FORESTRY AMONG THE GIANTS 



647 



Alany phases of the problem are still to be investi- 

 gated but enough observations have been made to war- 

 rant the belief that intensive forest management on 

 redwood lands will probably yield larger and quicker re- 

 turns than is possible with any other coniferous tree. 

 It is in order to present a few of the salient facts lead- 

 ing to this conclusion that the fo'.Iowing pages have been 

 written. These will be presented as briefly and enter- 

 tainingly as possible with no apology for the few nec- 

 essary figures. 



The story of redwood reproduction reads like a fairy 

 tale because among all the softwood timbers of the 

 world this species alone has the ability to sprout con- 

 sistently and profusely from the stump. In fact so 

 well developed is this tendency and so vigorous are the 

 sprouts that probably eighty per cent of the trees in 

 virgin redwood stands got their start in life in this 

 manner. Stumps retain the sprouting capacity to a 

 surprising age and a goodly proportion of even the 

 oldest trees will sprout vigorously after being cut. 

 The stumps moreover are wonderfully tenacious of life 

 and will continue to send up vigorous green shoots in 

 spite of repeated discouraging setbacks from successive 

 fires or clearings with the ax. So serious a problem 

 are these sprouts in the attempt to clear redwood lands 

 for agriculture 



r grazing, 

 that many a 

 man has given 

 up in despair 

 after waging 

 a losing battle 

 for lo years or 

 more against 

 these persist- 

 ent and rapid- 



1 y growing 

 sprouts. Even 

 the hottest fire 

 used in clear- 

 ing logging 

 slash kills but 

 a fraction of 

 the stumps 

 and a newly 

 logged area 

 which appears 



to the uninitiated to be hopelessly devastated will with- 

 in a very few months be thickly dotted with bright 

 green clumps of sprouts encircling nearly every stump. 

 Usually several hundred and sometimes more than a 

 thousand of these suckers push up in a circle from the 

 root collar of the stump and engage immediately in a 

 battle royal to determine which eight or ten will be the 

 ultimate survivors of all this group of starters. Some 

 suckers also arise from surface roots at a distance 

 from the stumps and in very exceptional cases a few 

 seedlings may start immediately and so result in a 

 complete stand of young trees. Such fully stocked 



KEDWOOD IN FULLY STOCKED STANDS GROWS MORE RAPIDLY IN VOLUME THAN ANY 

 OTHER SOFTWOOD TREE IN THE WORLD. THE TREES IN THIS 48-YEAR-OLD STAND 

 AVERAGED 24 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND 125 FEET IN HEIGHT. AN ACRE MEASURED 

 HERE CONTAINS OVER 137,000 BOARD FEET OF LUMBER AND HAS COME TO BE KNOWN 

 AS THE "WONDER SAMPLE PLOT." 



Stands of reproduction are of exceedingly rare occur- 

 rence because of the prevalence of fires in cut-over 

 areas in past years, but enough have been ferreted out 

 and measured during the past year to indicate that 

 where given adequate protection they grow with aston- 

 ishing rapidity. The writer had the pleasure of laying 

 out and measuring, with the assistance of E. Fritz, a 

 full acre sample plot in such a stand on the banks of 

 Big River, Mendocino County, last July. We walked 

 down the bank of the stream from the Mendocino 

 Lumber Comipany camp, where we were stopping, a 

 distance of about three or four miles, across deserted 

 clearings where old lumber camps or homestead cabins 

 had once stood, and through patches of second growth 

 in difierent stages of development and density. Some 

 of these stands showed severe damage by fire ; others 

 were very open in character owing to the distance apart 

 that the old trees had stood and the lack of reproduc- 

 tion between the circles of sprouts, but finally we entered 

 a stand the density of which was in startling contrast 

 to the brilliant sunshine outside. It was like going 

 from a sunny street into the door of a dimly lighted 

 cathedral. When our eyes became accustomed to the 

 dim light we could scarcely believe that they were not 

 playing us false, for the trees about us were so large 



and beautiful- 

 ly fomied it 

 seemed that 

 they miust be 

 more than 

 mere second 

 growth. But 

 here and there 

 amid unmis- 

 takable circles 

 were the mas- 

 s i V e stumps 

 c ha racteristic 

 of the early 

 day logging 

 and we knew 

 that we had 

 reached the 

 spot we were 

 looking for. 

 As we ran out 

 lines around 

 the .sample 

 acre and then sat down to eat our lunch first 

 one and then another would exclaim over the den- 

 sity and wonderful beauty of this stand of young trees, 

 but it was not until we had finished measuring diameters 

 and heights and determined the age to be 48 years, that 

 the full wonder of it was impressed upon us. The 

 tally sheets at the end of the afternoon showed that we 

 had measured 263 trees on that acre which averaged 

 125 feet in height and 24 inches in diameter breast 

 high. The tallest trees were over 150 feet in height and 

 a few were just over three feet in diameter breast high. 

 In addition to the above there were also recorded five 



