Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Secretary of Agriculture report on watersheds

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  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-14408.jpg
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  • 28 APPALACHIAN AND WHITE MOUNTAIN WATERSHEDS. tain ash. The shade is too heavy for good softwood reproduction, but the reproduction of hardwoods, particularly of sugar maple and beech, is often very thick, with a dense matting of young seedlings covering the ground. Very little of this type is now left in virgin forest in the White Mountain region itself, since it was easily lumbered. Spruce and balsam occur at present on the steeper slopes where the soil is shallow, and the hardwoods do not thrive so well. Unmerchantable spruce and balsam are found on the extreme upper slopes and finally run out into a scrubby growth near the summits. The stand is usually dense. Where the forest has been undisturbed the ground cover is moss. The balsam reproduction is often very thick and the spruce reproduction generally fair. Spruce slopes cover the greatest area of any of the forest types in this region. Where these slopes are cut over, if fire is kept out, the softwoods return in the second growth. Where fire runs over the ground after lumbering, however, in many cases the entire soil is burned and washed away and the process or return to forest conditions is very slow. In some cases, as on the Sugar Loaves, in the township of Carroll,, it will never be complete. There is practically no real swamp land in northern New Hampshire, although in places the spruce flats approach such a type. There are, however, small areas of swamp of spruce bogs, chiefly in the northern part of Coos County. These have a very dense, scrubby growth of black and red spruce and balsam. In Maine such bogs are more common, and a number of swamps are found, particularly in the Cufsuftic watershed. LUMBERING AND EIRE. Six large lumber and pulp companies are now engaged in logging operations in this region, besides a large number of smaller concerns. But little virgin spruce timber is now left, and at the present rate of lumbering it can last but a few years longer. As far as possible these companies get their present supplies by purchasing stumpage on small holdings in order to preserve the timber on their own lands as long as possible, and owing to the fact that stumpage can now be bought cheaper than it ever can again. When these small holdings are lumbered in "this way, they are almost always "skinned" to the last merchantable stick. Owners of the smaller tracts themselves often cut their woodlands in the same manner in order to get as much present revenue as possible. Throughout the mountains the worst destruction has been done on the high slopes, and fire has often followed with terrible results. Clean cutting is practiced on all the steeper slopes. The spruce logs are rolled down the slope to the road below over the merchantable stuff and the hardwoods, which are first felled down the slope and thus form a good rolling bed. The hardwoods are left lying on the ground unused. The result is a veritable fire trap that lasts for years. In 1903, 84,250 acres of land were burned over in the White Mountain region. While this land was for the most part cut over, a conservative estimate would place the amount of damage at something over $200,000. This was a particularly bad year for fires, but the same conditions of drought may occur at any time, and, without proper protection, the area burned over may even exceed that burned
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