RECONNAISSANCE: ITS RELATION TO FOREST PLANS 23 



ALPIXE TYPK, MT. LASSKN MOUNTAIN HEMLOCK OF LITTLK COMMERCIAL 



IMPORTANCE. 



waste lands such as lava beds, and water 

 areas. It shows the composition of the 

 tiniberlands ; in other words, what spe- 

 cies of commercial importance are on 

 each "forty," and also the relations that 

 exist between the distribution of the 

 various species and the factors of to- 

 pography and altitude. Furthermore, it 

 serves as a basis for applying tables 

 which show the yield of each forest 



type. 



The timber estimate serves a three- 

 fold purpose. It gives us an inventory 

 of our timber resources that is more ac- 

 curate than any we have had. The esti- 

 mate supersedes all former guesses, 

 mountain-top estimates, and rough re- 

 connaissance calculations; in itself it is 

 an exact working plan estimate. Com- 

 paring this with the best figures we have 

 had heretofore, one gets an idea 

 what reconnaissance estimate means. A 

 rough reconnaissance made in 1910 for 

 certain townships on the Lassen Na- 

 tional Forest showed about 31 G million 

 feet of timber. An intensive reconnais- 

 sance for the same area, made two years 

 later, showed 808 million, or about two 

 and one-half times as much. These fig- 

 ures, based on the stand upon about 

 80,000 acres, are fairly indicative of 



how the total forest estimate would 

 compare. 



The second purpose of the reconnais- 

 sance estimate naturally follows from 

 the first, for, after knowing how much 

 we have the next question is how much 

 can we sell? In other words, what is 

 the sustained annual yield for the for- 

 est? At the present time this cut is fig- 

 ured from the best available data, 

 namely, the "rough" reconnaissance 

 mentioned above. The intensive recon- 

 naissance figures would mean that we 

 had, yearly, about two and one-half 

 times more timber for sale than we did 

 under the old method. While very in- 

 teresting and important in the future, 

 these figures are not essential at present 

 because we are at the present cutting 

 only a fraction of one per cent of our 

 annual yield, and there is no danger of 

 reaching or exceeding the annual yield 

 for many years. Naturally all methods 

 of regulating the cut depend more or 

 less upon accurate estimates. 



The third purpose of reconnaissance 

 estimates, and probably the most im- 

 portant from the standpoint of present 

 \alue, is that they serve as a basis for 

 making timber sales. Logging proposi- 

 tions to attract purchasers of timber can 



