20 BULLETIN 1264, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



shed. A number were also established in both sagebrush and oak 

 brush on the Beaver Creek watershed on the Wasatch National 

 Forest, and on three sites in the permanent brush type and one 

 site in the temporary brush type on the Cache National Forest in 

 southern Idaho. 



On the Ephraim Canyon watershed the plantations were for the 

 most part centered on a rather compact area where a number of the 

 important sites found in the oak brush belt occur close together. 

 This area is situated at an elevation of approximately 7,400 feet in 

 the central part of the oak brush type. (PL V, fig. 1.) The mean 

 annual precipitation is only about 13 inches, the greater part of 

 which falls during the winter in the form of snow. The site becomes 

 free of snow about April 15 in usual years, followed by . occasional 

 snows and rains until the middle of May, after which a period of 

 drought usually extends with only infrequent small rains until the 

 latter part of July or the early part of August. The plantations are 

 therefore exposed soon after they are set out to very severe conditions 

 of atmospheric and soil dryness. The area covers a small basin with 

 a prevailing western exposure, of which the northern portion is 

 characterized by a poor, shallow, and light-colored soil with a rela- 

 tively small admixture of humus. To the south a darker clay loam 

 is found. Most of the sites planted to western yellow pine were 

 calcareous. The different planting areas are more specifically 

 described in appendix. 



Plantations were instituted on the Big Cottonwood Canvon 

 watershed in 1913, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919, and 1920. The Beaver 

 Creek planting was done in 1915 and 1917. These areas are all 

 between 7,300 and 7,600 feet in elevation. 



The average rainfall in the vicinity of the Big Cottonwood plan- 

 tations for the period from May 1 to October 31 is 11.47 inches; 

 June and July have the lowest monthly average, being less than 

 1 inch for either month; and August has only 1.37 inches. Killing 

 frosts frequently occur as late as June 15 and as early as September 1, 

 while light frosts may be expected throughout the summer. The 

 soils are of limestone, granodiorite, and quartz diorite origin, varying 

 from a gravelly or sandy loam to a loam in texture, but are not 

 excessively calcareous and receive more precipitation than the 

 typical oak brush zone soils. That these sites are suitable for 

 western yellow pine is furthermore indicated by the presence of a 

 somewhat more moisture-loving series of shrubs than is common in 

 the oak brush type on the Manti National Forest. 



The Beaver Creek plots are located in a region of probably about 

 the same rainfall. The oak brush is not so dense and tall as it is on 

 the Manti National Forest; but soil moisture conditions are more 

 favorable and the soil itself, being a rocky silty fine sandy loam, is 

 more porous and less calcareous than on the Ephraim Canyon water- 

 shod. One of the most northern occurrences of western yellow pine 

 in Utah is found on the Beaver Creek watershed near the plots. 

 Furthermore, lodgepole pine is found on another site adjoining the 

 plots. 



The Mink Creek watershed on the Cache National Forest is 

 characterized by a large, open, flat sagebrush area which was burned 

 over in the fall of 1915, on which the sage, followed by a rank growth 

 of geranium, is coming in again quite vigorously. Slopes of various 



