NOTES OX SLASH DISIHJSAL IN THE LAKE STATES 



Bv J. A. Mitch i:ll 



Forest l'.xa)H'nicr, (J. S. forest Service 



Advantage was taken durinj^ a recent field trij) of the opportunity 

 oflFered to look into the matter of slash disposal in the Lake States 

 and to discuss the subject with the men in charge of the work. 



WISCONSIN 



In Wisconsin, the Government operation on the Menominee Indian 

 Reservation, where brush piling and burning has been in eflfect for 

 some time, was visited. Here the manager in charge very kindly 

 showed me around and opened his records for my inspection. His 

 woods foreman, a practical north woods logger, also was interviewed 

 and his whole-hearted endorsement of brush piling as a matter of 

 good logging practice was most convincing. As a matter of fact, 

 it has here been demonstrated beyond a doubt that slash disposal in 

 the hardwood-hemlock type of northern Wisconsin properly handled 

 is a paying proposition wholly aside from its desirability as a matter 

 of fire protection. 



Briefly, the method followed is to fall the hemlock, piling the brush 

 as the trees are trimmed, and then to fall the hardwoods on top of the 

 hemlock brush piles, the operation being completed by trimming off 

 small limbs and the tips of larger limbs under two inches, piling the 

 resulting hardwood brush on the hardwood and hemlock tops. This 

 results in large but fairly compact piles that, because of their founda- 

 tion of hemlock brush, burn readily and fairly clean. Burning is done 

 in the spring after logging as early as conditions allow, preferably 

 while snow is still on the ground. While perhaps not ideal in every 

 respect, the result in general is highly satisfactory for the slash is 

 effectively eliminated as a fire menace, and the damage to the young- 

 growth remaining is minimi/.ed. as less than one-half of the area is 

 burned over. 



