Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Note The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. FORESTS OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK [Illustration] DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 1916 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Price, 20 cents. PUBLICATIONS ON MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK SOLD BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS. Remittances for these publications should be by money order, payable to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., or in cash. Checks and postage stamps can not be accepted. Features of the Flora of Mount Rainier National Park, by J.B. Flett. 1916. 48 pages, including 40 illustrations. 25 cents. Contains descriptions of the flowering trees and shrubs in the park. Mount Rainier and Its Glaciers, by F.E. Matthes. 1914. 48 pages, including 26 illustrations. 15 cents. Contains a general account of the glaciers of Mount Rainier and of the development of the valleys and basins surrounding the peak. Panoramic view of Mount Rainier National Park, 20 by 19 inches, scale 1 mile to the inch. 25 cents. THE FORESTS OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. By G.F. ALLEN, _United States Forest Service_. GENERAL STATEMENT. The remarkable development of the forests about the base of Mount Rainier results from climatic conditions peculiarly favorable to tree growth. The winters are mild and short. The ocean winds that pass through the gaps of the Coast Range are laden with moisture which falls in the form of rain or snow on the west slope of the Cascades. The trees are nourished by this moisture through a long season of annual growth, and form an evergreen forest which is, in some respects, the most remarkable in the world. This forest, distinguished by the extraordinary size and beauty of the trees and by the density of the stand, extends into the deep valleys of the rivers which have their sources in the glaciers. On the dividing ridges and in the upper stream basins the composition and character of the forest change with the increasing severity of the climate. The distribution of the different species of trees according to the intervals of altitude at which they occur separate the forests of the Mount Rainier National Park into different types. The lines of separation are to some extent also determined by complex conditions of slope, exposure, and moisture. The successive forest belts are uniform in the composition of their central areas, but blend and overlap where they come together.