386 



ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



is duo in a lar<;o measure to the increasin<]j efTiciency of Forest officers 

 and the fjjeneral improvement wliich has been going on from year to 

 year in tlie management of National Forests. 



Free use of timber. — The timber cut under free-use permits rep- 

 resented about 21.6 percent of the total cut of the year. The amount 

 and value of tliis timber is shown below: 



Free use of timber on National Forests. 



REFORESTATION. 



There are two distinct problems of reforestation: First, the replace- 

 ment of the Forest by new growth after the removal of the timber to 

 be cut, and second, reforestation of land which has been cleared in the 

 past by fires, lumbering, and other agencies. 



In most of the cuttings conducted on the National Forests natural 

 reproduction is relied upon to replace the timber removed. The 

 methods of cutting in order to secure this natural reproduction have 

 been described on pages 23-25, There are many old burns which are 

 being reproduced rapidly by natural means. Where the openings 

 are small the seed is often furnished in sufficient abundance from the 

 trees surrounding the clearing. Where the burn is incomplete and 

 individual trees and groups of trees are left here and there, satisfactory 

 natural reproduction is secured. Sometimes a fire burns through a 

 Forest during a seed year, killing the trees but not consuming or 

 destroying the vitality of the seed. This seed is then distributed over 

 the burned ground, and reproduction takes place almost immediately 

 after the fire. Examples are found in the marked natural reproduc- 

 tion after some severe burns in lodgepole pine. 



Since the National Forests were placed under protection from fire, 

 natural reproduction has been taking place very vigorously, and the 

 Forests whose density has been much reduced by fires and lumbering 

 are rapidly filling up with new growth. On the extensive burns, how- 

 ever, where all the seed trees have been destroyed, reproduction must 

 creep in gradually from the edge. Often many tree generations are 

 required to cover over a large bum. Where the climatic conditions 

 are critical, such reproduction is exceedingly slow, and there are some- 

 times areas where it will be many decades before there will be even 

 the beginning of the establishment of a new stand by natural means. 



It is the policy of the Forest Service to reestablish by artificial 

 means, as rapidly as possible, the Forests on such areas as will not 

 within a reasonably short time be reforested naturally. The work of 

 artificial reforestation has hitherto progressed slowly: First, because 

 it was necessary to devote the first efforts to the organization of the 

 Forests, building up a corps of trained men and developing a system of 



f)rotection from fire; and, second, because it was necessary to do a 

 arge amount of experimental work in seeding and planting in order to 

 determine the best methods of work. 



