1436 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



or even earlier, has generally disappeared entirely, leaving the shade- 

 enduring hemlock, cedar, and white fir ordinarily very defective at 

 this age. Most privately owned timber is younger and contains a 

 high percentage of white pine, which is the most valuable species 

 in the type. 



Utilization of white pine is very close. Practically all trees 10 

 inches and over, breast high, are cut and logs are taken down to a 

 5- or 6-inch top diameter. One lumber company, however, with a 

 considerable acreage of rather young timber has, after careful study, 

 adopted a tree diameter limit of 12 to 16 inches, breast high. The 

 utilization of other species is very far from complete because of their 

 comparatively low value at present. Many operators are taking out 

 only the white pine and the cedar poles, and leaving practically all 

 of the other species in the woods. This residual growth represents a 

 very good order of minimum productiveness. It is exceedingly rare 

 that cutting in the white pine type does not leave either a large amount 

 of residual growth or enough scattered trees quickly to seed the cut- 

 over ground; some of the reproduction is likely to be pine. 



Inasmuch as most white pine logging employs horse skidding, 

 chutes, and railroad or river-drive transportation, rather than high- 

 power machinery, this growth will survive logging if uncontrolled 

 fires do not occur in the slash. Broadcast burning of slash has in the 

 past been responsible for the devastation of hundreds of thousands 

 of acres formerly in western white pine. A typical pine slashing is 

 the most inflammable mass of debris that can be imagined. Broad- 

 cast burning of this dense tangle of slash, snags, and remaining trees 

 reduces the fire hazard by probably not more than one year; after 

 that inflammability increases rapidly because of the large quantity 

 of material killed by the slash fire. The dead trees soon come down 

 in a tangled mass and, together with a dense growth of fireweed, 

 everlasting, and other vegetation, which becomes dry in late summer, 

 form another serious fire trap. These old broadcast burns are almost 

 certain to burn again either by fire starting in them direct or by fire 

 spreading into them from burning operations in adjoining new 

 slashings. Such repeated burning destroys not only all young 

 residual growth, but also the larger trees required as a source of seed. 

 The inevitable result is devastation. 



The measures essential to keeping logged-over western white pine 

 lands from devastation are adequate slash disposal and subsequent 

 first-class fire protection. The latter has been described in the 

 section " Protection Against Fire." 



SLASH DISPOSAL 



Piling and burning of not less than 75 percent of the logging debris 

 is required to leave cut-over land in a condition of even minimum 

 productiveness. The disposal of slash by piling and burning has 

 been common practice in the national forests for many years. This 

 method consists of complete lopping of the limbs from the top, piling 

 in compact piles, and subsequent burning in the fall or spring. In 

 some instances the slash is burned progressively by building fires and 

 throwing the limbs on, thus making one operation of piling and burn- 

 ing. Either method properly executed results in a clean burn of the 

 slash, with little or no destruction of remaining live trees or young 

 growth, and the burning of not to exceed 10 to 30 percent of the sur- 



