78 REPORT OF THB FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



abundance are associated such commercially important species as western hem- 

 lock, western red cedar, Sitka spruce, amabilis fir, and grand fir. These species 

 will occupy a minor place, and the management of Douglas fir receive first atten- 

 tion from the forester. This type is how being exploited by lumbermen more 

 than any other type, and is sure to be for many years the most active lumber 

 manufacturing district in the country. 



A good deal of the land originally occupied by the heavy forests of this 

 type has been cleared for agricultural use, and still more will be. But there yet 

 remains an enormous area, possibly 10,000,000 acres, in western Oregon and 

 Washington, which is ultimate forest land, i. e., it is too steep, or too stony, to be 

 worth clearing. This area has tremendous possibilities for timber producton, and 

 it is a most important public duty to see that this ultimate forest land be kept 

 perpetually at, its maximum degree of forest productivity. 



About a third of the ultimate forest land of this type is under the control 

 of the Federal Government and the balance is in the ownership of lumber com- 

 panies, both large and small, railroads, and individuals. The future of this great 

 region, therefore, devolves qviite largely upon the private owner. It is to be 

 expected that the area controlled by the Federal Government will be kept for- 

 ested so as to produce the maximum amount of forest crops perpetually. 



In this region there is an abundance of wood for domestic uses on farms ; 

 there is no particular occasion for artificial wind-breaks and shelter belts, and 

 there is no afforestation of naturally treeless land to do. The problem, there- 

 fore, is merely to reforest in the best possible fashion the ultimate forest land, as 

 fast as the virgin timber is removed by fire or logging, with a view solely to 

 timber production. 



The exigencies of logging with donkey engines in the Douglas fir type are 

 such that some form of clean cutting is quite essential, and this system fits in 

 well with the requirements of the species for an opportunity to germinate in the 

 open on a mineral seed bed, and to develop a pure, even-aged stand. Clean cut- 

 ting is practiced, therefore, in cutting in this type and usually the slash is burned 

 afterward. 



On the private lands now being logged no attention is paid to securing a 

 second crop, and the land is usually abandoned to fire and brush. vSometimes it 

 becomes reforested from solitary cull trees which were left standing, or from 

 adjacent green timber; often it is run over by a second or third fire which 

 effectually prevents it from restocking. On the National Forests this type is so 

 cut as to assure its reforestation by natural means. 



All things considered, natural regeneration seems to be preferable to arti- 

 ficial, wherever it can be practiced. Under the following conditions, however, it 

 cannot be used successfully and artificial methods are indicated. 



"1. In very decadent stands, where the Douglas fir is past the seed-bearing 

 age and the forest is given over to hemlock, grand fir, and other secondary species 

 not desired in the next crop, artificial methods must be resorted to in order to 

 secure a second crop of the desired species, Douglas fir. A good many such 

 stands exist in western Washington. 



