652 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tion for setting out the trees which can be 

 spaced exactly where they are desired and at a very 

 reasonable cost. Because the planting is supplemental 

 to natural reproduction, only five or six hundred trees 

 per acre will be needed instead of double that number 

 and the cost will be correspondingly low. If the area 

 cut over each year is from now on completely reforested 

 in this manner, there need never be any diminution in 

 the annual output of redwood lumber. In seventy-five 

 years when the last virgin stand is cut, the older second 

 growth areas will be ready for the ax and so the pro- 

 cess will repeat itself indefinitely. There is good rea- 

 son to believe that under the intensive forest manage- 

 ment which wll be the rule in fifty to seventy-five years 

 th present annual cut of redwood can be increased 

 about 50% and maintained at that figure. 



If fires had not swept over the cut-over lands at in- 

 tervals since they were logged, most of them would 

 now be supporting a fairly good second growth forest. 

 Associated with the redwood are usually to be found 

 Douglas fir, tanbark oak, California laurel, madrone, 

 and towards the north, lowland white fir, Sitka spruce, 

 western hemlock, and scattered trees of several other 

 species. AU of the hardwoods sprout vigorously and 

 in most cases can be depended upon to produce a very 

 fair secondary stand between the clumps of redwood 



sprouts if . It seems that there must always be an 



"if" and in this case it can be spelled backward, which, 

 with the addition of re gives the answer. It is only 

 within the last five years that the state has set seriously 

 t o work t o 



combat the 

 forest fire evil 

 and while 

 mature timber 

 has been pro- 

 tected for sev- 

 eral years by 

 cooperative ef- 

 fort the cut- 

 o V e r lands 

 were always 

 considered un- 

 til recently, of 

 too little value 

 for anyone to 

 care whether 

 fire swept 

 them or not. 

 Con sequently 

 it did, and 

 each time it 

 killed practically all of the sprouts, weakened or de- 

 stroyed the vitality of the redwood stumps and favored 

 the spread of the oak root fungus, a serious enemy 

 of the hardwood species. Any seed trees which were 

 left under old logging conditions were soon killed off 

 together with their young prc^eny and, as the more 

 valuable tree species disappeared, the chaparral or 

 dwarf species, mostly ceanothus, took their places and 

 formed dense, impenetrable thickets in which no tree 



Photograph by E. Fritz. 



REDWOOD AREAS DURING AND JUST AFTER LOGGING LOOK AS IF THEY HAD BEEN 

 DEVASTATED BEYOND REDEMPTION TO ONE WHO IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE REMARK- 

 ABLE CAPACITY OF THESE TREES FOR REPRODUCTION. 



of value can get a start. Such is the history of most 

 of the redwood cut-over lands; the whole mountain 

 side immediately adjacent to the wonderful flat on Big 

 River was of this depressing character and the only 

 reason for the difference on the flat was that the mois- 

 ture conditions there made it literally too wet to bum. 

 There are fortunately a few notable exceptions to the 

 rule whereby some fortunate chance or design has been 

 kept out. The Union Lumber Company has for years 

 been able to keep most of its cut-over lands on the 

 Noyo River free from fire and the splendid stands of 

 mixed second growth are a cheerful augury for the 

 future. Smaller areas of similar character may be found 

 along the Russian River, in Marin County and in the 

 Santa Cruz mountains, as a demonstration of what 

 will be possible with increasing vigilance by state and 

 land owners in the prevention of fires. 



There is good reason to believe that the day of un- 

 controlled fires is about over. The companies are com- 

 ing to realize the potential value of logged lands for 

 future timber production and are forming cooperative 

 associations to protect them. The first of these associa- 

 tions, organized some years ago in Mendocino County, 

 has this year increased its membership until a very 

 large part of the virgin timber and cut-over lands in 

 the county is being protected by its rangers. The com- 

 panies in Humboldt County will probably take similar 

 action in the near future as all have agreed to assist 

 the State Board of Forestry in its campaign of fire 



prevention and 

 s u p p r ession. 

 This campaign 

 involves the 

 a p p o i ntment 

 of a district 

 ranger in each 

 county to com- 

 pel the clear- 

 i n g up of 

 da ngerous 

 areas of Slash 

 and to o Ion- 

 ize crews for 

 rapid and effic- 

 ient handling 

 of fires. Care- 

 less campers, 

 fishermen and 

 a utom obili sts 

 are still the 

 chief cause of 

 anxiety during the dry season, but many of these are 

 being brought to justice with a stiff fine that teaches 

 them more careful ways and furnishes a wholesome 

 example to others that the California fire law has a 

 kick in it which cannot be violated with impunity. Un- 

 der modern methods of logging and close utilization of 

 refuse material for firewood, there is very little in- 

 flammable matter left after logging is completed. These 

 lands are therefore much easier to protect than they 



