A WINDFALL PROBLEA'I 

 By G. T. Baker 



The following study had for its object to ascertain, if possible, 

 the cause of the considerable windfall occuring in the virgin 

 woods on the Snow Creek watershed of the Olympic National 

 Forest. An area of 3480 acres was under investigation. 



In general the country is not mountainous, but rather rolling. 

 The slopes are broken by flats and low knolls, and cut by the 

 sharp ravines of the main creeks. There is very little rock out- 

 crop. The soil in general is a sandy loam with gravel admixtures 

 in some situations and on the steeper slopes becoming a partly 

 gravelly soil. It is of medium depth and good moisture content. 

 The humus, except on some of the steeper slopes and certain 

 burned-over areas which total about 100 acres in extent, is of 

 good depth. On no part of the tract, nor on any locality adjacent 

 near enough to have any effect on the windfall, has there been 

 any cutting. There are no deforested areas. 



There are three forest types not at all times very distinct, as 

 the associated species in each are essentially the same, and in 

 certain localities the amount by volume of each may run the 

 same, namely approximately 33 per cent each of Douglas fir, Red 

 cedar, and Western hemlock. By area the cedar type covers 

 4G.5 per cent — the hemlock type 37.8 per cent, and the Douglas 

 fir 15.7 per cent of the tract. 



The cedar type consists of a mature stand of cedar associated 

 with Douglas fir, hemlock, and Amabilis fir with a scattering of 

 White pine occurs. By volume, 46 per cent of the stand is cedar, 

 and following the streams. It is on the higher elevations, on 

 knolls where the soil is drier and more stony, that most of the 

 White pine occurs. By volume, 46 per cent of the stand is cedar, 

 26 hemlock, 23 Douglas fir, and 4 per cent Amabilis fir. White 

 pine and Sitka spruce together form but 0.5 per cent of the 

 stand in volume. On the lower flats, along the streams confined 

 to the Salmon Creek drainage, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) 

 occurs. The condition of the timber throughout this type is on 

 the whole better than in the other types. The cedar rises clear 

 and straight with very little butt swell. The average d. b. h. is 

 between 40" and 50", with occasional trees 100" or more. The 



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