THE RELATION OF FORESTS AND FOREST FIRES 401 



burns down the lodgepole pine, but in nearly every case simply 

 kills the standing tree and leaves it to be blown down years after, 

 when decay shall have weakened the roots. In the meantime 

 the hoarded winged seeds are set free by the opening of the 

 cones, are distributed and germinate, and the new crop con- 

 tains a larger proportion of lodgepole than the old. By the repe- 

 tition of this process great stretches of burned land are finally 

 covered with a pure even-aged young growth where formerly the 

 forest was composed of other and usually much more valuable 

 species. The details of the return process by which the more 

 valuable species will undoubtedly in the end regain possession 

 of the soil I do not yet know. 



A somewhat less obvious, although not a less interesting, in- 

 stance of distribution controlled by fire is that of the red fir in 

 those portions of Washington (and presumably of Oregon also) 

 where it reaches its best dimensions and greatest commercial 

 importance. Here the young seedlings are found in remarkable 

 abundance on unshaded spots wherever the vegetable covering 

 of the mineral soil has been burned away. An actual count 



i N8CARRED EVEN-AGED IfOl SO OROWTH OF BED II R — SHOWING FIRE-SCARRED ROTTING STUBS OF THE 

 PREVIOUS GENERATION — OLYMPIC F0RE8T RESERVE 



