266 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Representation of Douglas- Fir in Its 

 Type Group Drops Except on Na- 

 tional-Forest Clear Cuttings 



In the Douglas-fir type group, on small private 

 ownerships the representation of Douglas-fir on 

 clear cuttings dropped from 92 percent before 

 cutting to 70 percent after cutting. This cliange 

 was accompanied by increases in the proportion 

 of western hemlock and redcedar, white fir and 

 other species. On medium and large private own- 

 erships in this type group, the reduction of 

 Douglas-fir was 5 percent. A slight reduction also 

 was found in the proportion of western redcedar. 

 Other species increased slightly. Similar changes 

 took place on other public lands. On recently 

 cut areas of the national forests, the representa- 

 tion of Douglas-fir increased from 66 percent be- 

 fore cutting to 80 percent after cutting. Associ- 

 ated species such as western hemlock and redcedar 

 and white fir were reduced, but a slight gain for 

 other species was recorded. 



Thus, for clear cuttings in the Douglas-fir type 

 group, the changes in species resulting from logging 

 were a significant loss in the representation of 

 Douglas-fir on small private ownerships accom- 

 panied by gains in the representatioi\ of other 

 species, smaller losses in the proportions of 

 Douglas-fir on medium and large private owner- 

 ships and other public lands, and substantial 

 gains in the representation of Douglas-fir on the 

 national forests. 



Partial cutting in the Douglas-fir type group 

 resulted in substantial losses in the representation 

 of Douglas-fir on all ownership classes. There 

 were either increases or minor changes in the as- 

 sociated species. 



Ponderosa Pine Loses Ground on All 

 Ownerships 



On clear cuttings in the ponderosa pine type 

 group, the representation of ponderosa pine 

 dropped over 20 percent on both size classes of 

 private ownership. A smaller decrease was 

 found on other public lands, but a large increase 

 in the proportion of ponderosa pine was found on 

 the very small portion of national-forest area 

 which was clear cut in this type group. On small 

 private ownerships, the loss in representation of 

 ponderosa pine after clear cutting was accom- 

 panied by an increase in Douglas-fir. However, 

 on all other ownership classes, the proportion of 

 Douglas-fir in the ponderosa pine type group was 

 reduced by clear cutting. Wliite fir showed in- 

 creases on medium and large private ownerships 

 and on other public lands. The representation of 



white fir was reduced considerably on the very 

 small area of national-forest clear cuttings. 



Partial cuttings in ponderosa pine type groups 

 showed losses in the representation of ponderosa 

 pine on recently cut lands of all ownership classes. 

 Smallest losses occurred on national-forest cut- 

 tings — greatest on other public lands. Douglas- 

 fir increased slightly on all ownership classes ex- 

 cept for those of the medium and large private 

 ownerships. White fir increased slightly on all 

 ownership classes except the national forests, 

 where a decrease was found. Other species where 

 present increased slightly. 



Hemlock Partly Replaced by Sitka 

 Spruce and Other Species in Hem- 

 lock-Spruce Type Group 



In the hemlock-.Sitka spruce type group, clear 

 cutting was used so universally on all ownership 

 classes that no adequate information can be pre- 

 sented for partial cuttings. On clear-cut areas, 

 the proportion of hemlock was reduced on all 

 private ownership classes and a large reduction 

 occurred on recently cut lands of the national 

 forests; the representation of hemlock increased 

 somewhat on other public lands. The representa- 

 tion of Sitka spruce increased slightly or remained 

 unchanged. About the same situation was found 

 to exist with respect to Douglas-fir except on 

 national-forest lands, where an increase of 25 per- 

 cent in the representation of Douglas-fir took 

 place. The proportion of western redcedar de- 

 clined in all ownership classes except for small 

 private ownerships, where it remained unchanged. 

 The representation of other species increased 

 slightly on all ownerships except for other public 

 lands, where a minor decrease was found. 



Clear Cutting Common in 

 Most Types 



Clear cutting is the predominant cutting method 

 in the Douglas-fir and hemlock-Sitka spruce type 

 groups on all ownerships, although this inethod is 

 applied on only a little more than half of the 

 Douglas-fir type group in national-forest ownei-- 

 ship (table 154). On small private lands pon- 

 derosa pine also is almost entirely clear cut, but 

 on other ownerships partial cuts arc gencrall}- 

 made in this type group. In the other type 

 groups, the practice is to clear cut on private lands 

 and partial cut on most of the public lands. It 

 is significant to note that cutting on the small 

 private ownerships is almost entirely clear cutting 

 regardless of the forest type involved. 



