130 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



No other course is possible in America, where conditions are far 

 more extensive. The working plan designates certain areas, 

 certain cutting series even; beyond this it cannot go. It must 

 help and not hamper the managing officer. It is merely a frame 

 within which he exercises his individual ingenuity. 



Selection of Stands to be Cut 



The conditions which govern the selection of stands to be 

 cut are: market, maturity, damage (insects, fungi, etc.), wind- 

 fall, fire, and the like. 



Under market are contained all the manifold considerations 

 of logging accessibility, of profit in cutting and* marketing, 

 and the sizes and species which can be logged. For example, 

 a spruce stand on top of an isolated mountain like Mt. Graham 

 in Arizona may be fully mature and in need of cutting, but unless 

 there are adequate logging devices which can market the tim- 

 ber at a reasonable profit, it is useless to designate this as the 

 sole cutting area of the next working period. Similarly, there 

 may be large amounts of fir (abies) in mixture with other species 

 such as spruce and Douglas fir, but unless the fir is accepted as 

 lumber and as ties it cannot be counted on the same basis with 

 the other species. Finally, where material below a certain 

 diameter cannot be marketed at a profit it should not be con- 

 sidered a part of the cut of the next working period. In other 

 words, the cutting plan must deal first with actualities con- 

 fronting the administrative officer and put hypothetical utili- 

 zation in a subordinate place. 



Other things being equal, the cutting plan provides for the 

 logging of all mature and overmature stands, i.e., such as have 

 attained or passed the rotation age. If the forest is even-aged 

 or fairly so, these stands are those of the highest age class or 

 classes. 



Stands which show damage by insects, fungi, etc., should 

 usually be cut; they are therefore included in the cutting plan 

 for the next working period. 



Stands which have suffered severe mind/all must often be 



