June 15, 1925 
Natural Reproduction after Fires 
1185 
Table III.— Reproduction count by species on parallel strips, double burns of 
1910 and 1919, upper and middle southwest aspects 
LOWER SOUTH AND WEST ASPECTS 
The lower south and west slopes are, 
as stated, much steeper than the middle 
or upper. The soil is thin, vegetation 
sparse, and rock material much in evi¬ 
dence. (PI. 3, B.) Both fires burned 
very hard, leaving no green trees. 
Close examination was made of the 
southerly aspects on Deep Creek and 
some distance up Jordan Creek, but 
except for an occasional western larch 
seedling growing in a shaded place no 
reproduction could be found. Some 
seeds very likely fell on these slopes 
after the 1919 burn, but if any did 
they probably met with such adverse 
conditions of heat and drought that 
any seedlings that came up died during 
the first and second seasons after ger¬ 
mination, which would be expected in 
the light of the results of studies made 
at the Northern Rocky Mountain 
Forest Experiment Station. 
BOTTOMS 
Reproduction on the bottoms, river 
flats, or flood plains along the main 
creeks has not been investigated to 
any great extent. Conditions differ 
greatly on such sites, making classi¬ 
fication very difficult, for there are vari¬ 
ations all the way from moist, deep, 
loamy soil, covered with a wealth of 
grasses, to thin, shallow soil or pure 
gravel. The original stand of trees 
also varies greatly. On the Deep Creek 
bottoms there has been considerable 
spruce, white fir, and white pine. It 
may safely be said, however, that good 
reproduction on these sites has fol¬ 
lowed the single 1910 fire and not the 
second fire, except in the vicinity of 
seed trees. 
BENCHES 
The benches or high terraces are 
those lying between the 3,500 and 4,000 
foot contours. Here the first burn of 
1910 killed all species except western 
larch, the larch being left irregularly 
distributed over the area. The larches 
seeded and restocked abundantly after 
the first fire, as witnessed by small 
patches of reproduction which escaped 
the later 1919 burn. Many of the 
thick-barked larch seed trees survived 
both fires and are now furnishing seed 
for restocking. 
TOPS AND KNOLLS 
One very pronounced characteris¬ 
tic, which has appeared repeatedly on 
both the Deep Creek and the Trail 
Creek areas, is the greater numbers of 
lodgepole pine seedlings occurring in 
fairly solid bodies on dry southerly 
points and on thin soil between the 
lower steep south or west slopes and 
the terraces. Seed-bearing lodgepole 
pine was present on these sites in 
goodly number before the 1910 burn 
and seeded in well afterwards, and 
wherever this reproduction has survived 
the 1919 conflagration it presents a 
solid mat of lodgepole saplings about 
10 to 13 years old, usually with a 
smaller number of shorter white pine 
seedlings included. The knolls and 
ridge tops which burned hard in both 
1910 and 1919 show no reproduction, 
but many such spots escaped one fire, 
and in some cases both fires. 
INFLUENCE OF SEED GROUPS 
It is now necessary to examine the 
records of seed dispersion from groups 
of trees which by reason of the influ¬ 
ence of topography in checking or 
abating the fury of a fire at certain 
points survived both the 1910 and 
1919 fires. Such groups usually occur 
on high, sharp ridges, on very rocky 
ground, in deep sharp draws, or on 
moist bottoms. A study was made of 
