tion. When we have obtained this knowledge, 
existing shrub stands may be intelligently 
manipulated with fire to achieve desired compo- 
sition and production. 
SILVICULTURAL METHODS 
Logging and related silvicultural treatments 
can be used to improve key winter range. Nu- 
merous authors have reported that almost any 
amount of reduction in tree canopy Increases 
the understory and subsequent use by big 
game. (Pase 1958; Pengelly 1963; Reynolds 
1962, 1966a, 1966b; and Young et al. 1967.) 
Thinning dense stands of young lodgepole or 
larch can also increase the production of de- 
clining understory shrub stands. On the Flat- 
head National Forest in western Montana, 
strip thinning with a brush chopper increased 
production of available palatable browse by 27 
percent the first year. Greater shrub growth is 
expected in the second year after treatment. 
The economic worth of the additional browse 
for white-tailed deer the first year was calcu- 
lated at $1.07 per acre. The cost of thinning 
was $15.22 per acre. The silvicultural values 
alone are estimated to yield about 8.9 percent 
on the investment. With wildlife values added, 
about a 10.8 percent return on the investment 
is expected (Evans 1968). 
As with fire, if we know the existing shrub 
crown volume, species composition, and species 
reaction to treatment, we can predict the prob- 
able success of silvicultural treatments in im- 
proving game range. We should also know how 
long the benefits of the treatments can be ex- 
pected to last. Quantitative data by years and 
habitat types are needed to properly coordinate 
timber management programs with the needs 
of wildlife habitat management. 
SUMMARY 
Controlled fire and silvicultural treatments 
can be used to improve big-game ranges. Pre- 
requisite information needed to predict proba- 
ble success of the treatments on various sites 
include: 
1. Estimates of existing volume of shrub 
crowns as a measure of current production and 
potential recovery rate. 
2. Species composition and knowledge of 
species reaction to treatment. 
3. Indications of seed of desirable shrubs 
stored in the duff and upper layers of mineral 
soil. 
4. Knowledge of the erodibility of the soil. 
LITERATURE CITED 
Daubenmire, R. 
1952. Forest vegetation of northern Idaho and adja- 
cent Washington, and its bearing on con- 
cepts of vegetation classification. Ecol. Mon- 
ogr. 22: 301-3380. 
1966. Vegetation: Identification of typal communi- 
ties. Science 151; 291-298. 
Evans, S.S. 
1968. Coordinating precommercial thinning with 
browse production. (Paper presented at an- 
nual Idaho Fish and Game Interagency 
Meeting at Lewiston, Idaho, Feb. 1, 1968.) 
Gratkowski, H. J. 
1962. Heat as a factor in germination of seeds of 
Ceanothus velutinus var. laevigatus, T. & 
G. (Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation on file 
at Oreg. State Univ., Corvallis, Oreg., 122 
pp.) 
Pase, C. P. 
1958. Herbage production and composition under im- 
mature ponderosa pine in the Black Hills. J. 
Range Manage. 11: 238-2438. 
Pengelly, W. L. 
1963. Timberlands and deer in the northern Rockies. 
J. Forest 61: 734-740. 
Lyon, L. J. 
1966. Initial vegetal development following pre- 
scribed burning of Douglas-fir in south-cen- 
tral Idaho. Intermountain Forest & Range 
218 
Exp. Sta., U.S. Forest Serv., Res. Pap. 
INT-29, 17 pp., illus. 
and Stickney, P. F. 
1966. Two forest fires: And some specified implica- 
tions in big game habitat management. 
(Paper presented at annu. meeting, Game 
and Fish Commissioners of the Western 
United States, Butte, Mont., July 18, 1966.) 
Reynolds, H. G. 
1962. Effect of logging on understory vegetation and 
deer use in a ponderosa pine forest of Ari- 
zona. U.S. Forest Serv., Rocky Mountain 
Forest & Range Exp. Sta. Res. Note RM-80, 
7 pp. 
1966a. Slash cleanup in a ponderosa pine forest af- 
fects use by deer and cattle. Rocky moun- 
tain Forest & Range Exp. Sta., U.S. Forest 
Serv., Res. Note RM-64, 3 pp. 
1966b. Use of openings in spruce-fir forests of Ari- 
zona by elk, deer, and cattle. Rocky Moun- 
tain Forest & Range Exp. Sta., U.S. Forest 
Serv., Res. Note RM-66, 4 pp. 
Young, J. A., Hedrick, D. W., and Keniston, R. F. 
1967. Forest cover and _ logging—Herbage and 
browse production in the mixed coniferous 
ree of northeastern Oregon. J. For. 65: 
807-813. 
