Forestry in the Black, Hills 



323 



board feet, net scale, an acre. One of 

 the basic principles of the present 

 marking policy is that the rate of 

 growth of a reserve tree depends on 

 the amount of release that results from 

 cutting adjacent trees and on the age 

 and vigor of the individual tree that 

 is left. 



The preparation of plans for man- 

 agement of the timber resource was 

 started soon after the forest was estab- 

 lished, but the plans were incomplete 

 and ineffective, due in part to the lack 

 of definite information on rate of an- 

 nual growth and amount of timber on 

 the forest. By 1923, however, enough 

 basic information was available to per- 

 mit better planning. 



The plan made in 1925 for the Nemo 

 working circle was typical of all plans 

 applied here until 1937 to 1948, when 

 the plans were completely revised. The 

 Nemo plan provided for a rotation of 

 140 years and 4 cutting cycles of 35 

 years each. It was thought that one 

 could remove 70 percent of the volume 

 of the stand in trees that were 10 inches 

 or more in diameter at breast height. 



Later timber surveys, which now 

 cover the entire forest except a small 

 part of the southern end, have made 

 available more reliable information on 

 volume and classes of timber. Subse- 

 quent research has provided better 

 information on rates of growth. Conse- 

 quently, it has been possible to prepare 

 better and more effective timber-man- 

 agement plans. The most outstanding 

 change in the latest plan is the short- 

 ening of the cutting cycle to 30 years. 



Since 1898 there has been regula- 

 tion of allowable cut of timber on the 

 forest. In the beginning, because the 

 information was lacking about total 

 volume of timber and rate of growth, 

 cutting budgets were based largely on 

 guess. From the time they were first 

 assigned to the Black Hills, foresters 

 were aware of the need for instituting 

 scientific forestry practices in the han- 

 dling of the resources. They received 

 support from most of the people, and 

 eventually convinced at least the tim- 

 ber-using industries that regulation of 



cutting and protection of the timber 

 stand were imperative if those indus- 

 tries were to survive. Heavy demand 

 for the timber makes it possible to ob- 

 serve the principles of regulated cut- 

 ting in that the amount to be cut, as 

 well as the units that are to be cut, can 

 be actually controlled. 



The total annual, allowable sus- 

 tained-yield cut for the two forests is 

 36 million board feet of saw timber. 

 In addition, a large volume is avail- 

 able as cordwood, fence posts, poles, 

 and so on, taken largely from thinnings. 



Annual growth is now considered 

 sufficient to justify an annual cut of 

 that volume, and little change will be 

 necessary unless insects, fires, or tor- 

 nadoes cause heavy losses. The volume 

 of timber cut each year may exceed or 

 may not equal the allowable amount, 

 but the volume must be in agreement 

 with the allowable amount over a 10- 

 year period. 



The local timber operators are famil- 

 iar with these important management 

 plans, and know they must be observed. 

 During the Second World War, some 

 operators tried to get an increase in 

 the allowable annual cut, with the un- 

 derstanding that, after the war, a cor- 

 responding reduction of cut would be 

 made. They changed their minds, how- 

 ever, when they were shown that eco- 

 nomic depression would result after 

 the war if the normal activity of the 

 timber industry were to be reduced 

 substantially. 



During the time of the Emergency 

 Relief Administration, National In- 

 dustrial Recovery Administration, and 

 the Civilian Conservation Corps, thou- 

 sands of acres of dense young stands 

 were thinned and some pruning of 

 crop trees was done. The work was ex- 

 pensive because only a small part of 

 the material that was removed could 

 be sold. During the war, the demand 

 for fence-post material was heavy, and 

 it became possible to get young post- 

 size stands thinned without cost to the 

 Government. Better yet, the material 

 brought some revenue to the Treasury. 

 The post industry has been rather well 



