16 THE CRATER NATIONAL FOREST. 



lumber. There is little insect damage, though witches' broom affects 

 about 15 per cent of the trees. As yet. however, damage from this 

 source is slight. 



The white fir is above 'the average in quality, since only about 20 

 per cent of the stand is defective. Moreover, the species is gradually 

 encroaching upon the pine and fir. 



The sugar pine is scattered, and confined chiefly to ridges. It is 

 of medium quality, the chief defect being rotten tops and hollow 

 butts due to old age. 



The incense cedar is of little importance, and is badly infected 

 with pencil rot. 



The following plan of cutting was agreed to by the applicant and 

 will be followed throughout the progress of the sale : In yellow-pine 

 stands, on areas where practically all the timber is overmature, every- 

 thing will be cut except two or three of the best crowned trees on 

 each acre, which will be left to reseed the ground. On areas badly 

 infested with beetles, all the mature trees Avill be cut, provided there 

 are a sufficient number of young trees to reseed the ground within a 

 few years. In this way immediate seeding will be sacrificed in order 

 to get rid of diseased trees, and so prevent infection of the next stand. 

 In immature stands only suppressed trees will be cut. Where yel- 

 low pine and Douglas fir grow in mixture, all badly defective pine 

 will be cut, and if there is not remaining a sufficient number of pine 

 trees to reseed the area, provision will be made for a second crop 

 of Douglas fir. In Douglas-fir and white-fir stands all the white 

 fir will be cut, and five or six of the smaller Douglas-fir trees left 

 on each acre to insure a second crop of that species. All young 

 thrifty sugar pines will be left standing, and of the older ones, seed 

 trees will, wherever possible, be left 300 feet apart. All incense 

 cedar will be cut, except that growing in open pine stands which may 

 be needed for ground cover. Brush will be piled and burned after 

 logging. 



On this sale area, as elsewhere on the Forest, it will be seen that 

 the species favored are, first, yellow pine; second, sugar pine; and 

 third, Douglas fir. 



BURNS. 



All portions of the Forest show evidence of fire in the past, the 

 original stand on perhaps 30 per cent of the present area having been 

 destroyed at one time or another. With the exception of large burns 

 in the Bald Mountain, Bessie Rock, Huckleberry Mountain, and Cat 

 Hill regions, the Cascade portion does not show as much damage as 

 the Siskiyous. The greater frequency of fires in the latter region 

 was due chiefly to the number of prospectors who at one time traveled 

 over the mountains, leaving unextinguished camp fires behind them. 



