860 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



value, but hinders regeneration of other species, either natural or 

 artificial. Often it is worse than no cover at all. The magnitude of 

 the problem is indicated by the fact that aspen occupies some 21 

 million acres in this region. 



IN WESTERN SOFTWOOD STANDS 



In the California pine region repeated fires have resulted in thou- 

 sands of acres of waste land or unproductive brush fields, of areas on 

 which the type is changing to less valuable species, and of cut-over 

 lands that fail to reproduce. Each fire accelerates the progress and 

 effects of the next. Where logging has been in progress, the 

 broadcast slash fire has been permitted to sweep over with perhaps 

 little apparent damage; but in its path reproduction, the basis of the 

 new forest, is gone and will return only after many decades. Under 

 such conditions, the few seed trees left are weakened and are often 

 prey to the first strong wind. Brush gradually takes over the area. 



As an example of what happens on private land, the cumulative 

 results on one large operation over a period of 20 years show that on 

 16.7 percent of the total area the stocking was 60 percent or better; 

 on 52.4 percent of the area the stocking was 10 to 20 percent com- 

 plete; and on 30.9 percent the stocking was percent. The deficiency 

 is largely due to slash fires. The result of neglect of cut-over lands 

 is quite as likely to be a forest partly stocked, patchy, and damaged 

 by fire and disease as it is to be complete denudation. Hundreds 

 of thousands of acres of cut-over lands are similarly producing wood 

 at only a fraction of their potential rate. 



During recent years there has been a tendency for private cut-over 

 lands to be left in better condition. The quite general substitition of 

 tractors for the destructive large donkey has resulted in leaving more 

 trees of small sizes, and fire protection has been more effective. 



In the redwood region, high-speed power logging and severe fires 

 (including both escaping slash fires and those resulting from care- 

 lessness) are the causes of severe deterioration and even devastation. 

 Whipping of lines and the deliberate pulling over of "leave" trees 

 effectively remove any trees that might form the basis for a seed 

 supply. The ability of redwood to sprout from the stump when cut 

 at any season of the year results in stands 25 to 35 per cent stocked 

 with this species, except when the areas are repeatedly burned; but 

 the Douglas fir that is the principal associate of redwood is practi- 

 cally eliminated from the stand by slash fires which kill the trees 

 surviving the logging operation. A system of logging and slash dis- 

 posal which saves seed trees would make all the difference between 

 such a sparse stand of redwood alone and a mixed stand 80 percent 

 or more complete. 



In the heavy, dense stands of the Douglas fir region in Oregon and 

 Washington, logging methods and the use of fire to dispose of slash 

 do not differ materially from those described for redwood stands. 

 Studies have indicated that the customary repeated fires over a 

 period of years will result in poor stocking on about 30 percent of the 

 area cut over annually, or about 65,000 acres. 



It is clear that forest land dedicated to timber production must be 

 assured protection against fires throughout its timber rotation. Fires 

 damage forest values and in many regions ultimately convert valuable 



