Sources 



of the problem and 

 development of 

 more useful 

 and realistic 

 area data 



Why has too much land been included in the 

 timber growing base in most, if not all, western 

 National Forests? Primarily it is because infor- 

 mation required for a complete job of stratify- 

 ing forest land has been almost totally inade- 

 quate; not enough has been known about the 

 productivity, stability, and ecology of the land. 

 Furthermore, land use intentions have not been 

 as completely or specifically spelled out as they 

 should be, and this affects inventory 

 classification. 



A longstanding problem that is only now 

 being corrected is the deficiency of informa- 

 tion about soil-slope characteristics and the 

 performance of water flows on and through the 

 soil in these various situations. Without these 

 facts, the areas that are either too unstable to 

 tolerate logging or require special logging meth- 

 ods cannot be identified and delineated. 



The principal factor undermining timber in- 

 ventory data has been the incompleteness of 

 past multiple use plans. The areas to receive 

 special management that would reduce or elim- 

 inate timber yield possibilities have not all been 

 identified and mapped. Even where adequate 



mapping has been done, the constraints and 

 broad guidelines have not in some cases been 

 spelled out clearly enough to provide a basis for 

 timber classification. 



Each of the six Western Regions is moving 

 rapidly in the direction of making its multiple 

 use plans more definitive and articulate. How- 

 ever, before the National Forests can com- 

 pletely accomplish this they must have the 

 necessary land information, ecological data, in- 

 formation on use demands, and a clear sense of 

 purpose before preparing or revising multiple 

 use plans. Only after really meaningful multiple 

 use plans are prepared wUl it be possible to ac- 

 curately classify land for timber management 

 planning. 



Timber area-and-volume estimates in most 

 cases have been based on the classification and 

 measurement of sample points and sample 

 acres without giving particular attention to the 

 suitability and availabihty of the Forest on 

 which these samples are taken or the size of the 

 stands represented by the samples. This has 

 tended to adversely affect the realism of the 

 inventory data. 



8 



