TIMBER AND RECREATION 145 



Much of the feeling which has developed among nature lovers against 

 timber cutting has been heightened by the pioneer form of timber liquida- 

 tion on private lands. That, of course, usually is not forestry, practiced as 

 long-time husbandry, at all. 



Sustained Yield . . . For each type of commercial timber in the national 

 forests, the Forest Service aims to develop techniques of management which 

 will serve to renew and reproduce the cut-over stand, and keep it continu- 

 ously productive. This affords maximum opportunity for employment, and 

 helps contribute to continuity and stability of dependent communities. 

 These methods vary, and all problems have not yet been solved. But recrea- 

 tional values are naturally best preserved by the methods which least dis- 

 turb the forest cover. 



The ponderosa pine type is the most widespread of the important western 

 timber types. It is normally an uneven-aged forest, and adapts itself to a 

 system of partial cutting at intervals of 20 to 50 years, each operation taking 

 out the oldest trees. With the development of truck transportation, the 

 tendency has been for cutting to become even lighter than in the past, the 

 first cutting sometimes removing not more than 30 to 40 percent of the 

 volume, causing very little break in the forest cover and little reduction in 

 the general recreational value of the forest. This system of cutting is now in 

 effect over large areas in the national forests. 



The west coast Douglas fir type offers a more difficult problem in main- 

 taining scenic values. The old-growth timber occurs in very heavy stands 

 and the trees are so large and so old that in the past the usual practice has 

 been clear cutting, with reseeding accomplished through scattered seed 

 trees or uncut blocks or strips. Within the last decade, however, powerful 

 trucks and tractors have made selective logging physically possible. A few 

 years ago information accumulated by research and administration indi- 

 cated that, from the standpoint of economics as well as that of silviculture, 

 it was possible to apply within some of the Douglas fir type a selective system 

 modified to fit that type. This modified system is now adopted, as far as 

 conditions and circumstances make it possible, in Douglas fir stands on the 

 national forests. It is also being tried out on certain private holdings. Modi- 



