FORESTS OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS FOREST RESERVE 4< 



marking the boundary would not be cut. When the trees for cutting are selected 

 uniformly from the stand, the general practice is to mark each tree to be cut. A 

 blaze is made at breast-height and another below stump-height. Fellers are instructed 

 to leave the latter blaze showing after every tree is felled, otherwise the penalty for 

 cutting unmarked trees is imposed. However, when snow is deep, the tree can often 

 be marked only at breast-height. It is best to stamp each blaze with a distinctive 

 mark, and for this purpose, special marking axes are used, which have a die on the 

 head of the axe. When the trees to be left are small in number relatively to the trees 

 to be cut. the former are sometimes marked. As blazing is liable to cause damage 

 to trees left for a long period, other methods of marking have been used. For instance, 

 in lodgepole pine where the bark is light coloured and smooth, red spots have been 

 painted on the bark. The cost of marking in dense timber is about Ic. to lc. per 

 thousand feet, board measure. 



In marking individual trees to be removed from a stand, some diameter is usually 

 borne in mind, as indicating approximately the border between trees to be cut and 

 those to be left. This is a matter of convenience rather than an essential factor in 

 deciding on what trees to leave. Usually the leaving of a uniform stand is an 

 important consideration, and then trees well above the diameter limit are left to 

 avoid making large openings or trees below it are cut to thin out too dense groups. 

 The diameter limit is most useful in regulating the marking where a definite pro- 

 portion of the original stand is to be reserved for future cutting. It is impracticable 

 to estimate the volumes of the trees as they are marked, in order to determine just 

 what proportion of the total volume of the stand will be left. However, by carefully 

 estimating representative sample areas, a diameter limit may be arrived at, which 

 can be easily followed in marking the timber and will operate so as to leave uncut the 

 proper proportion of the stand. 



Another important factor besides the size, in choosing the trees to be reserved, 

 is their growth and vigour. This depends largely on the character of the crown, 

 which should be comparatively deep. It is especially hard in pine to select trees that 

 will make rapid growth, because, if pine trees have been badly suppressed, their 

 crowns will be very small and their rate of growth negligible. Consideration of this 

 factor might lead one to select for reservation the larger of two trees, if the smaller 

 had been badly suppressed and was growing at a very slow rate. The best trees to 

 leave are those with narrow deep crowns. Wide-crowned trees take too much space 

 and have branchy boles, and short, narrow crowns indicate slow growth. 



The trees to be left should be as far as possible sound. Rotten trees deteriorate 

 if left standing and should be harvested as soon as posssible. while sound trees 

 increase in value by adding to their volume and give a return on the investment 

 involved in leaving them standing. However, when a tree is so badly decayed that there 

 is not enough lumber in it to make logging it profitable, then it is certainly better 

 to leave it and to obtain the benefit of any seed it may supply. 



BRUSH DISPOSAL. 



It has already been pointed out that in this region the brush left after logging 

 decays very slowly, and that, even if the branches were lopped from the tops so that 

 they would lie close to the surface of the ground, the brush would remain in an 

 inflammable condition for almost as long a time as though nothing had been done 

 to it. Piling the brush without burning it would aid considerably in fighting fires: 

 but the stands are usually so dense and the amount of debris left after logging so 

 large, that this method would not afford sufficient protection. 



It is, therefore, recommended that wherever practicable the brush be burnt. 

 Least labour would be involved in following a method of broadcast burning, but that 

 is dangerous under most conditions and involves practical difficulties not only in 



