cases responsibility for its care and protection is 
evaded by its owners. Remedial measures to cor- 
rect this and other critical forest problems are 
discussed later in the report. 
RECENT CUT-OVERS 
Lands that have been cut over since the begin- 
ning of 1920 (type 36) total 2,160,000 acres (fig. 
11), two-thirds of which is in western Washington. 
It is all easily accessible, and most of it is near the 
great waterways of the region, Puget Sound and 
the Columbia River. 
percent was privately owned and 3 percent county- 
In 1934 approximately 84 
owned. The county-owned portion has increased 
greatly since then, and much more has become tax 
delinquent. 
Less than a third of the recently logged land is 
satisfactorily restocked. Results of a linear survey 
of the land logged in the 4-year period 1920-23 
show that 12 percent of that land is well stocked, 
17 percent is medium stocked, 29 percent is poorly 
stocked, and 42 percent is nonstocked. Since 1923 
the seed crops have been poor. 
that lands logged later than 1923 are in poorer 
It may be assumed 
condition than those logged earlier. 
The recent cut-over type includes not only some 
of the most accessible forest land in the region but 
also some of that having the greatest potential 
productivity. This potential productivity has been 
greatly impaired by present practices, which if 
they continue will bring the forest resources of the 
region far below what they would have been had 
this land been permitted to restock promptly and 
fully. The first and urgently needed step in re- 
storing these lands to a fair degree of productivity 
is to give them more intensive fire protection. 
DEFORESTED BURNS 
The deforested cut-over lands have yielded at 
least one crop, but 14 million acres of land (type 
37) has been deforested by fire without having 
yielded a crop. (A comparatively small percent- 
age of the trees killed by fire have been salvaged.) 
Part of this area has been burned several times, 
and each succeeding fire lessened the chance of 
natural restocking. Part will regenerate naturally 
in time, but a large part must be planted if it is 
to become productive without undue delay. A 
portion has been burned so severely that the in- 
26 
herent productive capacity of the soil has been 
considerably reduced by exposure to the elements, 
and now supports a scanty cover of weeds and 
shrubs. 
Many of the present deforested burns, particu- 
larly those in the Oregon Coast Range, supported 
some of the finest stands in the region. Some areas 
such as the Tillamook and Wolf Creek burns of 
1933 may restock naturally, but had not had time 
to do so when the survey data were collected. 
There are other large deforested areas where the 
original forest was noncommercial or inaccessible. 
Woodland and Noncommercial Forests 
Approximately 8 percent of the total forest land 
in the region, 2,311,000 acres, is woodland and non- 
commercial forests. Although lands of these classes 
are not suitable or available for commercial produc- 
tion of timber products, they are valuable for other 
uses. They protect the headwaters of streams, 
conserving soil and water, they furnish grazing for 
stock, and contribute much to the region’s scenic 
attractions. Oak-madrone woodland (type 4) is 
occasionally cut for cordwood and is extensively 
grazed. The other types forming this group are 
lodgepole pine (types 25 and 26), subalpine forests 
38). 
Hardwood Forests 
Broadleaf or hardwood forests occur infrequently 
and are very much less important than conifer 
stands. Less than 3 percent of the forest area in the 
region is occupied by hardwood forests (type 31) 
other than oak-madrone woodland. Hardwoods 
occur mainly on the moist stream-bottom lands; 
extensive continuous hardwood forests are lacking. 
The more important broadleaf stands occur in the 
valleys and on the lower slopes of the Oregon Coast 
Range and in the vicinity of Puget Sound. The 
most common species is red alder. It often forms 
pure forests by seeding in on conifer sites after fire 
and acts as a rapid-growing temporary cover for 
the seedling conifers. This dominance persists for 
a few decades, but ultimately the alder is over- 
topped by the conifers (fig. 12). Red alder reaches 
optimum development on the bottom lands and 
well watered sections of the western slope of the 
(type 33), and noncommercial rocky areas (type 
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