A feasibility study^ was recently completed that considered several alternative 

 operations for the Bitterroot. The simplest operation analyzed was a log marketing 

 operation. Here the operator would arrange the purchase, harvest, and delivery of 

 material to best utilize the available wood to meet the needs of wood users and provide 

 work for loggers. He would maintain detailed and up-to-date information on location, 

 availability, and logging requirements of small timber available from public land sale 

 programs and private land sources. He would know specific needs of wood users and 

 capability of operators, and would take care of much of the paperwork involved in 

 public timber purchase. He would not take title to the wood (the sale contract would 

 be between stumpage seller and either logger or wood user) but would collect $1/M bd.ft. 

 (or the equivalent for roundwood or fiber products) for his service. About 33 million 

 bd. ft. per year (roughly equal to 8 to 10 million ft^ of small logs) would be needed 

 to support this type operation. 



Another type operation would be a concentration yard, where logs were sorted and 

 stored. The operator could also provide much of the marketing services of arranging 

 stumpage purchase and sales of logs to processors. Again, the operator would not own 

 the logs, but would charge for the marketing, sorting, and storage service. If a $l/ton 

 fee were used (a common basis for charging storage and handling operations) about 

 11 million ft^/year would be needed to support the operation. 



The most complete type of operation analyzed, a processing yard, would require only 

 about ] million ft^/year, for feasible operation. (Of course a larger volume operation 

 could also be established.) This would involve purchasing, sorting, and preprocessing 

 (such as cutting to length, or chipping, etc.) for sale to the next processor or final 

 user . 



The actual feasibility of such operations of course depends on the economics of 

 harvest, the availability of capital, participation by potential operators, and market 

 conditions for final products. Furthermore, type and condition of wood available is 

 such that the output could range from a fiber to a fairly large array of high-value 

 roundwood or saw log products. The advantage of a marketing operation is that it could 

 direct wood into active markets and take over the task of finding outlets for the wide 

 range of products that occur in the mature stands. 



Timber Harvest Schedules 



Before utilization of mature and overmature lodgepole pine can be improved, the 

 rate at which these stands might be harvested must be calculated. Obviously, rapid 

 liquidation would minimize further mortality and loss to decay, and maximize the volume 

 , of wood available for immediate use. Such a plan, however, would have unacceptable 

 impacts on other resource values, would ultimately lead to a decline in harvest after 

 the rapid liquidation, and would require enormous initial road expenses. At the other 

 extreme, if little harvesting is done in these stands, greater mortality, and ultimate 

 loss of wood to decay or fire will result. Typically, the Forestwide harvesting 

 schedule will remove high-risk stands first, then move into mature, low-risk stands. 

 Protecting other resource values must also be weighed along with silvicultural needs 

 and, even in the standard component, will temper frequency of cutting, size of harvest 

 cuts, and types of harvest system. Generally, the mature lodgepole pine stands occur 

 in relatively large-sized blocks (fig. 4). Due to the large amounts of down material, 



^Adair, Kent T. 1975. Stepwise 

 yard. Outline and screening analysis, 

 Columbia. (Unpublished report on file 

 Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.) 



development of a merchandizing-concentration 

 Bitterroot RC^D, School For., Univ. Missouri, 

 at Intermountain Station's Forestry Sciences 



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