WHAT THE NATIONAL FORESTS MEAN TO THE INTERMOUNTAIN 



REGION 



By Frederick S. Baker, Forest Examiner, Forest Service , 



WEALTH THAT COMES DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAINS 



The intermountain region, the elevated basin bounded east and 

 west by the Rockies and Sierras and north and south by the Salmon 

 and Colorado Rivers, 1 is characterized economically by the concen- 

 tration of settlement and development in relatively small areas like 

 oases in the great semiarid plains and rough mountain ranges. 

 This concentration is what first strikes the eye of the observer in 

 search of the economic forces at work in the region. It looks as 

 though the region's fundamental wealth were in these favored spots ; 

 in the few rich irrigated sections, in the scattered mining sections 

 where coal and mineral deposits have built up prosperous communi- 

 ties, and in the industrial cities of the valleys. Even statistics of 

 the kind easily collected may confirm this impression. For in- 

 stance, in a rich agricultural county having an efficient irrigation 

 system like Canyon County, Idaho, the land is worth about $67 an 

 acre, whereas in a mountain county like Custer County in the same 

 part of the State the assessed valuation averages but 81 cents an 

 acre. A careful study of underlying conditions, however, reveals 

 the fact that a great deal of the wealth in the more flourishing sec- 

 tions comes directly or indirectly from the mountains; that it is 

 the mountain masses, the sources of wood and water, which are the 

 fountain heads of prosperity and development to the region. The 

 lumber industry, the livestock industry, irrigated farming, water- 

 power development, mining, and other economic activities all depend 

 fundamentally on the resources drawn from the mountains and on 

 the effect of the vegetative cover on their slopes. 



Wood and water are what give life to the farms, the mines, and 

 the cities; and it is from the mountains that they must come in this 

 region. The high ranges are the chief contributors of these two 

 fundamental necessities. The infinite number of small, low moun- 

 tain ranges that break up the great plateau have not meant much 

 to the development of the valley land because the resources which 

 the mountains provide depend very largely upon the amount of rain- 

 fall they receive, which, in turn, is dependent in great measure upon 

 their height. Roughly, the mountains that have really counted in 



1 The intermountain region coincides roughly with Forest Service district 4, the extent 

 of which is shown on map (pp. 12 and 13). In compilations in this circular other than 

 those regarding national forests, a number of counties cut by district 4 boundaries have 

 been excluded (Coconino and Mohave Counties in Arizona; Mesa and Montrose Counties 

 in Colorado ; Idaho County in Idaho ; Esmeralda, Mineral, Lyon, and Washoe Counties in 

 Nevada; and Fremont County in Wyoming). Sweetwater County, Wyo., lying partly 

 within and partly without the boundaries, has been included. 



