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Sierra Club Bulletin 



to the league in several v.rays. Among these should be mentioned the voluntary 

 postponement of logging at certain points, at great inconvenience and real 

 financial loss, and the support of the campaign to secure a state appropriation. 

 On the other hand, the league recognizes that most of the redwood timber 

 should be cut, and its avowed policy is to injure or hamper legitimate redwood 

 lumbering just as little as possible. 



FORESTRY IN THE REDWOODS 



A Long Step Ahead. — Within the last six months the principal lumber com- 

 panies operating in the coast redwoods of California have taken a step which 

 may result in placing the redwood region ahead of all other lumber-producing 

 districts of the United States in the practice of forestry on privately owned 

 timber lands. The Glen-Blair Lumber Company, the Hammond Lumber Com- 

 pany, the Little River Redwood Company, the Mendocino Lumber Company, 

 the Pacific Lumber Company, and the Union Lumber Company have all ini- 

 tiated a thorough study of the possibilities of managing their timberland hold- 

 ings on a "sustained yield" basis ; in other words, of so conducting their opera- 

 tions and the care of second-growth timber on their cut-over lands as to insure 

 a permanent yield. It is important to note that the six companies thus inter- 

 ested produce approximately two-thirds of the redwood lumber now marketed. 

 The investigation is being made by Major David T. Mason, who resigned his 

 professorship of forestry at the University of California in June, 192 1, in order 

 to open an office as consulting forest engineer in Portland, Oregon. If the re- 

 sults of the study show that permanent forest management has now become a 

 financially sound possibility in the redwoods, and if the operating companies 

 definitely organize their activities on that basis, the future of the redwood 

 region will indeed look bright. Permanent forest management spells permanent 

 communities with permanent industries. Well-kept second-growth redwood 

 will mean the maintenance of much of the beauty of the region, without, of 

 course, the incomparable grandeur of the original redwood forest. 



Forestry at Fort Bragg. — Meanwhile, the Union Lumber Company, which 

 has for years been a pioneer in its interest in forestry, has gone much farther 

 than a study of possibilities. Within the year it has definitely adopted the 

 policy of managing its lands for the perpetual production of crops of timber. 

 It has taken the first steps in the preparation of detailed plans for carrying out 

 that policy. It has organized a forestry department, with a graduate of the Di- 

 vision of Forestry of the University of California in charge. It has established 

 a forest nursery, to supply trees for assisting by planting the natural restocking 

 of cut-over lands. The holdings of this company, which is one of the three 

 largest redwood operations, are in Mendocino County near Fort Bragg. 



Raising Hardwoods at Home. — Among the forest plantations established by 

 the Union Lumber Company is one of special interest to those who would like 

 to see California produce its own oak flooring and other high-grade hardwood 

 products. In an experimental area planted near Fort Bragg in 192 1, in co- 

 operation with the Division of Forestry of the University of California, six im- 

 portant eastern hardwoods were used : red oak, white oak, sugar maple, white 

 ash, basswood, and black walnut. It is to be hoped that the redwood region 



