764 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, tqt6 



How Minnesota Disposes of 

 Logging Debris 



Winter Slash Burning is Imposed on All Operations, 

 Whether Lumbering, or Road Building 



Note: The Editor of the Journal re- 

 cently asked the State Forester of Min- 

 nesota to outline the methods of slash 

 disposal as practised in that state. His 

 reply follows : 



Tlie laws of Minnesota require that 

 logging- slash and slash from the 

 rig-hts-of-way of roads and ditches 

 shall be disposed of in accordance with 

 the direction of the forester. Our 

 practice in handling slash from rights- 

 of-way of all kinds has been to have it 

 pield and burned in the centre of the 

 right-of-way at the time of cutting ; 

 while for logging operations the prac- 

 tice varies with the character of timber 

 and land involved. In the operations 

 in thick stands of Norway and white 

 pine we are bringing about the prac- 

 tice of burning as cutting proceeds. 

 Where spruce is logged clean, the 

 brush is piled in windrows and burned 

 as soon as the snow is ofif the ground. 

 Operations by steam skidders on mar- 

 ketable agricultural land permit clean 

 burning as soon as the cutting on each 

 unit is completed. On the rocky non- 

 agricultural lands, where heretofore we 

 have not found it feasible to require 

 winter burning, the slash is cleaned 

 up on strips from one to two hundred 

 feet wide adjoining the logging roads 

 and spurs. Our purpose is then to 

 keep all fires out of the remaining 

 slash. 



Before logging operations start in 

 the fall, our rangers ascertain what 

 areas within their districts are likely 

 to be cut, and, after an examination -of 

 the lands, a notice is issued to the log- 

 ger, directing him as to what method 

 he shall follow in disposing of the slash 

 on each and all of the descriptions to 

 be logged over. We have found that 



the opposition to winter slash burning 

 has decreased as the loggers have be- 

 come more familiar with doing the 

 work, and as they understand more of 

 the dangers and damages that result 

 from a postponement of the operations 

 until spring or summer. At this time 

 we are considering the advisability of 

 asking the legislature to declare a 

 closed season for brush disposal, it be- 

 ing understood that such work could 

 be carried on during the closed season 

 only under special permit from the dis- 

 trict forest ranger or the state forester. 

 Although burning may be done satis- 

 factorily early in the spring before the 

 frost is out of the ground, the results 

 on the whole have not been a success. 

 The period during which it is dry 

 enough to burn and not too dry for 

 safety is so short and uncertain that a 

 crew might be held in readiness for 

 weeks awaiting the time to burn. On 

 the other hand, one or two men may 

 slip into the woods and set fire to the 

 slash area when it is dangerously dry. 

 The latter action has in many instances 

 destroyed company property and pri- 

 vate property ten times more valuable 

 than what it would have cost to burn 

 the slash in the winter time. 



DILLON P. TIERNEY, 



Acting State Forester. 



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