fact, some harm has already been done. ‘The extra 
good lumber market following World War II 
caused the premature logging of some vigorous, 
fast-growing, young ponderosa pine stands of pole 
size and slightly larger. Because such stands are in 
short supply, premature cutting of them under- 
mines the future of established dependent saw- 
timber industries. 
Dead and Cull Trees and Tops of Saw-Timber 
Trees 
The usable portion of trees with rot and other 
defects, and trees killed by fire, insects, diseases, 
and other causes, is a wood source that has been 
little used. Lodgepole pine stands devastated by 
the serious insect epidemic that swept over Mon- 
tana from 1909 to 1933 constitute the largest sup- 
ply of dead timber. However, there is also much 
dead timber of other species. 
Climatic conditions in the Rocky Mountains 
preserve fire-, insect-, and disease-killed timber for 
a long time. The remarkable lasting quality of 
much of this dead, standing timber is attributed 
to the drying out of the wood to the point where 
decay fungi cannot spread (7). Many larch trees 
that died in the first decade of this century still 
contain sound, usable wood. ‘There is ample evi- 
dence that dead lodgepole pine in the high, dry 
forests of eastern Montana will last a quarter 
century or more. A recent study in Utah and 
Colorado reported cases of dead trees remaining 
standing and salvable for 70 years (7). 
The dead timber is suitable for many uses. For 
example, tests of lodgepole pine for pulping show 
that it will yield pulp comparable to that from 
green wood of this species, except possibly for a 
slightly lower tearing strength. 
‘The drawbacks of dead wood for pulp, poles, lum- 
ber, and other products are somewhat higher log- 
ging costs and greater wastage because of defects. 
The fact that much of the dead timber is scattered 
throughout green stands makes it desirable even 
from the operator’s point of view to put it to use. 
Nevertheless, very little dead timber has been used 
for any products except fuel wood, fence posts, 
and stulls. Green timber is preferred because it 
is easier to use, there is still plenty of it, and it 
requires less care in selection. 
The Montana forest can supply a substantial 
quantity of dead wood for many years. ‘The salvage 
Forest Resources of Montana 
operation should grow smaller as time passes, be- 
cause good management should eventually reduce 
widespread and devastating insect epidemics. 
How much dead timber now standing can be 
made available and logged at a profit before it 
deteriorates is difficult, if not impossible, to say. 
Assuming that 5 percent of the existing volume 
is used annually, the annual cut for some years to 
come would be 311,000 cords—68,000 from western 
Montana, and 243,000 from eastern Montana. 
‘The volume of cull timber is considerably smaller 
than that in dead trees. If it is utilized at the 
rate of 5 percent a year, the cut will be 127,000 
cords—80,000 from western Montana, and 47,000 
from eastern Montana. 
Another source of wood is the top portions of saw- 
timber trees. At the present time, loggers in western 
Montana are utilizing the top portion of 1 tree out 
of 20. In eastern Montana about half of the top por- 
tions are utilized, chiefly because a large part of the 
cut is being used for pulpwood. The volume of 
the top portion of the allowable annual cut of 
saw-timber trees would be 102,000 cords—36,000 
from western Montana, and 66,000 from eastern 
Montana. 
The combined allowable cut of dead and cull 
trees and the top portions of saw-timber trees is 
estimated to be 540,000 cords; the actual cut in 
1948 was 138,000 cords. 
The Allowable Cut by Species and Ownership 
The utilization of saw timber in Montana is 
very much unbalanced so far as species are con- 
cerned (fig. 31). Three of the high lights in the 
statistics for the 1948 cut are as follows: 
1. The cut of ponderosa and white pine saw 
timber was 81 percent above the allowable cut. 
2. The cut of larch and Douglas-fir saw timber 
was 3 percent above the allowable cut. 
3. The cut of other species, mainly lodgepole 
pine and Engelmann spruce, was 85 percent below 
the allowable saw-timber cut. 
The most disturbing feature in the Montana 
timber situation is the excessively heavy cut of 
ponderosa pine west of the Continental Divide. 
Since 1925, except for 4 years, the cut of ponderosa 
pine saw timber in western Montana has been 
higher than the allowable cut (fig. 32). While 
the overcutting of this species is offset to a small 
37 
