

 ever, it is thought to be wiser to allow the boundaries to remain as they 

 are for the present. The progress of public sentiment in favor of the 

 reserves will hereafter make suitable corrections of their boundaries 

 more acceptable than they could be at this moment. 



WHITE RIVER PLATEAU TIMBER LAND RESERVE. 



SUMMARY. 



Situation : Northwestern Colorado. C* 



Acres. 



Area within present lines 1, 198, 080 



Adverse lioldings not important. 



Per cent of 

 total area. 



Area of forest land (?) 75 



Area marked by tire (?) 75 



Area badly burned (?) 50 



