REGION 2 - ARAPAHO 

 NATIONAL FOREST 



sidered only potentially usable, pending im- 

 provement in timber harvesting technology : 



The Arapaho National Forest is an ex- 

 tremely rugged mountain area with numerous 

 peaks above 11,000 feet. The forest cover is 

 broken by extensive rocky areas especially at 

 the higher elevation and by areas of sagebrush 

 and other nonforest vegetation at the lower 

 elevation. 



Most of the timber on the Forest occurs be- 

 tween 7,000 and 11,000 feet where the grow- 

 ing season is short. Generally speaking, timber 

 growing capacity of the land is low, averaging 

 slightly over 40 cubic feet per acre of produc- 

 tive forest land per yeax. There are some good 

 timber producing sites capable of producing in 

 excess of 80 cubic feet of wood per acre per 

 year, but these are limited. 



The Forest is located at the back door of a 

 city of a million people (Denver, Colorado). 

 This combined with the unusual rugged moun- 

 tain scenery and recreation opportunities has 

 created a strong demand for non timber uses on 

 the Forest. 



The timber inventory previous to this study 

 was made in 1958 when forest use demands 

 were less clear than they are today. Recreation 

 and recreation-related developments since 

 1958 have taken a significant amount of area 

 out of timber use. As shown in table 2, 

 127,563 acres of productive timber land can no 

 longer be considered available for timber grow- 

 ing. This does not mean that no timber will be 

 cut from this land. Trees removed in the pro- 

 cess of perpetuating the environment will be 

 utilized wherever possible. However, the land 

 itself will not be managed for a timber crop. 



In addition to the 127,563 acres not availa- 

 ble for timber use, there are about 34,000 acres 

 which will be used on a modified management 

 basis but from which full yields cannot be ex- 

 pected if other forest land use objectives are 

 met. 



Land stability is not a major problem on the 

 Arapaho National Forest. Patches of unstable 

 land comprising only a little over 2,000 acres 

 are too unstable to stand the strain of timber 

 use (table 2). A substantially larger area is con- 



Stability class 



Acres of timber 

 growing land 



Unstable, potentially usable 

 (Including 3,816 acres on slopes 



over 60 percent) 45,654 

 Stable land 326,455 



Unclassified, assumed to be 

 stable 27,462 



Total 399,571 



A major factor limiting timber use at present 

 is steepness of slopes. Harvesting technology 

 used in the area is limited to slopes under 40 

 percent. As the table relation below shows, a 

 significant amount of the productive forest is 

 on slopes steeper than 40 percent. 



Slope class 



(Percent) Acres of commercial forest land 



0-40 343,144 



41-60 52,611 



Over 60 3,816 



Total 399,571 



Information Deficiencies 



As on the Lolo, problems were also noted on 

 the Arapaho that could not be adequately de- 

 scribed by using the data available. The most 

 significant of these problems was the lack of 

 information to identify areas supporting stag- 

 nated stands not likely to develop to utilizable 

 size and, therefore, of marginal value for timber 

 use. 



In addition, there is need for ecological data 

 that will permit identification of timber grow- 

 ing problem areas. 



Summary of the Arapaho 

 National Forest 



As previously indicated, forest lemd use, 

 land stability, and steepness of slope are signifi- 

 cant factors affecting timber production on the 

 Forest. Following is an area summary for the 

 Forest by broad land management classes: 



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