20 
the underbrush is thicker, a forest fire is often extremely destructive to 
the timber, and is followed by a very dense growth of shrubs, made up 
chiefly of snow brush (Ceanothus velutinus), manzanita (Arctostaphylos 
=patula), willow (Salix nuttallit); and chinquapin (Castanopsis chryso- 
phylla minor). Sheep do not browse readily on any of these shrubs, 
and they frequently form thickets so dense that a band of sheep can 
not be driven through them. A fire in such a forest, therefore, is dis- 
tinectly detrimental to the interests of sheep owners. 
In the lodgepole pine forests burns are extremely common and 
their effect upon the timber is very pronounced. The trees have a thin 
bark and are easily killed without being burned up. In a few years © 
the bare poles rot at the root just beneath the surface of the ground 
and are blown over by the wind, forming an inextricable tangle of small 
logs, Sometimes extending for miles, which it is difficult for sheep to 
cross, and which at this stage furnish very little grazing. A second fire 
among these dead logs, when dry, burns them to ashes and opens the 
country, though it destroys whatever humus there may be upon the 
surface of the ground, usually only slight in these forests. After the 
first burning a dense growth of seedlings usually covers the ground. 
among the dead trunks, but with the second burning these seedlings, 
too, are destroyed. After a few years, commonly from three to five, an 
area denuded by the two burnings has become covered with a growth 
of short sedges, often with an admixture of small vetches. The return 
of the pines to such an area is extremely slow, there being no old 
trees to seed the area thoroughly, and certain conditions, not now well 
understood in detail, evidently preventing chance seedlings from 
getting a start in the sod. These old grassy burns in the lodgepole 
pine forests form such a distinct type of vegetative covering that they 
deserve a special designation. They will be referred to in this report 
as ‘‘ fire-glades.” 
The burns in the west slope forests are very destructive to timber 
if they occur at a dry season when the deep litter feeds the flames 
and everything burns readily. By the second year they are usually 
covered with a dense growth of weeds and browse, often interspersed 
with tall grasses. Within a few years, however, on account of the 
humidity of the climate, they grow up with underbrush, soon develop- 
ing, if they are not again burned, a growth of saplings; but if repeat- 
edly burned, supporting only a dense growth of underbrush. The 
exceptional conditions under which the reproduction of these forests 
is Slow are referred to on page 36. 
Natural meadows in this region are areas on which, on account of an 
excess of moisture, timber does not grow. The word meadow, there- 
fore, as used in this report means always a natural wet meadow, and 
the name will not be applied to fire-glades nor to open dry slopes. 
The vegetation of meadows is in most instances made up principally of 
grasses and sedges. Most of the meadows in the Cascades occur at 
middle elevations, especially withiu the belt of the lodgepole pine on 
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