tremuloides)* native willow (Salix spp.), 

 mountain elder (blackbead elder — Sambucus 

 racemosa ssp. pubens var. melanocarpa), wild 

 currant (Ribes spp.), and other promising 

 shrubs in areas at the heads of mountain 

 streams. The object was to determine practi- 

 cability of trying to check erosion at the heads 

 of streams and thus prevent floods at the 

 point where they usually started. 



Dr. Sampson laid out five plots at heads of 

 three creeks and planted some 3,600 cuttings 

 in June and July 1913 with crowbar and 

 mattock. His report on the experiment is re- 

 plete with accounts of details that should 

 have been handled differently: dates for cut- 

 ting and planting, treatment of cuttings be- 

 fore planting, and numerous others. Long per- 

 iods of dry weather hampered growth, and 

 snows came early that fall. Some cuttings 

 were in poor condition when planted. Since 

 the experimental planting plots could not be 

 fenced, livestock trampled many cuttings. 

 Generally, the cuttings of aspen and elder per- 

 formed very poorly, but willow cuttings usu- 

 ally grew satisfactorily. 



The report of this shrub-planting experi- 

 ment closed with plans for continuing it the 

 following year, with numerous changes in pro- 

 cedure. New Canyon had flooded seriously in 

 August that year, much of the newly built 

 road was destroyed, and many lawns in 

 Ephraim were covered with silt and debris. So 

 there was plenty of incentive for trying to 

 find means of preventing further serious ero- 

 sion of gullies near the heads of streams. 



A report on this project at the end of 10 

 years 5 stated that the initial plan of planting 

 and seeding parallel to gullies proved ineffec- 

 tive and that the terrace plan of planting and 

 seeding had been resorted to. Wild currant, 



To avoid confusion of nomenclature, all scientific 

 names are the current correct names as listed by 

 Arthur H. Holmgren and James L. Reveal (Checklist 

 of the vascular plants of the Intermountain region, 

 USDA Forest Service Research Paper INT-32, 160 p., 

 illus. 1966). Common names are those published in 

 Standardized Plant Names except for a few common 

 names in use at the time of publication. 



s Grazing investigative program. (On file at Great 

 Basin Experimental Range.) 1923. 



yellowbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), 

 and snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus) 

 failed to become established; but blue fox- 

 glove (Penstemon rydbergii), sweetsage 

 (Artemisia michauxiana), yarrow (Achillea 

 millefolium spp. lanulosa), slender wheatgrass 

 (Agropyron trachycaulum), mountain brome 

 (Bromus carinatus), bottlebrush squirreltail 

 ( Sitanion hystrix), timothy (Phleum 

 pratense), smooth brome (Bromus inermis), 

 and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) per- 

 formed fairly well. This report stated further 

 that considerable planting and seeding had 

 been done on Watershed A and that the vege- 

 tative cover had improved appreciably as a re- 

 sult. Native turf-forming grasses were spread- 

 ing well, but cultivated grasses did not pro- 

 duce viable seed. Plants with taproots were 

 less satisfactory than plants with lateral-type 

 roots. "The experiment," said the report, 

 "has proven that erosion can be controlled by 

 planting and protection against grazing with- 

 out exorbitant cost but the treatment neces- 

 sary is justified only on watersheds of very 

 great importance." 



■ Induced 

 Snow Drifting 



Early in the 1900's there had been some 

 local interest in the possibility of "trapping" 

 snow near the summit of the west side of the 

 Wasatch Plateau as a means of prolonging 

 spring snowmelt and thereby increasing the 

 supply of water for summertime use in the 

 valley. Many persons had observed that 

 clumps of subalpine fir trees near the summit 

 effectively caused drifts that persisted for 2 to 

 3 weeks after undrifted snow nearby had all 

 melted (Lull and Orr 1950). In September 

 1947, H. W. Lull and H. K. Orr built four 

 snow fences, each 50 feet long, in the head- 

 waters of the Left Fork of Ephraim Creek. 

 Measurements in the spring of 1948 showed 

 that the 7-foot fences had been ineffective. 

 The 11-foot fences, though only half as high 

 as the average natural tree barriers, had pro- 

 duced a drift that contained about 70 percent 



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