where the natural reversion is rapid, the resulting 

 stands are often of poor quality. This kind of land, 

 together with the waste areas around towns, accounts 

 for 100,000 acres in need of planting. 



Effects of Mining Operations 



The forests in the coal fields have been severely 

 abused. The coal companies acquired the land not 

 for the timber on it but for the coal beneath it. So 

 long as they could harvest mine timbers they did so, 

 but once the timber was cut, the coal companies' 

 interest in the forest was usually gone. They set up 

 breakers and piled mine waste wherever it was con- 

 venient. In the 1920's they began a regular practice 

 of stripping off the soil to reach coal near the surface, 

 and in this way destroyed thousands of acres of forest 

 land. Meanwhile fire after fire ran through much of 

 what was left of the forests, leaving little but scrub 

 oak and thinly stocked stands of commercial species. 



Clear-cutting Practices 



Even now clear-cutting of immature stands is 

 widely practiced. Furthermore, wartime restrictions 

 on transportation resulted in the cutting of progres- 

 sively younger stands. The requirements of the 

 mining industry are such that loggers have had a sale 

 for everything on a tract of woodland. The larger 

 trees produce sawlogs or gangway timbers: timber of 

 pole size produces mine props; and smaller growth 

 down to about 3 inches is used for lagging. 8 Anything 

 left, together with any sprout growth, is easily de- 

 stroyed by fire. It is estimated that even under 

 present conditions some 35,000 acreas of woodland, 

 much of it immature timber, is clear-cut annually. 



Unused Areas Near Towns 



Waste areas near towns are increasing. The popu- 

 lation is declining and many tracts that have been 



8 Sticks up to 4 inches in diameter and up to 6 feel I 

 placed close together between the props and the mine walls 

 and roof to prevent loose material from falling into passages. 



<<MMI| 



Figure 7. Unproductive mint waste banks covti Iho 

 The Anthracite Forest Region A Problem Ana 



