84 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



redwood type: "Government studies on the northern California coast prove con- 

 clusively, however, that this is our most rapid growing native commercial tree. In 

 thirty years, on fair soil, it will produce a tree 16 inches in diameter, 80 feet high, 

 and some 45-year-old stands run 20 to 30 inches on the stump, and about 100 feet 

 high. There is little question of the profit of growing redwood provided the 

 difficulties described elsewhere of getting a dense crop started are overcome.'' 

 Conservative forest management in this type by any reasonably cheap method of 

 natural or artificial reforestation should be financially profitable to the private 

 owner assuming that the value of stumpage will constantly increase. Second 

 crops of redwood should be of good size for the sawmill in 50 years, and if 

 eucalyptus can be successfully grown on these lands the new forest would be 

 merchantable in even shorter time. 



Western White Pine Type. 



Most of northern Idaho and adjoining small portions of the States of Wash- 

 ington and Montana on the west side of the Continental Divide are occupied by 

 the white pine forest region, and about a half of this area belongs to the white 

 pine type. This forest type occupies the lower slopes of the mountains, which, 

 with its humid and rather mild climate, is pre-eminently adapted to the growth 

 of western white pine. This tree is perhaps the most valuable of the important 

 western conifers, and its propagation will therefore control the forest manage- 

 ment in this region. It forms in the virgin woods at least 50% of the stand over 

 large areas, though it is by no means everywhere the dominant tree. Douglas 

 fir, western larch, western red cedar, Engelmann spruce, western hemlock, lodge- 

 pole pine, and western yellow pine all occur in greater or less abundance in this 

 region, and on the drien sites a mixture of larch, yellow pine, and Douglas fir 

 takes the place of the white pine type proper. 



The white pine forests are usually rather dense, rather uneven-aged, and 

 are composed of trees of medium size. The climate is favorable, and hence 

 growth is rapid, as in the Douglas fir type west of the Cascades. 



Quite a large proportion of this type is on land which will eventually be 

 cleared for agricultural use, but a good deal of it, especially most of that within 

 the National Forests, is ultimate forest land. Probably over half of it falls within 

 the National Forests, and the rest is privately owned, except for a few hundred 

 thousand acres within an Idaho State Forest. This region is now the scene of 

 very active logging operations, and it will undoubtedly always be an important 

 timber producing district. This region has the capacity to produce such a large 

 quantity of high value timber that here intensive forest management should be 

 profitable to the individual owner (i. e., the large, stable companies that are in 

 business for an indefinite time), as well as to the government. 



Artificial reforestation should be used to supplement natural, and is required 

 for burned lands of which there is a considerable area. The method of artificial 

 reforestation recommended for white pine is like that for the Pacific Coast 

 types— planting of nursery-grown stock. Direct seeding has been so unsuccessful 

 as not to be advisable, and one of the chief causes for its failure seems to be the 

 high mortality the first year during the hot, drv weather. 



