MARKING IN PRACTICE. 

 By A. B. Recknagex, 



So much has been written on the theory of marking timber in 

 sales on the National Forests that a brief review of the field 

 practice in common use may not be amiss. Even under the 

 Land Office, it was the practice to mark timber for cutting, and 

 when, in 1905, the reserves were transferred to the Department 

 of Agriculture, this practice continued. 



At that time, there were no instructions for marking other 

 than those contained in the Use Book. It soon became evident 

 that further instructions were necessary, so that the practice 

 developed of issuing marking rules with every timber sale of 

 any importance. This worked well until the sales increased in 

 number and importance so rapidly that it became impossible to 

 draw up careful marking rules in each individual case. Then 

 general marking rules for each Forest were formulated so far 

 as possible, but the lack of data made them unsatisfactory. Dur- 

 ing the fall of 1907, all the supervisors and all the technical men 

 stationed on National Forests were requested to submit general 

 marking rules for their Forests. The replies showed a remark- 

 able unanimity of opinion as to the general principles and made 

 possible the compilation of standard marking rules for the va- 

 rious silvicultural regions in the West. These were (1) the 

 Lodgepole Pine region; (2) the Douglas Fir region of the 

 Northwest; (3) the Yellow Pine region, with (a) the northern 

 division comprising eastern Oregon and Washington, (b) the 

 eastern division comprising eastern Montana, Wyoming, and 

 eastern North and South Dakota, and (c) the southern division 

 comprising Arizona and New Mexico; (4) the Engelmann 

 Spruce region of Utah and Colorado; (5) the Sugar Pine region 

 of California; and (6) the woodland region of Nevada and 

 Southwestern Arizona. 



These rules, mimeographed and in the hands of all the rangers, 

 helped to standardize the silvicultural side of marking. But 

 the general marking rules made no mention of how the actual 

 field work should be done except to emphasize a few points, such 



