NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



203 



logged. For these reasons types that 

 are included in such forests need not be 

 designated at the present time because 

 the future development of these large 

 bodies of timber can not be foreseen, 

 and the selection of the areas should be 

 made in accordance with conditions at 

 the time any special type is being cut. 

 Conditions arise under which areas can 

 be set aside very easily during the prog- 

 ress of logging without any special 

 effort or inconvenience to the operators 

 or any great financial sacrifice by the 

 Government. 



To consider the different types of the 

 Pacific Northwest, it appears best to 

 divide the region into its natural areas 

 or types. This would divide Washington 

 and Oregon into three distinct areas; 

 namely, the Eastern Oregon or Blue 

 Mountain division, the Cascade Moun- 

 tain division and the Coast division 

 including the Olympic Peninsula. The 

 range of elevation in each division 

 divides it again into forest types. The 

 species in the Coast and Cascade divi- 

 sions are similar at similar elevations 

 and form the following types: 



1. Lower slope type, sea level to about 

 3500 ft. forms the Douglas fir-hemlock- 

 cedar type, including Douglas fir; 

 western red cedar; western hemlock, 

 sitka spruce, in the coast region; sugar 

 pine in southern Oregon; Port Orford 

 cedar, in southwestern Oregon; western 

 j^ellow pine, in the Willamette Valley 

 and the east side of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains; western white pine, lowland white 

 fir, lodgepole pine, in isolated occur- 

 rence; western larch, on the east side 

 of the Cascade Mountains, and Alaska 

 cedar in northern Washington. Minor 

 hardwood species are scattered through- 

 out the region. 



2. Upper slope type, 3500 to 4500 ft., 

 forms the true fir type including noble 

 fir, silver fir, Englemann spruce, white 

 fir, Douglas fir, western hemlock, west- 

 ern red cedar, lodgepole pine, western 

 yellow pine, western white pine, Alaska 

 cedar in northern Washington, and 

 sugar pine, knobcone pine, and Shasta 

 red fir in southern Oregon. 



3. Subalpine type, 4500 ft. to timber 

 line at 5000 to 6000 ft., including moun- 

 tain hemlock, alpine fir, white-bark pine, 

 dwarf juniper, Rocky Mountain juniper, 

 western juniper, lodgepole pine, white 

 fir, noble fir, silver fir, Englemann 

 spruce, western white pine, Shasta red 

 fir in southern Oregon, and Alaska cedar 

 in northern Washington. 



The Blue Mountain group of forests 

 consists largely of western yellow pine 

 and includes also Douglas fir, western 

 hemlock, white fir, lodgepole pine, and 

 western larch. 



The conditions included within each 

 of these regions are so similar that any 

 convenient locality may be selected to 

 preserve a representative area of the 

 general type of vegetation. The selec- 

 tion of any area for ecological or scien- 

 tific purposes should contain the optimum 

 conditions for the type of vegetation 

 concerned, consequently such mixtures 

 as occur in eastern Washington, where 

 the loogepole pine, western larch, 

 western white pine, Douglas fir, white 

 fir and other species are in mi.xture, 

 would not be representative of any one 

 species. The same condition prevails 

 in southern Oregon where the sugar 

 pine, knobcone pine, and the Shasta 

 red fir occur in mixture with the typical 

 species of Oregon. In other words, 

 areas should be selected in the region 

 in which the species develops not neces- 

 sarily to its optimum growth, but at 

 least the average or better, and where it 

 forms the greatest per cent of the stand. 



At present there are no areas in the 

 western yellow pine type of Oregon and 

 Washington that are more permanently 

 preserved than that they are a part of a 

 National Forest. The large areas of 

 yellow pine within the National Forests 

 gives adequate assurance of the preser- 

 vation of the western yellow pine type 

 for a long time to come. The only 

 factor concerned is grazing, and there 

 are extensive ungrazed areas on which 

 studies may be made where natural 

 conditions are desired 



The Cascade forests vary in elevation 

 from 100 ft. to timber line at between 



