A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1439 



$2.70 to $3.60 an acre. It is important to note that this cost covers 

 not only slash disposal, but protection of camps, logging equipment, 

 and standing timber during the logging operation when an operator 

 ordinarily takes measures of prevention regardless of whether he dis- 

 poses of slash or protects his cut-over land. If this customary cost 

 of protecting timber and logging property against fire loss is deducted, 

 the charge for slash disposal becomes perhaps $2. 



SUGAR PINE PONDEROSA PINE TYPE 



The territory covered by this type, as shown on the map, is also 

 known as the California pine region, and embraces half-a-dozen locally 

 recognized forest types or groups of types. Ponderosa pine is the 

 most widely distributed and characteristic tree; sugar pine, douglas 

 fir, white and red firs, and incense cedar are its common associates, 

 named in decreasing order of value. Ponderosa pine, douglas fir, and 

 true firs commonly occur both in pure stands and with the exception 

 of red fir, in all possible combinations as well. A great range of 

 sizes and ages, growing in intimate mixture, is a marked characteristic 

 of the type. 



The degree of cutting in commercial operations is naturally deter- 

 mined by merchantability of the species, among other factors. In 

 such stands as pure ponderosa pine, cutting to a low diameter limit 

 is common; while in mixed stands, with a high percentage of the 

 firs, many trees of merchantable size are left. At the same time the 

 amount of young growth under the mature trees is generally greater 

 in the mixed stands than in ponderosa pine. Thus the tendency 

 toward clear cutting is most pronounced where seed trees are most 

 needed. 



The most important fact to keep in mind when considering how 

 to stop devastation in this type is that the establishment of ponderosa 

 pine reproduction after cutting is a long and uncertain process. Ten 

 to 20 years may elapse before even a fair stand of seedlings can become 

 established from seed trees left by the loggers. Sugar pine, which has 

 a higher board-foot value than any other species in the type, is even 

 more difficult to establish than the ponderosa pine. Planting of 

 either species is costly and undependable. The conclusion is unavoid- 

 able that, in the main, the preservation of young growth throughout 

 the logging operation and in slash disposal is the principal means of 

 keeping forest lands productive. If such growth is scanty or absent, 

 or if it is subject to extreme danger from fires, provision must of 

 course be made for seed. 



methods which a very few years ago spelled the doom of 



nearly all standing trees and young growth spared by the timber 

 fallers have been recently abandoned in favor of much less destructive 

 methods. Today about 85 percent, by volume, of the logs removed 

 from the sugar pine-ponderosa pine forests are handled by caterpillar 

 tractors, and only about 15 percent by high-power machinery (donkey 

 engines and skidders). Proper regulation of tractor logging that is, 

 when it is so conducted that the area of roads and turning points is 

 kept to a minimum, slashing of young trees is taboo, and the scarring 

 of reserve trees is avoided should keep the destruction of young 

 growth below 25 percent on most areas. Avoidance of high-lead 

 and high-speed machinery, and a determination to prevent all unneces- 

 sary damage in the use of other types of high-power machinery, will 



