322 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



When the forest was established and 

 cutting of timber started under gov- 

 ernment supervision, it was not super- 

 vised by trained foresters. Young men 

 who later occupied responsible posi- 

 tions in the Forest Service, however, 

 started their early work and gained 

 experience on this forest. The develop- 

 ment of proper methods of cutting, 

 slash disposal, and fire protection were 

 started and gradually improved. 



Before the establishment of the na- 

 tional forests, most of the timber cut- 

 ting was in the accessible stands. The 

 sawmill operators took as many or as 

 few of the trees as they wanted and 

 converted them into mine timbers, ties, 

 lumber, or cordwood. They passed up 

 the diseased, the deformed, and the 

 limby trees, and those on steep or rocky 

 slopes. Consequently, the stand was 

 left in poor silvicultural condition, 

 cluttered with slash, and extremely 

 vulnerable to damage by fire. Poor 

 trees occupied space needed for grow- 

 ing better trees. 



Federal foresters imposed regula- 

 tions that were intended to stop such 

 wasteful cutting. Much experimental 

 marking was done. Foresters developed 

 a progressive intensification of cutting 

 practices from clear cutting to diam- 

 eter limit, selection cutting, and the 

 present shelterwood system. Records 

 show that the latter system was origi- 

 nally advocated by some early-day for- 

 esters. More recently the tendency has 

 been away from heavy cuts to light 

 cuts at shorter intervals. 



In the first rules for marking that 

 were prepared for the forest, emphasis 

 was placed on the need to insure nat- 

 ural reproduction in case of fire. As in- 

 surance, it was the policy to leave two, 

 three, or four seed trees on an acre. 

 The first marking rules apparently 

 were based on the idea that a second 

 cut would not be made within 80 years 

 or more. 



Clear cutting with seed trees is good 

 under some conditions, but experience 

 taught foresters that other methods 

 were better in the Black Hills. By 1913 

 they could use a selection system by 



which, in certain areas, some trees with 

 good growth possibilities could be left 

 for a second cut. The interval between 

 cuts thus could be shortened. 



In the Black Hills, good progress 

 has been made toward achieving the 

 objective of forestry to produce and 

 use all the timber that the soil on the 

 area will grow. The ideal never is 

 reached in large areas of rough land, 

 such as national forests; economic 

 considerations have a powerful in- 

 fluence, and other uses of the forest 

 must be coordinated with timber pro- 

 duction. However, selective cutting has 

 developed through the years. The de- 

 mand for timber has continued. Better 

 roads have been built. Logging meth- 

 ods and equipment have been im- 

 proved. By 1926, forest practices had 

 developed to the extent that the selec- 

 tion system was applied universally in 

 the Black Hills. The initial cut in vir- 

 gin stands was lighter. The more 

 thrifty trees amounting to 1,500 to 

 2,000 or more board feet an acre 

 were left for future cuts. Under those 

 conditions, shorter intervals between 

 cuts became practicable. 



The establishment of reproduction 

 in the Black Hills requires no special 

 effort when proper cutting practices 

 are followed. Present marking rules 

 are based on the idea of harvesting the 

 mature crop trees and the develop- 

 ment of silvicultural conditions favor- 

 able to the maximum growth of the 

 reserve stands. Cutting cycles are be- 

 ing shortened and cuts per acre are 

 made lighter. This is possible through 

 the development of the access-road sys- 

 tem, by which the stands are made 

 more accessible to cutting and to favor- 

 able markets for sawlogs and other 

 timber products. 



PRESENT MANAGEMENT PLANS are 

 predicated upon cutting cycles of 30 

 to 35 years. They will be shorter in the 

 future, however, as more intensive for- 

 estry becomes economically practica- 

 ble. Subject to variations in existing 

 mature stands, the aim is to leave re- 

 serve stands averaging 2,000 to 3,000 



