OBJECTIVES 



To delineate Douglas-fir regeneration problems, a field survey was conducted to 

 identify and superficially characterize the factors of environment most closely 

 associated with the establishment of new stands of Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir. More 

 specifically, the objectives were: (1) to describe the problem effectively and (2) to 

 furnish leads and direction for planning a study program. 



The data obtained in this survey depict only the relative degree of success of 

 Douglas-fir under different site conditions. They should not be construed to be a 

 precise measure of the success of the overall stand-regeneration program of any National 

 Forest or of Region 1 or 4 . For instance, I did not attempt to evaluate the success of 

 other species, and many Douglas-fir plantations in northern Idaho and northwestern 

 Montana had other species seeding in and regenerating the areas. Also, some areas were 

 planted with a mixture of species, including Douglas-fir. These areas were not sampled 

 because of the futility of determining the number and planting location of trees of 

 each species--rarely are they planted in uniform patterns over an entire cutting area. 

 To get a good estimate of overall success, I would have needed a representative sample 

 of all Douglas-fir cutting areas. The sample was restricted so as to get as wide a 

 range of site conditions as possible within alloted time and resources. 



METHODS 



My field survey was limited to areas that had been cut within the past 15 years. 

 In all, I sampled 95 cutting areas in 26 National Forests, 12 in Region 4, and 14 in 

 Region 1 (fig. 1 and appendix I) . Though I attempted to sample areas in different 

 silviculture systems, most were clearcuts. 



On each cutting area, I sampled Douglas-fir reproduction along two transects on 

 each major aspect. These transects ran from the downslope timber edge to the top edge 

 of the openings. Along each transect, 1 attempted to locate 10 circular milacre plots 

 at approximately equal intervals, beginning under the canopy at one edge and ending 

 under the canopy at the other edge. Sometimes I took more than 10 plots. If my 

 estimate of the distance across the opening was short, I continued to take plots at 

 equal distances until I reached the stand edge. If the opening was small, I took fewer 

 plots per transect because minimum spacing between plots was one-half chain. 



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