264 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



small private ownerships. The greatest deficiency 

 occurs in the ponderosa pine type group on small 

 holdings. Here 33 percent of the points examined 

 were not stocked and had no prospect of early 

 stocking. In the Douglas-fir type group, 27 per- 

 cent on small private and 24 percent on medium 

 and large private lands were also nonstocked. 



Table 151. — Proportion of sample points not 

 stocked and with no prospect of stocking, by forest 

 type and ownership class, Pacific Northwest, 1954 



Forest type group 



Douglas-fir 



Hemlock-Sitka spruce 



Ponderosa pine 



Other types 



Ownership class 



Small 

 private ' 



Percent 

 27 

 17 

 33 

 14 



Medi- 

 um and 



large 

 private 2 



Percent 

 24 

 14 



9 



7 



Na- 

 tional 

 forest ' 



Percent 



11 



8 



10 



Other 

 public ' 



Percent 

 20 

 12 

 15 

 11 



' Based on 17,807 points on 53,691 acres of recent 

 cutting examined. 



2 Based on 12,807 points on 64,568 acres of recent 

 cutting examined. 



3 Based on 9,908 points on 60,861 acres of recent cutting 

 examined. 



* Based on 12,536 points on 59,974 acres of recent 

 cutting examined. 



Brush and Poor Seed Sources Major 

 Causes of Stockevg Failure 



The intensified survey attempted to identify 

 the major reasons for nonstocking where this con- 

 dition was found. For each nonstocked point, 

 field examiners recorded their judgment as to 

 probable reason for nonstocking. The results are 

 summarized in table 152. 



Most common cause for lack of stocking on 

 recently cut lands in the Pacific Northwest was 

 attributed to some form of ground cover. The 

 proportion of nonstocking due to cull trees, brush, 

 sod, and other ground cover varies from 58 percent 

 in the ponderosa pine to 85 percent in the "other" 

 type groups. The greatest single cause of failure 

 was brush cover in all but the ponderosa pine, 

 where perennial sod was considered more im- 

 portant than brush. 



Inadequate seed source is also important in 

 the three major type groups. Especially critical 

 from this standpoint is ponderosa pine, where 

 30 percent of the unstocked points were charged 

 to lack of seed source. 



A surprisingly small proportion of the stocking 

 failures was attributed to rodents and similar 

 causes. Apparently rodent losses are not easily 

 identified in this type of survey. It is probable 



Table 152. — Reasons for nonstocking on recently 

 cut lands, by forest type group, Pacific Northwest, 

 1954 





Forest type group 



Reason for nonstocking 



Doug- 

 las- 

 fir' 



Hem- 

 lock- 

 Sitka 

 spruce 2 



Pond- 

 erosa 

 pine ' 



Other * 



Seed — inadequate 



source 



Ground cover: 



Cull or noncommer- 

 cial species 



Brush 



Perennial sod 



Deep slash, logs, and 



stumps 



Site conditions: 

 Severe. 



Percent 

 14 



13 



44 



8 



9 



4 



5 



3 



Percent 

 15 



16 



39 



5 



12 



4 



6 



3 



Percent 

 30 



8 

 21 

 24 



5 



5 



7 



(=) 



Percent 

 6 



3 

 37 

 21 



24 



2 



Rock, water, roads, 

 etc 



Rodents, other animals, 

 and miscellaneous.- 



6 



1 



Total 



100 



100 



100 



100 



' Based on 28,791 points on 83,767 acres of recent cutting 

 examined. 



- Based on 6,255 points on 24,226 acres of recent cutting 

 examined. 



5 Based on 14,978 points on 120,469 acres of recent 

 cutting examined. 



* Based on 3,034 points on 10,632 acres of recent cutting 

 examined. 



5 Less than 0.5 percent. 



that some nonstocking resulting from the eating 

 or storing of seed by rodents may have been 

 recorded as being caused by the more obvious 

 factors such as the ground cover that harbors the 

 rodents. 



In any event, the steps needed to hold to a 

 minimum the amount of unstocked and under- 

 stocked cutovers in the Pacific Northwest involve 

 principally the reduction of inhibiting ground 

 cover and the improvement of the seed source, 

 the latter especially in ponderosa pine. 



Species Composition Changed 

 BY Cutting 



Reduction in productivity ratings of the stand- 

 ard survey due to poor composition was smaller 

 in the West than in the rest of the country, as 

 shown by table 147. The Pacific Northwest rates 

 at least as good in this respect as the average for 

 the West. In the major forest type groups, 

 the loss in rating due to composition was small 

 (table 77, appendix section Basic Statistics). 

 The prior discussion of concepts for the standard 

 productivity survey showed that composition on 

 the ground was measured in comparison with 

 standards appropriate for each type. The supple- 



