148 SUEVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



The available evidence is not sufQcient to settle this question, but the 

 ranchers, while every opportunity for careful consideration of their 

 proposition is due them, must present a stronger case than they have 

 yet presented if they are to maintain their contention. 



BFXfECT OF FORESTS ON THB MELTING OF SNOW. 



The influence of the forest cover of the Cascades on the melting of 

 snow was a matter on which we sought information. During the winter 

 of 1896-97 there was a controversy in the Oregon newspapers in which 

 Mr. John Minto had maintained that the forest covering was of no value 

 in lessening the rapidity of the melting of snow in spring. The points 

 made by Mr. Minto were that in small groves of trees the snow goes off 

 in spring earlier than in surrounding open areas, that the temperature 

 inside a forest is slightly higher in winter than in the open, and that 

 the great snow areas left upon the mountains late in summer are almost 

 invariably outside the forest area. On these premises Mr. Minto based 

 his conclusion. 



By actual observation and by the securing of snowfall records and 

 other facts we learn that, while Mr. Minto's premises are of unques- 

 tioned accuracy, his conclusions do not follow, and that as a matter of 

 fact over almost the whole timbered area the snow goes off much more 

 slowly in spring than in open areas under the same conditions. It 

 is true, and there are various evident reasons why it should be ti'ue, 

 that under a small grove of trees in an open plain the ground becomes 

 bare earlier in the spring than in the open, but it is unnecessary to go 

 into the details here. It is true from actual temperature records that 

 the shade temperature within a forest is slightly higher than the shade 

 temperature in the open, but this is not the only condition that affects 

 the melting of snow. It is true in general that the snow found upon 

 mountains late in summer lies upon open slopes, but this is due to a 

 heavy snowfall, dense drifting, and a retarded melting caused by low 

 temperature at these high elevations or on northerly exposures. The 

 absence of timber does not prevent the snow from melting, but the 

 presence of snow through the whole or nearly the whole year will not 

 allow the timber to grow. 



In the Fort Klamath plain, part of which is timbered and part open, 

 we found that the snow disappeared in spring about six weeks earlier 

 in the open than in the forest. At Government Gamp, on the southwest 

 slope of Mount Hood, we were informed, the snow lies about six weeks 

 longer in the forest than it does on denuded areas having the same 

 exposure and elevation. Similar information was received regarding 

 various other areas, and the general fact that the timber covering 

 retards the melting of snow is abundantly and conclusively shown. 



FUTURE OF SHEEP GRAZING IN OREGON. 



Before proceeding to a consideration of the method of dealing with 

 the sheep-grazing question, an estimate of the future of the industry 

 so far as it affects the Cascade Eeserve will not be without value. In 

 general, the progress of sheep grazing in the Cascades has been from 

 the north toward the south and from the eastern toward the western 

 slope. The areas over which grazing is likely to extend in the imme- 

 diate future are westward and southward from the Three Sisters on the 

 west slope and southward to some extent from the Diamond Lake area 

 on the eastern slope. This extension will not be rapid, provided the 



