NATIONAL FORESTS OF WYOMING 13 



flat needles of the alpine fir. There are other easy distinctions 

 between the two — among them, the silvery, shiny bark of the alpine 

 fir and its habit of carrying its cones upright in the very top of 

 the tree. Very often in the fall or winter these cones are nothing 

 but spikes, closely resembling Christmas candles, for, unlike all other 

 conifers, the cones of the true fir trees shed their scales much as 

 deciduous trees shed their leaves. 



Engelmann spruce grows up as far as timber line, where, along 

 the mountain tops, it takes the brunt of the endless struggle of for- 

 ests to carry farther the limit of their conquests against wind and 

 snow — defeated where a gap in the ridge gives the wind the ad- 

 vantage of a sweep, and undaunted where a few hardy individuals 

 have seized a foothold in some partly sheltered nook. The many 

 scars of conflict which these tree frontiersmen bear make them ob- 

 jects of curiosity and universal appeal to the traveler. 



Both lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce are interesting in their 

 adherence to fairly well-defined zones of altitude, the former giving 

 way to the latter between 8,000 and 9,000 feet above sea level. 



In addition to the two main forest types there are two others, more 

 restricted in their distribution : Douglas fir and limber pine. Doug- 

 las fir occurs in very limited areas in almost pure stands in the upper 

 lodgepole and lower spruce zones, nearly always on moist north 

 slopes. Limber pine is found in even more circumscribed areas. 

 At lower elevations it grows usually on exposed, rocky sites, but to- 

 ward the upper limits of tree growth it occupies better sites and 

 forms stands of higher quality. In such localities limber pine often 

 makes up a large proportion of the weird timberline forests. 



TETON NATIONAL FOREST 



HIGHEST USE POLICY 



The Teton National Forest is the largest in Wyoming. On ac- 

 count of the wide variety of uses on its different parts, it is a fine 

 example of the Forest Service policy of " highest use." It illus- 

 trates admirably the way in which the Forest Service plans the 

 utilization of all resources — each in its own area. For example, 

 there are areas where grazing is prohibited in order that plenty of 

 range may be kept for the elk. There are other areas, each small 

 in itself, where recreation reigns supreme and timber cutting, graz- 

 ing, and other uses are subordinated to recreation. Still other 

 portions are segregated as summer range for Jackson Hole livestock, 

 and the southern part of the forest contains large stands of lodgepole 

 pine, which offer favorable logging chances. Each of these uses is 

 limited to a more or less definite area. In addition, the whole forest 

 is of very great value as affording watershed protection and fur- 

 nishing water to the ranches in the Snake River Valley of Idaho. 



The Teton National Forest encircles Jackson Hole like a lopsided 

 doughnut. It occupies the mountain ranges on both sides of Jack- 

 son Hole and extends northward across the valley of the South Fork 

 of the Snake River and around Jackson Lake. Its southern limit 

 is the boundary of the Hoback River drainage. In general the 



