TIMBER AND RECREATION 147 



fication in past practice also included more effective screening of cut-over 

 areas by roadside zones and other well-located uncut areas, and where 

 clear cutting is necessary, a wider distribution of cutting areas. 



The lodgepole pine, a predominant type in the Northern and Central 

 Rocky Mountains, has been managed chiefly by some form of partial cut- 

 ting. Vast lodgepole areas cut over for railroad ties and mine timbers in the 

 last 30 years bear evidence that areas logged by forestry methods may still 

 be green and attractive. Such areas are today commonly used for recreation. 



The various hardwood types that occur in the eastern and southern 

 national forests are generally well adapted to selective cutting, although, as 

 in all types, there are portions of the stand in which clear cutting may be 

 the best form of silviculture. Very heavy recreational use takes place on 

 many hardwood stands that have been selectively logged. 



On the other hand, the red spruce and balsam fir forests growing on the 

 upper slopes of the eastern mountains usually require some form of clear 

 cutting because any reserved trees of these shallow-rooted species are pecu- 

 liarly subject to wind-throw. Clear-cut areas in this type are followed by 

 excellent reproduction, provided fires are kept out, but scenically they are 

 unattractive until the new stand is well along. Consequently, in the spruce 

 slope type either recreation values must be sacrificed for considerable 

 periods or commodity values given up altogether. 



Methods of disposing of logging slash have an important bearing on forest 

 appearance after logging operations. The continuing tendency to reduce 

 the intensity of cutting on national forests results in a decrease in the amount 

 of slash. 



Artificial planting is a form of timber management distinctly beneficial 

 to recreational use. Hundreds of thousands of acres of unsightly old burns 

 have been restored to a green forest cover through national-forest-planting 

 activities. In 1938 alone, 154,000 acres, an area four times the size of the 

 District of Columbia, were planted on the national forests. 



In various parts of the United States one finds convincing proof that 

 timber cutting and recreation may go hand in hand. Most of the heavily 

 used recreational areas of the Lake States have been cut over, but people 

 there haye made some headway toward restoration in the past few years. 



