56 MISC. PUBLICATION 11, TJ. S. DEPT. OF AGEICULTURE 



(D) LABOR 



Expansion of the timber business to the capacity of the circle will give full- 

 time employment to local labor, which is now only partially employed. Little 

 or no outside labor will be required. 



(E) MAEKETS 



The products of this working circle are being marketed unsystematically and 

 inefiBciently. The Colorado Springs lumber yards are not being used as an 

 outlet for sawed material because they want finished and graded lumber. A 

 list of the consumers of timber products from this circle in 1925 is given on 

 page 61. The cut is about 1,000,000 board feet annually. In order to utilize 

 the annual cut desired, it will be necessary to expand this market. The best 

 way to do this appears to be to work along the following lines : 



Establishment of a central finishing and distributing plant at Woodland Park. 



Increasing the use of local lumber in markets now supplied from other 

 sources. 



Development of the manufacture of such by-products as box shocks, vegetable 

 crates, laths, etc. 



Increasing the use of small material for mine props, fence posts, etc. Treated 

 fence posts should find a ready market in eastern Colorado. 



Markets and uses within the working circle are very limited and will always 

 be amply provided for by the carrying out of this plan. 



A further opportunity exists in developing and meeting the demand for 

 ornamental planting stock and Christmas trees, which can be obtained as 

 thinnings. 



4. FOREST DESCRIPTION 



(A) TYPES 



The western yellow pine and Douglas fir types are intermingled, cover 

 about 90 per cent of the forested area, and contain about that percentage of the 

 present merchantable volume. Western yellow pine predominates on south and 

 west exposures and Douglas fir on north and east exposures throughout the 

 circle, though usually there is no sharp line of demarkation between the two. 

 The total of these two types might be divided roughly, by acreage and volume, 

 into 60 per cent western yellow pine and 40 per cent Douglas fir. For most 

 administrative purposes, it is unnecessary to separate the two types ; they can 

 be logged together for lumber, ties, mine props, etc. 



Lodgepole pine, Engelmann and blue spruce, and limber pine constitute 

 the remaining 10 per cent of the total forested area. Small areas of the 

 Engelmann spruce type occur in the southern portion of the circle in the 

 vicinity of The Crags, as isolated clumps along gulch bottoms, and occasionally 

 on north slopes in the vicinity of Signal Butte. A fringe of lodgepole pine 

 occurs along the eastern edge of the circle in the vicinity of Saylor Park. 

 Blue spruce and limber pine occur as small groups or occasional trees through- 

 out the circle. 



(B) AGE CLASSES 



Information regarding age classes is rather meager, though, generally speak- 

 ing, all classes are fairly well represented, with the major portion of the area 

 falling in the mature to overmature class. Reproduction is good over the area 

 as a whole. Studies indicate than an average of four permanent seedlings per 

 acre come in each year on cut-over areas in the western yellow pine type. 

 (See p. 63.) Most of the unstocked acreage is in the form of old burns, slowly 

 reseeding. 



(C) PLANTING 



Aside from a few experimental areas, no planting has been done within the 

 circle. Estimates indicate that there are 10,610 acres in need of planting. Pres- 

 ent plans contemplate planting 1,000 acres within the next five years as a part 

 of the Mount Herman planting project, which is now under way. The balance 

 of the area shown as in need of planting is in several widely seperated areas. 

 The largest of these are Turkey and Trail Creek burns. It is very probable 

 that all of them will be planted within the next 25 years. 



