A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1435 



as 5 percent of the timber might be a very expensive requirement 

 for a private operator who was not definitely lined up for sustained 

 yield. For one who was, the cost would simply amount to the delay 

 in realizing on the reserved blocks or strips. 



Four dollars and a half an acre, or the value of a little over 1,000 

 board feet of stumpage, might be taken as a regional average, between 

 admittedly wide limits, for the timber so reserved. In every instance 

 the uncut timber would have a high value as an aid in fighting fires, 

 and the cost of reservation could not be charged wholly to stopping 

 devastation. It is not uncommon for one fire to cause a single doug- 

 las-fir operator $100,000 worth of damage in standing timber and 

 equipment destroyed. This is more than the cost of leaving strips 

 of green timber to facilitate the protection of 20,000 acres. 



Leaving defective or low-value seed trees. Usually no cost. 



Better slash disposal. One dollar an acre, or 2.5 cents per thousand 

 board feet logged. 



Snag falling. Often done at present, at $3.25 an acre, or 8 cents 

 per thousand board feet logged. 



Cleaning up around camps and rights of way. Two cents for each 

 thousand board feet cut. 



Better protection during and after logging. Nine cents for each 

 thousand board feet cut during the year and about 3 cents additional 

 for each acre logged in the previous 10 years; total about 10 cents 

 for each thousand feet of annual cut. 



Avoidance of selling small isolated tracts to settlers is undoubtedly 

 an advantage rather than a loss of revenue to any sustained-yield 

 operator. 



The above costs will vary so tremendously from one operation to 

 the next that a summation of them for an average operation is largely 

 theoretical; 22 cents for each thousand board feet cut, or $8.80 an 

 acre, may be assumed for land on which economic selection is prac- 

 ticed. Unfortunately, their effectiveness cannot be positively pre- 

 dicted. Calamitous fires have occurred in spite of the expenditure 

 by many operators of all that could reasonably be recommended 

 for one or more of the prescribed practices. On the other hand, the 

 practice of economic selection and the increase in effectiveness of 

 fire protection may result not only in immediate savings to an oper- 

 ator, but also in placing him on a sustained yield basis. 



WESTERN LARCH WESTERN WHITE PINE TYPE 



Important differences between the western white pine and the 

 larch-fir forests of this type make it desirable to discuss them sepa- 

 rately. 



WESTERN WHITE PINE 



The western white pine forest comprises an extremely complex 

 mixture of species. The principal associates of the pine are douglas 

 fir, western larch, lowland white fir, western red cedar, and western 

 hemlock. Most of the white pine stands originally came into being 

 as even-aged forests following fires. At some time between 160 and 

 200 years later the average stand begins to deteriorate. Decay be- 

 comes prevalent, and the loss from bark-beetle attacks may be very 

 great. The white pine drops out more rapidly than most of its 

 associate species, and by the time the forest is 300 or 400 years old, 



