SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS OF CUTTING 107 



this country in comparison with the relatively few in Europe. A new 

 and definite type of American silviculture, which seems likely to re- 

 volve around selective logging, must be developed. It will have dis- 

 tinctive and original features, although European practice may point 

 the way. We cannot, in this country, directly apply foreign intensive 

 theories of management until higher prices for forest products are 

 obtainable and we know more about the art of growing trees. 



5. SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS OF CUTTING SOME REPRESENTA- 

 TIVE TYPES IN THE NATIONAL FORESTS* 



It is the standard Forest Service practice in harvesting timber from 

 the National Forests, if conditions permit, to follow silvicultural sys- 

 tems which provide for partial removal of the stands. If the condi- 

 tion of the stand, due to age, composition, or damage, does not lend 

 itself to such systems, it occasionally becomes necessary to resort to 

 some form of clear cutting, but with ample provision made for seed 

 trees. 



The different forest types naturally overlap in many instances, but 

 the following types are generally distinctive and are selected as repre- 

 sentative in the management of the National Forests. 



Ponderosa pine Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States. 

 Western white pine Northern Rocky Mountains. 

 Douglas fir North Pacific Coast. 

 Engelmann spruce Rocky Mountains. 

 Lodgepole pine Rocky Mountains. 



These brief descriptions illustrate very pointedly that the theo- 

 retical silvicultural systems as shown in Chapter 8, section 3, must 

 lend themselves, in their application, to local conditions and circum- 

 stances. Often a combination of two systems is necessary. 



Ponderosa Pine Type. This type lends itself admirably to a selec- 

 tion system of marking. It occurs in pure stands or in mixture with 

 either white fir, Douglas fir, western larch, or sugar pine, or a com- 

 bination of these species. The type usually has from one to three 

 different age classes of ponderosa pine present and offers a rather 

 simple problem in marking. The volume of timber reserved depends 

 upon the availability of suitable trees and will vary from 20 to 50% 

 of the total volume. An endeavor is made so to space the reserved 

 timber that the individual trees may have optimum conditions for 



* Supplied largely by J. A. Fitz water, of the Office of Forest Management, 

 U. S. Forest Service, Washington, D. C. 



