Forestry in the United States

Abstract

AMONG the professional papers of the United States Geological Survey we have already noticed the first six reports dealing with the various forest reserves in the States of Oregon, Washington, and California. The two latest reports, Nos. 7 and 8, now to hand, deal with the forest conditions in the San Francisco Mountains Forest Reserve and the Black Mesa Forest Reserve in the State of Arizona. The former report is by John B. Leiberg, Theodore F. Rickson, and Arthur Dodwell, with an introduction by F. G. Plummer; while the latter report was prepared by F. G. Plummer from notes by Theodore F. Rickson and Arthur Dodwell. Both forest reserves were first created by proclamation of President M'Kinley, dated August 17, 1898. The region in which the San Francisco Mountains Forest Reserve is situated forms a kind of plateau, traversed by numerous deep canons and dotted by several hundred volcanic cones, which vary in height from 100 feet to 1000 feet. The soil is various, but gravelly loam is the prevailing type. On the slopes of the volcanic cones and ridges in their neighbourhood scoriaceous soils prevail. The water-retaining capacity of the latter class of soil is not very great. The loamy soils are best adapted for forest growth. As regards drainage, the visible run of permanent surface flow is small. Most of the precipitation sinks either within the reserve or in the desert or semi-desert tracks which border it.