QCT29 1914 



Division of Forest 

 University of Calif or 



REFORESTATION ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



WASTE LAND WHICH WILL PRODUCE TIMBER. 



It is assumed that the American people do not want to see land 

 lying idle. There are many millions of acres of untillable mountain 

 land and dry, sandy tracts, now utterly unproductive, which can and 

 should be made to produce timber. Much of this area consists of cut- 

 over and burned-over land in the South and in the eastern mountains, 

 while much more is logged-off land in the Lake States. A consider- 

 able part, however, lies in the National Forests of the West. 



Next in importance to protecting the National Forests from fire 

 and disposing of the mature timber in a way to secure good, natural 

 reproduction is the task of starting forest growth upon the vast areas 

 of untillable mountain lands which have been rendered unproductive 

 by fires, insects, and other agencies. The Forest Service has taken 

 up in earnest this enormous task. 



The subject of artificial reforestation on the National Forests 

 divides itself naturally into three parts collection of seed, direct 

 seeding, and planting of seedlings. The two first are discussed in this 

 bulletin ; the third will be treated separately in a later bulletin of the 

 Forest Service. Before describing the actual work of reforestation, 

 however, it is necessary to present a general view of the present 

 conditions on the National Forests and of the policy of the Forest 

 Service with regard to the reforestation of denuded areas. 



PRESENT CONDITIONS ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



The National Forests embrace an area of 191,548,000 acres, scat- 

 tered from Alaska to Porto Rico. Within their boundaries are found 

 portions of the jack-pine barrens of Michigan, the sandhills of Ne- 

 braska, the western yellow pine of the Southwest, the stunted chapar- 

 ral forests of southern California, the subtropical hardwoods of the 

 West Indies, the great lodgepole pine and spruce protective forests 

 of the Eocky Mountains, and the splendid fir and cedar of the north 

 Pacific coast. They contain every grade of timber from stands 



NOTE. The writer desires to make acknowledgment of valuable assistance 

 given him by Mr. Raphael Zon, Mr. J. M. Fetherolf, Mr. Fred Ames, and other 

 members of the Forest Service in the preparation of this bulletin. 



5274 Bull. 9811 2 7 



