6 HANDBOOK FOR CAMPERS. 



During the winter the snowfall in t)ie higher mountains is 

 extremely heavy, somtimcs amounting to as much as 20 to 40 

 feet. 



NATIONAL FORESTS IN CALIFORNIA. 



The National Forests in California include within their boun- 

 daries the forests on both slopes of the Sierras from the Oregon 

 line to the Tehachapi, the Klamath River mountains, the inte- 

 rior riclges of the northern Coast Range as far south as Lake 

 County, and the coast ranges from near Monterey southward to 

 the Mexican boundary. The coast redwood belt passed from 

 Government ownership into private hands before Congress 

 authorized the creation of the National Forests.^ 



Within the National Forests are four principal belts or zones 

 of forest vegetation which lie, one above the other, on the slopes 

 of the mountains. At the lowest levels is a noncommercial 

 forest consisting of white oaks and digger pine growing in 

 very open stands, with ground cover either of grass or of chap- 

 arral of various species. In the northern part of the State the 

 upper limit of this zone is about 2,000 feet in elevation. In the 

 southern Sierras it extends up to about 4,000 feet, and in 

 southern California somewhat higher. 



Above this foothill zone is the principal belt of commercial 

 timber. It lies between elevations of 2,000 and 6,000 feet at 

 the north, gradually increasing in elevation southward. Sugar 

 pine and yellow pine are its principal species, associated with 



1 In order to preserve a portion of the redwood forests for the bene- 

 fit of posterity, the State of California purchased from private owners 

 a tract of redwood in Santa Cruz County known as the Big Basin. 

 This is managed hy a commission appointed by the governor. Tho 

 Muir Woods, a small but very wonderful redwood forest on the south- 

 <?rn slope of Mount Tamalpais, was donated to the Nation as a national 

 monument by Mr. William Kent. Neither of these tracts is a National 

 Forest, although the latter is owned by the Government. They are 

 managed solely with the view of preserving and developing their scenic 

 features. 



