THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 57 



stand has resulted from a fire which destroyed its predecessor 

 not so completely as to remove the seed supply, but sufficiently 

 to afford light for a more uniformly dense crop of seedlings 

 than would occur in the normal forest. These have been 

 thinned out as the stand grew old, but never to a degree 

 which allowed much reproduction beneath them. The natural 

 cycle will be begun again in time, for toward the end of the 

 life of this unusually heavy stand, seedlings will begin to ap- 

 pear gradually as individual old trees die and admit more 

 and more light. The other exceptions described are due to 

 more recent ground fires which have destroyed only the less 

 hardy young growth and perhaps also encouraged the lodge 

 pole which, within its range, is always quick to take burned 

 ground. 



The same result is almost sure to follow the "Indian" 

 method of forest protection sometimes advocated, which con- 

 sists of purposely running ground fires frequently in order to 

 prevent accumulation of sufficient debris to make an acci- 

 dental fire fatal to timber of commercial size. While such 

 immunity may be secured, and perhaps without sacrifice in 

 stands so heavy as to have no reproduction or when the latter 

 has already been destroyed, it is obviously at the expense of 

 young growth if any exists. The counter argument that a 

 small proportion escaping will be sufficient for the second 

 crop is fallacious, because good timber will not be produced 

 from these scattering seedlings subjected to strong light by 

 later logging. Other means are necessary if the forest is to 

 be reproduced. 



This brings us to the possible management of yellow pine 

 as an even-aged forest. Thoughtful foresters are beginning 

 to suspect that while the "Indian" system of fire protection 

 will usually be fatal if ordinary logging practice is followed, 

 it may serve as an adjunct to a system which, if carefully ap- 

 plied, will be better than selection cutting for some of our 

 pine areas. This plan is suggested where there is little young 

 growth worth protecting and consists of depending upon seed 

 trees almost entirely for reproduction, protecting carefully 



