LUMBEEIISTG IN PIXE EEGION OF CALIFORNIA. 3 



per cent; lodgepole pine, 2 per cent; big tree, 2 per cent; other 

 species, 3 per cent. 



The region is essentially one of mixed stands. The four typical 

 species are sugar pine (Pinus lamhertiana) , western yellow pine (Pinus 

 ponderosa), white fir (Abies concolor), and incense cedar (Lihocedrus 

 decurrens). All four are found throughout the region, though sugar 

 pine and incense cedar are infrequent in the pine stands on the 

 eastern slope of the Sierras. In these stands and at high elevations 

 yellow pine is frequently mixed with or supplanted by Jeffrey pine 

 {Pinus jeffreyi). No difference appears to be made commercially 

 between the lumber of these two species, which is known to the trade 

 as white pine or Cahfornia white pine. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxi- 

 folia) forms the bulk of the stand in the Northern Coast Ranges; and 

 on the western slope of the Sierras it extends south to Fresno County. 

 In the Northern Coast Ranges this species forms nearly pure stands, 

 but all exploitation of it in California is in connection with other 

 timber species. Cahfornia red fir (Ahies magnijica) also forms pure 

 stands, but at such elevations that it is seldom reached by lumbering 

 operations. Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is little exploited on 

 accoimt of the inaccessible locations of its stands and of its relatively 

 poor quaUties. The stand of big trees (Sequoia wasMngtoniana) tim- 

 ber is confined to the Southern Sierras, where it occurs in large 

 gioups or groves. This species is logged, incidentally with other 

 species, for the manufacture of lumber by one large and one small 

 concern. 



The stands now merchantable vary in volume from an average of 

 ] 1 ,000 feet, board measure, per acre in the pine and white fir stands 

 east of the Sierras to an average of 50,000 feet per acre in the heart 

 of the sugar-pine belt. Other representative stands average 25,000 

 feet per acre in the Northern Coast Ranges; 23,000 feet on the upper 

 Sacramento; 27,000 feet on the lower P^cather River; 25,000 feet on 

 the Consumnes River; 30,000 feet on the Stanislaus River; and 25,000 

 feet on the Kings River. The maximum stand per acre on record is 

 200,000 feet, of which approximately 75 per cent is sugar pine. 

 Good quarter sections run as high as 70,000 feet per acre. The 

 majority of tlu; present lumbering operations are located in stands 

 averaging from 18,000 to 40,000 feet per acre. 



Th(5 timber ranges in size frc^m an average breasthigh diametor of 

 28 inches to an averages of 50 inches for trees over 12 inches in diam- 

 eter. Individual sugar-pine trec^s have been found with a breasthigh 

 diameter of 120 >ich(!s. The height ranges from 4-log trees in the 

 yellow and JefFrey pine stands to 13-log trees in the best sugar and 

 yellow pine. A 16-fo(;t length is regarded as the standard log. 



The following average; figures, which were obtained from tlic'. cruis- 

 ing measurements on two large timber sale areas in the Sierras, show 



