AREA BURNED WITHIN THE 
MONTANA NATIONAL FORESTS 
I910..1949 
1,834,000 ACRES 
364,000 ACRES 
150,000 ACRES 
Aes 53,000 ACRES 
aaa 
1930-1939 
1910-1919 1920-1929 1940-1949 
FIcuRE 35. 
stands in a matter of a few years and eventually 
eliminate this highly prized species. Though only 
2 percent of the commercial forest is western white 
pine type, this species because of its high value 
is Many times more important than the proportion 
would indicate. For that reason, a battle to con- 
trol the disease in western Montana has been 
under way since the early 1920’s, and a study pub- 
lished in 1948 affirmed the desirability of contin- 
uing the fight against this disease (6). Up to July 
1, 1950, approximately 214 million dollars was spent 
in Montana for control work. Currently 63,000 
acres of white pine land in western Montana is 
under protection from blister rust. This is about 
40 percent of the area that should be protected. 
There are other diseases and parasites of eco- 
nomic importance. Among them are several wood 
rots. Three different species of dwarf mistletoe 
impair the quality of western Montana Douglas-fir, 
cause the top-dying of larch, and deform and kill 
lodgepole pine. A stem canker culls many lodgepole 
pine trees for poles, and a needle blight impairs 
the quality of some Douglas-fir stands for Christ- 
mas trees. 
Other Losses 
In 1948 much timber was laid flat by a big wind 
on the Beaverhead National Forest. In the fall of 
1949, a 100-mile-an-hour wind leveled a number 
of stands of timber elsewhere. This blow and two 
less spectacular ones in the-spring of 1950 knocked 
down approximately 200 million board feet of saw 
timber on the Kootenai and Flathead National 
Forests alone. Damage of this sort has been occur- 
ring at irregular intervals throughout the history of 
the stands. 
As timber grows and individual trees require 
more room, stands are thinned out by crowding 
and shading. Since only the suppressed trees are 
affected, this loss is not spectacular. It is however, 
an important part of the mortality. Snow, ice, and 
winterkill occasionally causg loss—sometimes spec- 
tacular. In a few instances timber on entire drain- 
ages has been killed by adverse winter weather. 
Present Mortality 
Although progress has been made in protecting 
Montana’s forests from fire and insect losses are 
lower (1951) than in some past years, it is disturb- 
ing to realize that a substantial part of the gross tim- 
ber growth is still being lost. In 1949, gross annual 
growth for all timber amounted to 291 million 
cubic feet; 50 million cubic feet, or 17 percent of 
this growth, was nullified by mortality. Twenty- 
nine percent of the saw-timber growth was nullified 
by mortality (fig. 56). The timber mortality is not 
a complete loss in that some use is made of dead 
wood. However, the annual loss of timber is six 
times greater than the annual cut of dead timber. 
A More Complete Protection Program 
The first order of protection in Montana’s for- 
ests was to curb fire. ‘Thinking and attitudes about 
forest fires in this region have gone through a long 
evolutionary process. For a time the question was 
argued of whether or not fires on remote noncom- 
mercial land should be fought. Experience has 
given the answer. Now it is generally agreed that 
the soundest policy is rapid control of every fire no 
44 Forest Resource Report No. 5 U. S. Department of Agriculture 
