SELECTIVE LOGGING 151 



are left in the stand and better-quality reproduction is assured 

 for the future. 



4. Young timber on the area is left in good growing condition, thus 



substantially putting the forest on a sustained yield basis. 



5. Better fire protection is assured by leaving a smaller amount of 



slash and debris. 



6. It prolongs the life of lumber operations and thus contributes to 



greater stability and permanence of sawmills and other forest 

 industries. 

 Among the disadvantages may be cited the following: 



1. For some forms of small products such as cross ties, pulpwood, 



chemical or acid wood, fuelwood, posts, small poles, and piling, 

 there is no marked advantage in cutting only the larger trees. 



2. Greater skill must be exercised in removing the timber. Super- 



vision, marking, etc., must be done by skilled foresters, and the 

 area must be carefully cruised, mapped, and studied before the 

 plan is made effective. 



3. Immature timber must be protected and taxes continuously paid 



upon it. Some local assessors may not reduce taxes proportion- 

 ately with the removal of the best standing timber so that the 

 financial accumulation may be greater than the volume growth. 



4. It is not especially applicable to large, even-aged, or intolerant for- 



ests where a considerable number of the trees are of large sizes 

 and grow so densely that the small trees cannot be protected in 

 the felling process. 



5. It cannot be practiced on logging areas cut under enforced liquida- 



tion of standing timber assets. This is a powerful factor in the 

 Pacific Northwest region where the burdens of interest and taxes 

 have intensified exploitation without any thought of the future. 



The above disadvantages, however, are not universal and are not 

 entirely unsurmountable even in some of the regions where they may 

 apply. 



Selective logging is probably practiced more than any other form 

 of logging in our National Forests, especially in the pine forests of 

 California, Oregon, and Idaho. 



The Southern Forest Experiment Station has made studies of the 

 costs of necessary forest inventories and marking in connection with 

 putting in a system of selective logging and sustained yield manage- 

 ment on private properties. The costs of a detailed inventory, includ- 

 ing a 100% cruise of trees 13" d.b.h. and over, and marking trees to be 

 cut on about 3000 acres of southern pine, were $0.103 per m.b.f. of 



