FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 



85 



White pine is the species recommended for general use wherever it naturally 

 reaches good development. With it should be planted a 26% to 50% mixture 

 of other trees as fillers and for an understory — western larch, Engelmann spruces, 

 and western red cedar — since white pine is too intolerant to do well in an abso- 

 lutely pure stand. The white pine and larch stock should be either L — 3 or 2 — 1 

 transplants, while the Engelmann spruce and red cedar should be 2 — 1. A spac- 

 ing of 8 X 8 feet is probably ideal for this type when both cost and silvicultural 

 results are considered. If 60% of the plants are white pine and the balance 

 of the other species there would be 408 white pines per acre. An estimate of the 

 cost of establishing such a plantation of mixed species is as follows : 



Per acre 

 8x8 feet 



Nursery stock ready for shipment, mixed species- 

 Transportation, nursery to planting site 



Labor of planting 



Supervision 



Total- 



It is estimated that this white pine land is capable of producing at least 600 

 board feet per acre per year. The length of rotation necessary to give timber of 

 a fair commercial size is 120 years, so that plantations made now should yield 

 75,000 board feet after 120 years. Thinnings would, of course, yield returns 

 somewhat sooner. But even at the relatively large initial cost of planting, the 

 planting of white pine on ultimate forest land is a profitable investment for a 

 long-term concern, when it is considered that its stumpage is steadily and rapidly 

 rising in value. This is one of the few forest types of the West of which this 

 may be said. 



The volume growth of white pine stands is probably somewhat less than that 

 in the Douglas fir type, but its wood is of higher value. Therefore the monetary 

 yield from the white pine type should be comparable with that from the Douglas 

 fir type. The tables showing the cost of growing Douglas fir may be used also 

 to determine the profit in growing white pine. 



Fir Type 



The upper slopes of both sides of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and 

 Washington, the upper slopes of the Sierra Mountains of California above the 

 zonal ranges of the commercial sugar pine forests, and the upper slopes of the 

 Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, are occupied by a forest which may be called 

 the fir type, because it consists largely of various 'species of Abies — A. nobilis, 

 amabilis, concolor, lasiocarpa, shastensis, and magnifica. 



Practically all the land embraced within the exterior limits of this type was 

 originally and still is forested. Since the most of it lies above the highest cli- 

 matic contour at which agriculture can be practiced successfully, this type is prac- 

 tically all ultimate forest land. For this reason it is of the greatest economic im- 

 portance. 



