FOREST AND RANGE RESOURCES OF UTAH 85 



Commercial importance. — In Utah aspen is chiefly used for mine 

 props, poles, posts, and fuel. It is occasionally sawed into bridge 

 planks or barn flooring. An excelsior mill at Salt Lake City handled 

 aspen from Sanpete County. This mill converted from 2,500 to 

 3,000 cords of aspen annually into high-grade excelsior, which found 

 a ready market both in Utah and on the Pacific coast. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN RED CEDAR 



Rocky Mountain red cedar {Junipers scopulorum) is very similar 

 in general appearance to the red cedar of the East. It can be 

 recognized by the bluish berries about the size of BB shot, scaly 

 bark, slender graceful twigs, and red heartwood. It is found most 

 frequently as single trees or in open stand scattered over dry rocky 

 ridges. One of these trees in Logan Canyon, Utah, is estimated 

 to be nearly 3,000 years old-— probably the oldest tree in this region. 

 These cedar trees rarely become large enough to be sawed for cedar- 

 chest construction but make posts, though the wood is not as resist- 

 ant to decay as the Utah juniper. 



UTAH JUNIPER AND 1-SEED JUNIPER 



Utah juniper (Juniperus utahensis) and 1-seed juniper (/. mono- 

 sperma) may be recognized by the berries about the size of peas, 

 fibrous and shreddy bark, stiff and stout twigs, and the brown heart- 

 wood. They are usually found on hotter, drier situations than the 

 Kocky Mountain red cedar and are frequently associated with the 

 pinon pines. The Utah juniper makes excellent posts and is much 

 more durable than the Rocky Mountain red cedar. The 1-seed juni- 

 per, however, tends to form a many-topped tree with no stem of any 

 size and hence is not so desirable for posts as the Utah juniper. 



COTTONWOOD, OAK, AND MAPLE 



Cottonwood, oak, and maple have very little commercial impor- 

 tance as timber in Utah. Cottonwood is found along canyon bot- 

 toms, but never in very extensive areas. Maple is also found in 

 canyon bottoms and in small patches on somewhat moist sites else- 

 where. The native species is small and does not become large 

 enough for lumber. It is a scrubby tree. Native oak is very abun- 

 dant and does well on dry sites, but does not reach tree size except in 

 very favorable sites, and even then it is too small for lumber. 



WATER RESOURCES AND THEIR PROTECTION 



THE WATER SUPPLY AND ITS USE 



THE ORIGIN OF THE WATER SUPPLY 



Studies made up to the present time indicate that almost all of 

 the water flowing in streams and from springs and held in lakes and 

 wells in Utah, comes from the high-mountain watersheds, mostly 

 above an altitude of 7,000 feet. (Fig. 44.) Approximately 60 to 

 70 per cent of the annual precipitation above 8.500 feet elevation, 

 according to the observations made at the Intermountain Forest and 

 Range Experiment Station near Ephraim, falls during the period 



