350 



progress has been made in carrying out 

 the declared policy for the unit: In 70 

 years, then, lumbering in the South- 

 west has progressed from logging with 

 oxen and cutting ties for railroads to 

 big wheels and logging railroads, to 

 modern trucks and complete manufac- 

 turing facilities, and, finally, to the 

 integrated plant in little Vallecitos, 

 whose life and livelihood are actually 

 determined by the life of the forest. 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS, which em- 

 brace two-thirds of the commercial 

 timberland in the Southwest, were es- 

 tablished at the turn of the century. 



At first, cutting was directed toward 

 leaving thrifty seed trees and protect- 

 ing the few poles and sparse reproduc- 

 tion. But with research, experience, 

 improved fire protection and establish- 

 ment of reproduction, and improve- 

 ments in logging and transportation 

 facilities, the cutting practices have 

 gradually changed, and they have pro- 

 gressed through various steps the cut- 

 ting of selected groups of trees, the 

 heavy cutting of selected individual 

 trees, and light cutting of selected trees 

 to improve the growth of the stand. 



Much of the credit for the progress 

 is due to almost 40 years of research at 

 the Fort Valley Experimental Forest 

 near Flagstaff. The late G. A. Pearson, a 

 long-time employee of the Forest Serv- 

 ice, was in charge of research for 35 

 years. He kept individual records of 

 thousands of ponderosa pine trees, 

 measured growth of residual trees, and 

 studied results of many different types 

 of cutting practices on large experi- 

 mental plots. The findings give south- 

 western forest managers a wealth of 

 material to use as a base for progres- 

 sive forest practices. 



Management is not static or neces- 

 sarily uniform throughout the national 

 forests in the Southwest. Management 

 is by small units, or working circles, 

 and management plans are made for 

 each. The annual cut from each varies 

 from 1 million to 60 million feet. 



In the preparation of management 

 plans for ponderosa pine, foresters are 



Yearbool^ of Agriculture 1949 



guided by the general objectives and 

 policies established for all the national 

 forests in the Southwest. They are: 



1. To make the first harvest cut in 

 all virgin stands within the next 20 

 years or less, in order to harvest quickly 

 the dying trees, to begin the process of 

 improving growth and quality, and to 

 make all commercial timber stands 

 accessible by a permanent road system. 



2. To make the initial cut in virgin 

 stands on a light improvement-selec- 

 tion basis, designed to remove from 30 

 to 50 percent of the gross volume, or 

 5 to 10 trees an acre. 



3. Periodically, at least once a dec- 

 ade, to make a light intermediate cut 

 in the old cut-overs to remove de- 

 cadent trees and to thin the poorest 

 trees from groups or dense stands 

 where root or crown competition im- 

 pairs net-quality growth. 



4. To utilize, to the greatest extent 

 possible and thereby improve the for- 

 est, all material that should be thinned 

 from the sapling and pole stands and 

 all material normally left in the woods 

 in a sawlog operation. 



In the initial harvest cut in virgin 

 ponderosa pine stands, many trees are 

 readily recognized as requiring re- 

 moval. They are the decadent trees 

 those with mechanical injuries such as 

 lightning streaks, those with heavy mis- 

 tletoe, the bad leaners, the rough, limby 

 trees, and the large, old trees of declin- 

 ing growth and thrift. It is not difficult 

 for a trained or experienced marker to 

 select those trees for removal. Special 

 skill is involved in selecting the addi- 

 tional trees for removal, which will fur- 

 ther improve the stand. The major 

 considerations are spacing, quality, and 

 thrift, so the marker looks for the poor- 

 est trees those that are rough or 

 crooked or have large limbs, or that 

 have large, low crowns or slight me- 

 chanical injuries, particularly in the 

 lower bole. Their removal will enhance 

 the growth of the trees that are left in 

 the stand. The isolated wolf tree, with 

 large, low limbs, and the rough, limby 

 tree are first sought for and marked. 



In the intermediate cuts in old cut- 



