THE NATIONAL FORESTS OE IDAHO 



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ests amounting to about $6,170,000. A considerable sum is annually 

 expended for the maintenance of these improvements. 



Many more miles of roads and trails are needed to make the 

 forest really accessible and to reduce the difficulties of fire protec- 

 tion. These roads and trails will also be of great service to the 

 public. The work of improving the forests up to the desired stand- 

 ard is being carried steadily forward, but many years will be re- 

 quired to complete it. 



FOREST PLANTING 



As a general rule when virgin timber is swept by forest fires, the 

 area reseeds naturally. If, however, a second fire occurs before the 

 young growth is old enough to bear seed the destruction is often 





Fig. 9. — A dirt road built to open up national forest resources 



complete and reseeding does not occur, so that the areas are left in 

 a devastated condition. In order to make them again productive 

 it is necessary to resort to planting. Approximately 200,000 acres 

 on the national forests in north Idaho are in need of planting to 

 restore the forest growth and put them again in a productive 

 condition. Since 1914, when the planting program of the Forest 

 Service was started in Idaho, about 20,000 unproductive acres have 

 been planted, chiefly with western white pine and yellow pine. 

 These plantations have been very successful in general, and on ap- 

 proximately 90 per cent of the areas a new stand has been estab- 

 lished. Under the present program about 3,000 acres a year are 

 planted in north Idaho. The cost of planting, including the nursery 

 stock, has averaged about $10 per acre. 



The planting stock used is grown at the Savenac Nursery, at 

 Haugan, Mont., a few miles east of the Idaho line. This nursery, 



