Forestry in the Elac\ Hills 



325 



been great in some years; from 1895 

 to 1909, approximately l*/2 billion feet 

 of timber on the western side of the 

 forest was destroyed by the Black 

 Hills beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae 

 Hopk.). Another large infestation of 

 the beetle started in 1946, and it be- 

 came necessary to initiate a large-scale 

 control project, which in 1948 treated 

 46,000 insect-infested trees and for 

 which Congress made a special appro- 

 priation of $235,000. 



In 1893, fires destroyed the timber 

 on large areas on the drainages of the 

 Elk, Iron, and Polo Greeks. Other 

 large fires were the McVey, in 1939, 

 which burned 21,857 acres; the Roch- 

 ford, in 1931, which burned 21,590 

 acres; and the Lost Gulch, Moskee, 

 Buskala, Matt, Victoria, Black Fox, 

 Beaver, and Bearlodge fires, each of 

 which denuded large areas. Between 

 1909 and 1947, 92,760 acres of national 

 forest land were burned over by 4,130 

 fires and about 28,000 acres of private 

 land burned in the Black Hills. 



We have to cut losses from fires. In 

 this day of better methods of hauling 

 men and equipment, better communi- 

 cation systems, and better fire equip- 

 ment, the annual loss from fire should 

 be much lower. A hopeful sign is that 

 more and more people are becoming 

 increasingly aware of how dangerous 

 it is to be careless with matches in or 

 near forests, and how close is the re- 

 lationship between fire control and 

 timber management on the Black Hills. 

 If the protection job is ineffective, the 

 resource-management plan is upset; 

 so, also, are the plans of every opera- 

 tion that depends upon the forest for 

 its raw material. 



On the areas where the loss from in- 

 sect damage occurred, natural repro- 

 duction took place so that artificial 

 reforestation has been unnecessary. 

 But many of the fires completely killed 

 everything on large areas, and plant- 

 ing or seeding, or both, has been nec- 

 essary to start another stand of timber. 



The first reforestation work done on 

 the Black Hills was in 1905, on what 

 was called the Guster Peak Experi- 



ment Area. Forty acres were success- 

 fully established by the broadcast and 

 the corn-planter methods. Since then, 

 10,946 acres have been planted; 9,570 

 acres more have been seeded. At the 

 end of 1948, 13,472 acres had been 

 reforested. The present plan is to plant 

 a million trees a year for at least 10 

 years. 



The care, protection, and utilization 

 of the timber always will be the most 

 important work of those who are in 

 charge of the forest activities that 

 protect the watershed and provide a 

 stable supply of raw material for the 

 lumber and timber industry. But many 

 people think more and oftener of the 

 other uses that are made of the forest. 



The Black Hills National Forest 

 probably has as great a variety of uses 

 as any in the Nation. It is all acces- 

 sible and all used, and there is little 

 friction among the various classes of 

 users. South Dakotans have deep loy- 

 alty for the forest and have great and 

 helpful interest in what is being done 

 on it. 



Grazing is one use. The average 

 number of stock grazed under permit 

 between 1943 and 1948 was 27,435 

 head of cattle and horses and 28,262 

 sheep. The stock graze mostly in the 

 gulches and stream bottoms, on the 

 stringers of bluegrass range, on old- 

 burn areas, and on some of the exposed 

 ridge tops. Most of the 682 holders of 

 grazing permits live on small to me- 

 dium-sized farms inside the forest 

 boundaries. These men are deeply con- 

 scious of fire hazard; they are always 

 the first to arrive at the fires that do 

 start; they are the backbone of the 

 first attack crews. They know they are 

 protecting their own as well as public 

 property. 



The use of the forests for recreation 

 is constantly increasing. A large in- 

 dustry has grown up to take care of 

 tourists. The forest officers consider 

 the recreation feature of the forest a 

 resource in itself and actively protect 

 it as such. Out-of-State visitors to the 

 forests come mostly from the Middle 

 West. Many others from more distant 



