Forestry in the Elac\ Hills 



able cut is believed to be too conserva- 

 tive. To correct this, and to have a 

 more substantial basis for intensive 

 management, a new inventory was 

 started in 1948. 



The entire forest was photographed 

 from the air in 1947. The mapping of 

 types was subsequently begun, and the 

 inventory developed through an in- 

 tensive system of sample plots on a 

 statistically accurate basis. Attention 

 was given to redetermining the growth 

 rate. We believe that the new type of 

 maps, inventory, and growth data will 

 produce a management plan that will 

 prescribe a greatly increased allowable 

 annual cut. Further attention can then 

 be given to market requirements and 

 development, and action can be taken 

 to insure full employment and com- 

 munity stability. 



The process of rebuilding a fully pro- 

 ductive forest is not completed but is 



319 



well under way. The value of good 

 management has been demonstrated 

 and will become even more apparent 

 as the trees grow toward maturity. 



H. BASIL WALES entered the Forest 

 Service in 1911, immediately after 

 graduation from Michigan State Col- 

 lege. After 19 years in the Southwest 

 in various capacities, he was promoted 

 to his present position as chief of the 

 Division of Timber Management in 

 the North Central Region. Since 1930 

 he has guided forest rehabilitation on 

 the 12 national forest administration 

 units in that region and has developed 

 preliminary management plans to di- 

 rect stand-improvement and harvest 

 cuts. He directed the establishment of 

 more than 700,000 acres of successful 

 plantations, some of which are now 

 ready for the first thinning on a com- 

 mercial basis. 



FORESTRY IN THE BLACK HILLS 



ARTHUR F. C. HOFFMAN, THEODORE KRUEGER 



On the western edge of the Great 

 Plains, separated from the massive 

 Rocky Mountains by long stretches of 

 prairie, lie two of our national forests, 

 the Black Hills and the Harney. 



Huddled along the State line be- 

 tween Wyoming and South Dakota 

 with all but a thumb in the southwest- 

 ern quarter of South Dakota this 

 island of timber extends about 40 miles 

 from east to west, and 120 miles from 

 north to south. Its gross area is 1,524,- 

 797 acres, all but 20 percent (311,756 

 acres) of which is owned by the Fed- 

 eral Government. 



Its altitude ranges from 3,500 to 

 7,240 feet (at Harney Peak), but most 

 of the forest exhibits a rolling topog- 

 raphy. There are, however, some fairly 

 deep canyons on the lower ends of the 

 main drainages and some plateaus that 

 have precipitous sides. Its generally 

 high situation subjects the forest to ex- 

 tremes of weather severe hail storms, 



unseasonable freezes, tornadoes, and 

 heavy rains and snows. A favorable 

 factor for tree and forage growth is 

 that the period of heaviest precipita- 

 tion is in May and June, when more 

 than 15 inches of rain may fall, al- 

 though the average is usually about 

 8 inches. 



Fauna and flora of East and West 

 meet on the Black Hills and Harney 

 National Forests more simply named 

 the Black Hills National Forest or the 

 Black Hills. The commercial timber 

 stand is 95 percent ponderosa pine and 

 about 5 percent western white spruce 

 (Picea glauca var. albertiana) . A small 

 area contains lodgepole pine. The 

 total stand of coniferous timber is es- 

 timated to be 2,346 million feet, board 

 measure. The average tree contains 

 about 250 board feet, and the average 

 stand is a little over 5,000 board feet 

 an acre. The few hardwoods here have 

 rather low economic importance: 



