FOREST RESOURCES OF THE PONDEROSA PINE REGION 



Forest Protection 



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THE swift catastrophes, often involving whole- 

 sale destruction, by which forests are con- 

 stantly threatened make heavy demands 

 for more adequate protective measures. The en- 

 tire timber supply supporting a substantial commu- 

 nity may be wiped out in a few hours by fire. A 

 forest industry may be seriously crippled through 

 destruction of its timber holdings by an insect 

 epidemic. The unavailability of insurance against 

 such loss and the long time required to replace a 

 merchantable forest further emphasize the need 

 for systematic protection. It is believed that ade- 

 quate protection is possible in this region without 

 unreasonable cost. Ranked in order of damage, 

 insects precede fire. 



Insect Control 



Insect depredators and the damage involved 

 have already been discussed. The amounts spent 

 in control operations in areas of heavy infestation 

 are considerable. Expenditures for western pine 

 beetle control work during the fiscal years 1931 to 

 1938 were $160,000 by the Forest Service, $461,000 

 by the Indian Service, and $118,000 by private 

 owners, according to the Bureau of Entomology 

 and Plant Quarantine. 



In Oregon, control of insects on private lands 

 is required by statute. The law declares pine 

 beetles and other insect pests and infestations in- 

 jurious to timber and forest growth to be a public 

 nuisance and authorizes public eradication meas- 

 ures if the owner fails to control pests on his land. 

 Upon notice of an infestation the State forester is 

 charged with the duty of declaring and establish- 

 ing the boundaries of a district or zone of infesta- 

 tion. Upon application of owners of 60 percent 

 or more of the timber or timbered lands within an 



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infestation district, the State forester notifies all 

 owners of land therein to proceed with control 

 measures. If any owner fails to comply, the State 

 forester undertakes the eradication work, the expense 

 thereof constituting a legal lien against the prop- 

 erty. This law has seldom been invoked. No 

 similar law exists in Washington. The Klamath 

 Forest Protective Association, which conducts 

 fire-protection work on private forest lands in the 

 Klamath Plateau unit, also does insect-control 

 work on the lands of its members. Several private 

 owners have voluntarily carried on control meas- 

 ures individually on their own lands. 



The Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- 

 tine gives technical advice on insect control and 

 conducts a program of forest-insect research. 



Two methods of controlling epidemics of bark 

 beetles are (1) the burning method, which consists 

 of felling infested trees, peeling the bark from the 

 top half of the trunk, and burning the tree; (2) 

 the sun-curing method, which consists of exposing 

 the bark of the felled trees to the sun's rays. The 

 latter method is now used only in the control of 

 mountain pine beetle attacks on lodgepole pine. 

 Salvage operations are also used to control infesta- 

 tions. Recent research by the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology and Plant Quarantine has demonstrated 

 possibilities of averting or minimizing future 

 epidemics through silvicultural management. 

 Keen (8) has evolved a system of classifying pon- 

 derosa pine on the basis of susceptibility to insect 

 attack. The use of the Keen system in marking 

 trees for selective cutting should reduce future 

 losses from western pine beetle. 



The only epidemic fungus disease attacking 

 forest trees in this region is the white pine blister 

 rust which attacks the five-needle pines. Control 

 activities consist of eradicating ribes plants, the 



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