872 JOURNAL OF l'ORi:STin- 



Historical Development 



In December, 19 12, marking rules were drawn up for the three large 

 logging chances on the Kaniksu National Forest— the Upper West 

 Branch, the Lower West Branch, and the River chances. It should be 

 kept in mind that while these marking rules are of specific application, 

 they still reflect the best information of the time concerning marking 

 principles for the white-pine type. The main points of the Kaniksu 

 marking rules applying to non-agricultural or the areas to be perma- 

 nently retained for forest management are : 



In general, the rules plan to reserve at least 75 per cent of the larch 

 and not more than 25 per cent of any other species. These percentages 

 are by volume. 



The stands are classified for marking purposes as : 



A. Even-aged, well-timbered land containing a good percentage of 

 white pine ; very little, if any, fire damage. 



B. Stands broken by fire with considerable advance growth, includ- 

 ing white pine to a satisfactory extent. 



C. All-aged stands for selection cutting ; largely yellow pine and 

 Douglas fir, with some immature white pine. 



In Class A stands 75 per cent of the area should be clean cut, leaving 

 25 per cent of the area in the form of seed blocks and strips. Strips 

 should be at least 100 feet wide on the slopes and at least 200 feet wide 

 on the ridges. No portion of the clean-cut areas should be more than 

 200 feet from a seed strip or block. Dead timber and cedar poles over 

 35 feet long can be cut from the strips if the cutting can be done with- 

 out injury. 



On clean-cut areas the only larch cut should be either diseased, sup- 

 pressed, or very old "monarch" trees. With the exception of small 

 amounts of cedar, larch will be practically the only merchantable tim- 

 ber left on the clean-cut areas. 



Class B stands which are merchantable should be cut as Class A 

 stands. The patches of young material are to be left intact, as far as 

 the valuable species — white pine, cedar, larch, fir, spruce, and yellow 

 pine — are concerned. When possible under the natural arrangement, 

 no portion of the clear-cut merchantable areas should be over 200 feet 

 distant from the patches of advance growth left. The object of leav- 

 ing compact seed patches is of course seed insurance against fire. 



Class C stands containing white pine should be cut under the selec- 

 tion system, leaving where possible a thrifty stand of white pine, to- 

 gether with cedar and the usual 75 per cent of larch for a second cut. 



These rules simply outlined a mechanical procedure. It was deemed 



