332 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



culties. Because it is essentially a clear- 

 cutting system, the only way to get 

 good forestry is in the lay-out of the 

 logging plan. The designation of which 

 timber is to be cut and which is to 

 be left, the size and location of the 

 cut-and-leave areas, and the location 

 of roads and spar trees all limit the 

 practices, good or bad, that will be 

 used in logging. Improper lay-outs and 

 poor road locations increase logging 

 costs; the result is lower stumpage 

 prices for the standing timber and a 

 tendency toward poor forest practices. 



The areas that will not be cut in the 

 original patches should also be con- 

 sidered carefully since their lay-out, 

 when they, in turn, are logged some- 

 time in the future, also depends on the 

 original location of roads and cutting 

 areas. The men who do this planning 

 must be good foresters and good prac- 

 tical logging engineers. 



In order to lay out a system of patch 

 cutting intelligently, a great deal of 

 engineering work is needed before a 

 timber sale is made. A road system 

 over which the timber cut in the first 

 cutting cycle can be hauled must be 

 located, with the thought in mind that 

 the same road might be used in mak- 

 ing the second cut 20 or 40 years later 

 and that salvage cuts may be made at 

 other times. 



To locate the road system and lay 

 out the proposed cutting units in a 

 logical and practical manner requires 

 a good topographic map such as for- 

 est cruisers usually make when they 

 measure standing timber to determine 

 how many board feet of lumber can 

 be cut from the timber. Also essential 

 is a map that shows the kind of trees 

 and kind of stand of timber that is on 

 the ground. 



Proper planning in advance is im- 

 portant because the lay-out deter- 

 mines to a large extent the cost of 

 logging. For example, timber on gen- 

 tle slopes ordinarily should be tractor- 

 logged. In order to log with tractors, 

 the truck roads that tap any cutting 

 area must be located below the unit 

 because it is much more economical for 



tractors to drag heavy loads downhill. 

 On the other hand, high-lead logging 

 on steep ground is most economical 

 when the logs are pulled uphill, be- 

 cause the logs tend to hang up and 

 become tangled with stumps when 

 they are pulled downhill. Therefore, 

 roads should be located above "high- 

 lead shows" but below "cat shows." 



The ideal now on the Willamette 

 National Forest is to keep the work of 

 cruising, mapping, and road location at 

 least 5 years ahead of the logging oper- 

 ations. The use of aerial photographs 

 which show streams and ridges exactly 

 as they are on the ground, or, if they 

 are of large enough scale, even the in- 

 dividual trees on the ground may 

 eliminate much of the field work that 

 is necessary in making logging plans. 



Although the allowable annual cut 

 of the Willamette National Forest un- 

 der sustained-yield management has 

 been set at 323 million board feet, the 

 actual cut in 1940 was only 56 million 

 board feet. By 1948, it had been in- 

 creased to 207 million board feet, still 

 more than 100 million feet short of the 

 allowable goal. It is desirable to reach 

 this goal quickly in order to convert all 

 of the forest land that is available for 

 cutting to a growing instead of a stag- 

 nant condition as soon as possible 

 without impairing the sustained-yield 

 capacity of the forest. Planners expect 

 that by 1952 the Willamette will reach 

 an annual cut of 323 million board feet 

 and maintain that figure as a perma- 

 nent annual cut a production that 

 will last as long as the forest lasts. 



Timber on the Willamette National 

 Forest is naturally tributary to three 

 Oregon counties: Lane, Linn, and 

 Marion. The greater part would go to 

 Lane and Linn Counties, in each of 

 which is cut annually an average of 

 about a billion board feet of timber, 

 mostly on private land. 



Sustained-yield capacities of public 

 and private lands have been estimated 

 as about 400 million feet for Linn 

 County and 800 million feet for Lane 

 County. Private timber, which ac- 

 counts for about 50 percent of the total 



