266 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



growth increases the fire hazard in virgin stands. 



California timber stands are not dense as a rule. Top 

 tires, which destroy the mature trees over a considerable 

 area, are therefore rare. The damage done by fire gen- 

 erally consists in the burning down of an occasional tree 

 and the scarring of others. This damage is not impres- 

 sive, although by a careful study of representative areas 

 the Forest Service has shown tha_t it amounts to about 

 $2.50 per acre really a material drain on the forests. 



Broadly speaking, cut over lands in California are 

 only salable for grazing purposes at present. Young 

 timber dec reases 

 the grazing capaci- 

 ty of an area and 

 therefore detracts 

 from its sale value 

 in the eyes of pres- 

 ent p u r c h a sers. 

 Areas of virgin 

 timber also produce 

 revenue from graz- 

 ing and here again 

 the young timber 

 growth fills up the 

 grassy openings in 

 the forest and is a 

 detriment from the 

 grazer's viewpoint. 



Fores ters are 

 compelled to admit 

 that the young 

 growth in a virgin 

 forest and on cut- 

 over lands in- 

 creases the fire 

 hazard for a time, 

 but if the public ac- 

 cepts the viewpoint 

 that this is a suffi- 

 cient reason for 

 countenancing the 

 burning of this 

 young growth, our 

 national for estry 

 program will re- 

 ceive a severe set- 

 back. Fractical ob- 

 servers contend that 

 young growth in a 

 forest has no value because it becomes so suppressed by 

 the shade that it cannot recover when freed. Foresters 

 have proven that this is not the case. We know from 

 careful studies that in an open pine forest a large part 

 of the young growth recovers its full growing power 

 within three years after the removal of the mature timber 

 and that the presence of young trees well distributed on 

 a cut-over area assures a continuous forest cover and 

 decreases our cutting rotation from ten to thirty years 

 the usual length of time required to secure satisfac- 



TIMBER SALE AREA IN PLUMAS NATIONAL FOREST, CALIFORNIA. ALL MARKED 

 TIMBER CUT SUGAR AND YELLOW PINE RESERVED 



tory natural reproduction from seed trees after cutting. 

 California lumbermen, then, not appreciating the in- 

 conspicuous damage done to mature timber by forest 

 ground fires and regarding the young growth in the 

 forest only as a menace to the mature timber, are very 

 much inclined to regard such fires with complaisance. 

 The public problem is to change this attitude in order 

 to secure maximum continuous forest productivity. 



About 40,000 acres of private timberland are being 

 cut over every year in the state. Through inability to 

 capitalize the forest values remaining after cutting, these 



values are being 

 depreciated greatly 

 by fire and destruc- 

 tive logging meth- 

 ods. In my opin- 

 ion this condition 

 should be remedied 

 by federal legisla- 

 tion requiring tim- 

 ber operators to 

 protect young 

 growth both from 

 the effect of de- 

 structive 1 o g g ing 

 and from fire to a 

 reasonable degree. 

 The small expense 

 involved in this 

 should be regarded 

 as a legitimate part 

 of operating cost. 

 This increased ex- 

 penditure would 

 naturally be re- 

 flected then in a 

 corresponding in- 

 crease in selling 

 price and the bene- 

 ficiaries, the con- 

 suming public, 

 would pay the bill. 

 This is as it should 

 be, it seems to me. 

 W i t h o u t blanket 

 federal legislation, 

 I see no way in 

 which this needed 

 protection can be 

 secured for the country as a whole. It is also desirable 

 that all lumbermen should be placed on the same competi- 

 tive basis which can only be accomplished by national, 

 rather than local, regulation. 



Legislation which would enable the government to 

 acquire private cut-over lands would promote the pro- 

 tection of young growth on such lands, provided the 

 public officials charged with their appraisal based their 

 valuation quite largely upon the condition of these areas. 

 Such action, however, would only be a partial remedy 



