UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



EPARTB ENT BULLETI1 k 1 564 



Washington, D. C. T February 21, 1925 



FOREST PLANTING IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION 



By C. F. Korstian, Associate Silviculturist, Appalachian Forest Experiment 

 Station, and F. S. Baker, Forest Examiner, Forest Service. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction .. 1 



Seed collection 2 



Yield from cones 3 



Cost of seed 3 



Nursery practice 4 



Nursery operations 5 



Protection from diseases and injuries 6 



Distribution of planting stock 9 



Field planting 10 



Planting sites and native timber types.. 10 



Methods of planting „ 11 



Page. 

 Field planting — Continued. | 



Number of plants per acre 12 



Results of field planting 13 



Causes of loss and failure and methods of 



prevention 39 



Planting costs 45 



Future of artificial forestation in Intermoun- 



tain Region 45 



Summary 47 



Appendix 49 



Literature cited 56 



INTRODUCTION. 



The " intermountain region" is a term used*to include the great 

 expanse of country lying between the Sierra Nevada Mountains 

 and the Rocky Mountains proper, bounded on the north by the 

 Salmon River and on the south by the Colorado River, and situated 

 mainly in the Great Basin and the Snake River watershed. This 

 territory is prevailingly arid, but upon the higher mountain ranges 

 occur extensive timbered areas the bulk of which are now included 

 within the boundaries of national forests. There are also within 

 these boundaries many large tracts of potential forest land now 

 bearing no commercial tree growth, whose highest value can never 

 be attained until they are made to produce timber. This has been 

 recognized by the Forest Service, and plantations and seedings 

 have been made to test methods and costs. Direct seeding was 

 unsuccessful and was soon abandoned as a method, but plantations 

 of trees started in nurseries proved conclusively that this method 

 can be used to reforest denuded lands in this region. Planting work 

 has been discontinued here, however, in view of the opportunity to 

 secure better results, both in survival and growth, in other regions 

 where the reforestation of national forest lands is of equal or greater 

 importance. 



The results have shown many of the possibilities as well as the 

 difficulties of planting in the mountains of an arid region and indi- 



91913°— 25f 1 1 



