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Cedar, one-fourth Pine and Spruce, and the remainder consists of 
burned tracts and belts of Cottonwood along the streams. The trees 
are generally inferior in size, only a small proportion being suitable for 
lumber. 
Tire is the most destructive agent threatening the forests; railroads 
next. Some lumber is made, but most of the saw-timber has been con- 
sumed. After the forests have been destroyed by fire it is only on the 
northern hill-sides that the original growth starts again. Aspen gen- 
erally follows after fire. Only in favorable situations do Spruce and 
Pine grow again. 
During the last twenty years the forest growth in this county has 
not been sufficiently disturbed to affect the volume and flow of the | 
stream. 
CUSTER COUNTY. 
(Area, 750 square miles; estimated forest arca, 200 square miles. ) 
This county, which lies in the south central part of the State, is bor- 
dered on the west and south by the Sangre de Christo and Greenhorn 
ranges, respectively. | 
The forests are situated mainly at the west and south, in the moun- 
tains. Some timber is also found onthe north and east sides. In the 
western part of the county, at the foot of the range, there is an open 
valley, about 9 miles wide, running the whole length of the county. The 
only timber there consists of a few Cottonwoods and Willows along the 
streams. Pine, Pinon, and Cedar are found on the low hills; at higher 
elevations are Spruce, Balsam, and Aspen. Very little has been made 
waste by burning. The best timber has been cut off for use at the mills. 
The special dangers threatening the forests are fires and lumbering. 
On the range a second growth will start, usually of the same kind as 
the first. On the low hills, especially after fires, there is no second 
growth. | 
No changes have been observed in the flow and volume of streams at 
their headwaters. In the lower lands floods are now frequent from 
cloud-bursts or sudden rains. 
DELTA COUNTY. 
(Area, 1,150 square miles; estimated forest area, 500 square miles. ) 
This county is situated in the western part of the State, in a region 
of plateaus and mesas. The Gunnison and Uncompahgre are its prin- 
cipal rivers. 
The timber consists of Pine, Pinon, Cedar, and Spruce, the several 
kinds being about equally distributed over the slopes of the Grand and 
other high mesas along the western, northern, and eastern borders of 
the county. There are about 10,000 acres of Cottonwood along the 
Gunnison River and its tributaries. 


