12 BULLETIN 149 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
is coming from the more accessible lands in private and State owner- 
ship, and the private lands at least are being cut over so heavily that 
they will not yield another crop for many years. 
Power logging is not practiced in the lodgepole region; animal 
logging is the standard practice in all types and localities regardless 
of land ownership. This presents several advantages for the per- 
petuation of the forest. Much of the logging takes place during the 
open season, and this tends to expose the mineral soil and thereby to 
create in all types conditions favorable for natural reproduction. 
Another important and desirable feature of animal logging is that 
it does not involve a source of fire, as other methods usually do. No 
logging railroads are used — a very important factor from a fire- 
protection standpoint. Particularly in Wyoming, timber products 
are transported quite extensively by flumes and stream-driving 
where conditions are such that these methods are practicable (.£). 
Practically all operations are conducted on a small scale. An 
annual cut of 5,000,000 board feet or more a year is attained by only 
a very few producers. Kailroad ties, generally hewed, are produced 
in all of the larger operations. 
FIRE DANGER AND PRESENT PROTECTIVE AGENCIES 
In the lodgepole type, where stands are dense at all ages and high 
winds recur frequently, fires are usually intense and crown fires 
develop much more readily than in other types of the region. The 
thin bark of the lodgepole pine affords little protection, with the re- 
sult that serious damage may be done even by surface fires that 
may not kill the larger trees. 
Although fires occur much more rarely in the Engelmann spruce 
type than in the lodgepole, protection from fire is more important 
from the standpoint of continuous productivity, for an extensive 
severe burn will preclude natural restocking. (PL 3.) The absence 
of stored seed and the readiness with which grass or weeds restock 
the burned-over areas account for this. Fortunately, the risk of fire 
starting is not, as a rule, as great as in the other types, largely be- 
cause this type is located on the more moist sites and at the higher 
elevations. The northern portion of the region is an exception, for 
there Engelmann spruce occurs at lower elevations and is subject to 
greater drought and fire hazard. 
In the Douglas fir type the situation is much the same as in the 
lodgepole pine, except that Douglas fir, having a thick bark, is not 
subject to such serious damage. 
The record of forest fires in the national forests of Colorado, Wy- 
oming, and Utah shows that an average of 2 acres in each 10,000 
is burned over annually. This area does not include the entire 
region under consideration, but embraces a large portion of it, and 
the record is considered as generally applicable. 
Up to and including 1921, railroads constituted the most frequent 
source of fire and were responsible for a large portion of the damage. 
Since that time losses from this source have been largely eliminated. 
Experience has shown that, where the railroads use reasonable care 
to keep their rights of way clean, install and adequately inspect effi- 
cient spark arresters on coal-burning engines, and maintain non- 
