FORESTRY. 



EDITED BY DR B. E. FERNOW, 



Director of the New York School of Forestry, Cornell University, assisted by Dr. John C. Gifford cf the same 



institution. 



It takes 30 years to grow a tree and 30 minutes to cut it down and destroy it. 



THE BIG BASIN STATE PARK. 



Last winter the Legislature of California 

 appropriated $250,000 to be used in annual 

 instalments of $50,000 for the purpose of 

 acquiring for the State the remnant of 

 virgin redwood forest, located South of 

 San Francisco in the so-called Big Basin, 

 formed by a broad vallev and foothills of 

 the Santa Cruz Mountains at their North- 

 ern terminus. The object of this purchase 

 is to preserve as a pleasure park for the 

 enjoyment and admiration of the citi- 

 zens of the State and of the world at 

 large one of the most magnificent exam- 

 ples of virgin forest growth, withdrawing 

 it from the lumberman's axe, to which in 

 the natural course of events it would in 

 the near future fall a prey. For this pur- 

 pose the 2,500 acres involved are most ad- 

 mirably located. There is no other such 

 natural resort so accessible to so large a 

 number of people. It will not only soon be 

 unique in its character, when the rest of 

 the virgin redwood forest is destroyed, but 

 unique in its location ; for it can be 

 reached from San Francisco by rail to 

 Boulder Creek in 2 hours and conveyance 

 over a rood road, and is, even now, easily 

 available for a million people. 



Last summer I m visited this impressive 

 region twice, in order to become familiar 

 with its conditions, learn to appreciate its 

 advantages, and wonder why the Commis- 

 sioners appointed to make the purchase for 

 the State are hesitating to secure the price- 

 less possession for the people. Strange to 

 say, although the Big Basin Lumber Com- 

 pany, the present owners, are willing to sell 

 the property, in spite of the deferred pay- 

 ments, at a price which even at prevailing 

 market rates would hardly pay for stump- 

 age value, and are willing to add 1,300 

 acres as a donation for more complete 

 protection of the watershed, the Commis- 

 sioners hesitate. If reports are true, the 

 objection is raised by one of the Commis- 

 sioners that the price asked, $100 an acre, 

 is too high, when similar timber can be 

 bought for less than half that price in the 

 Northern part of the State. It is a notori- 

 ous fact that these Northern lands were 

 secured from the Federal Government 

 chiefly by fraudulent methods and it is 

 hardly fair to make the price of stolen 

 goods a basis of comparison for bona fide 

 property. Neither is it proper to apply 

 purely commercial standards in a proposi- 



389 



tion of this kind. Tne loc'ation of this 

 property gives it a value for the purpose it 

 is to serve far beyond its commercial 

 value; which, moreover, is now above and 

 in a few years will still more exceed the 

 price asked. This may, indeed, become a 

 repetition of the story of the Sibylline 

 books. Unless there are other good rea- 

 sons, unknown to the public, for deferring 

 action, the hesitation of the Commissioners 

 on account of price would appear suspi- 

 cious. 



The redwood forest in the Big Basin is 

 composed of 3 species : the redwood, a 

 congener of the Big Trees; the Douglas, or 

 red, fir, a magnificent tree itself; and the 

 tan bark oak ; forming a lower tier; while 

 a dense undergrowth of azaleas and other 

 shrubs deepens the mystery of the forest 

 and lends to it a feeling of woodsiness, 

 which is absent in the open Sierra forest 

 where the Big Trees are found, and which 

 makes the redwood giants more interest- 

 ing and impressive. The redwoods tower 

 300 feet and more above ground, with tall, 

 straight shafts, without a branch for the 

 greater length, bulging out at the foot to 

 give support to the enormous trunk. On 

 account of this gradual expansion at the 

 root collar it is difficult to make diameter 

 measurements, at a reasonable height, 

 which will be fair. At the base many 

 measure over 30 feet, but few probably ex- 

 ceed 18 feet above the swelling. The ma- 

 jority, indeed, are not such giants, measur- 

 ing only 6 to 10 feet ; while heights are 

 quite uniform between 250 and 300 feet, 

 with some in excess of the last figure. Of 

 these giants there are found 5 to 20 and 

 more an acre, often standing in close 

 groups. Indeed, there is small doubt that 

 many of these groups are sprouts from the 

 stump of an old progenitor. The redwood 

 sprouts freely and the sprouts make trees ; 

 in fact, on the cut-over lands this is the 

 common method of reproduction. In the 

 forest few young trees are found among 

 the undergrowth. Ideas as to the age of 

 the old growth have been exaggerated, al- 

 though it is easy by counting the rinsrs on 

 the stumps of cut trees to ascertain their 

 age. The larger number are between 500 

 and 800 years old. It is questionable 

 whether many are above 1,000 or any above 

 2,000 years. The larger size does not nec- 

 essarily predicate preater age, for trees 

 grow at varying rates. During the first 



