Improve Timber Stands 



Improvement cuttings, thinnings, and weedings 

 could be made now in many stands; they would 

 provide a large proportion of the props and lagging 

 required by the mines and at the same time would 

 improve the forest. Adoption of sound forest-manage- 

 ment practices in place of the prevalent clear-cutting 

 methods would benefit the forests immediately. 



Harvest cuts should not exceed 40 percent of the 

 total board-foot volume in sugar maple-beech-yellow 

 birch saw-timber stands. Clean-boled, straight, 

 vigorous trees of sugar maple, black cherry, ash, and 

 other valuable species should be reserved for future 

 cuts. Such stands will yield high-quality timber in 

 10 to 15 years. 



Dense second-growth stands can be improved 

 through the removal of large, limby, or crooked trees. 

 Even overcrowded young sapling growths will benefit 

 from the weeding out of undesirable trees. 



Harvest cuts should be lighter in the oak saw-timber 

 stands: no more than about 30 percent of the total 

 board-foot volume should be removed. These stands 

 have numerous deformed and injured trees that 

 should be utilized now, leaving clean-boled straight 

 trees of the superior species. Well-managed oak 

 stands will replace the volume cut in 14 to 20 years. 

 In thinning oak stands it is generally desirable to cut 

 all sprouts in a clump or none at all. In areas where 

 white and pitch pine occur with the oak these species 

 are generally more valuable than the oak sprouts. 

 In this case the oak may be cut clear, leaving vigorous, 

 healthy-crowned pine seed trees. Where pine seed- 

 lings are overtopped by oak sprouts, it is desirable to 

 remove the competing growth until the pine attains 

 dominance. 



Steps should be taken to keep cattle out of farm 

 woodlands. This is essential to the establishment of 

 young trees in hardwood forests. By browsing, cattle 

 destroy tree reproduction; they slow up in some meas- 

 ure the growth of the older trees. Fencing will result 

 in greatly improved conditions in the farm woodlands 

 of the region if, in addition, sound forest-management 

 practices are adopted. 



Improve Watersheds 



Local floods, an increasing mine-water problem, 

 reduction in local water supplies, soil erosion — these 

 problems are all aggravated by lack of adequate 

 forest cover. Good forest cover can reduce, but not 



altogether eliminate, the effects of floods. Planting 

 open areas or increasing the stocking of forests at the 

 headwaters and along the upper courses of streams 

 would improve the watershed conditions in the area. 

 Cutting operations should avoid removing any large 

 part of the cover from steep slopes. Fires must be 

 kept out in order to preserve the water-absorbing duff 

 that accumulates under a protected forest. These 

 measures should be supplemented by engineering 

 works designed to control the waters from exception- 

 ally heavy rainfalls. 



A program of landslide prevention in the Lehigh 

 Gorge and other areas where steep slopes overhang 

 railroads is essential to the protection of lives and 

 property. A combination of forestry and engineering 

 is needed to stabilize the steep slopes. 



To bind the soil and reduce surface runoff on the 

 slopes where these slides occur, trees and shrubs should 

 be planted, especially pitch pine, red oak, and hem- 

 lock. Where the slopes are cultivated, contour farm- 

 ing and terracing are needed. Fire-prevention and 

 control programs are needed to protect the vegetation 

 on these slopes. Measures needed include the burning 

 of safety strips along the railroads and at intervals up i 

 the slopes, the burning of accumulated dead leaves 

 installation of more effective spark arresters and ash 

 pans on locomotives, and fire patrols on high-hazard I 

 days. Engineering work needed includes the blasting 

 away of loose boulders, stabilization of rocky slopes by 

 retaining walls and planting, ditches at the tops of 

 slopes to control surface runoff, and tapping and 

 ditching of subterranean streams. 



Public and Private Responsibility 



The responsibility for developing the forests is both 

 private and public. Since 85 percent of the forest 

 land in the region is privately owned it is only reason- 

 able that some of the responsibility for rehabilitation 

 be assumed by private landowners. On the other 

 hand, the public as a whole also has a stake in the 

 development of the forests. Conditions at the head- 

 waters of streams affect the welfare of an entire water- 

 shed, as repeated floods make clear. The ability of a 

 forest to maintain continuous production is a factor 

 of considerable importance in the economic vitality 

 of any forested area. Local and State governments 

 are largely dependent for income on taxable resources; 

 and as the coal resources decline, the forests will have 

 to carry a larger share of this burden. 



Some activities probably will have to be financed 



30 



Miscellaneous Publication 648, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



