UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1499 
Washington, D. C. 
June, 1929 
TIMBER GROWING AND CUTTING PRACTICE IN THE LODGEPOLE 
PINE REGION 
By M. W. Thompson, Assistant Distinct Forester, Forest Service 
Introduction by W. B. Greeley, formerly Forester, Forest Service 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
The region and its timberlands 5 
Lodgepole pine type.. 7 
Engelmann spruce type 8 
Douglas fir type 8 
Natural and other factors affecting forest cul- 
ture 9 
Slow rate of growth 9 
Value of the timberlands for various uses.. 9 
Extent and manner of logging 11 
Fire danger and present protective agen- 
cies 12 
Reproduction 14 
Page 
Measures necessary to keep forest lands pro- 
ductive 16 
Fire protection 17 
Slash disposal 18 
Cost summary 22 
Preferred practice for obtaining fuller and more 
valuable timber crops 22 
Methods of cutting 23 
Management plans... 31 
Improved forest taxation 32 
State activities 32 
Bibliography 33 
INTRODUCTION 
Forestry in the United States is no longer merely a theory or a 
subject for discussion; it has gotten down to concrete things in the 
woods. Nor is the growing of timber confined to public lands ; it is 
gradually making headway on land in private ownership. It is 
becoming an art of land management, expressed in practical measures 
for protecting forest growth from fire and other destructive agencies, 
for logging timber so as to produce a new crop of wood, and for 
planting forest trees on denuded areas. The value of timber, with 
other economic considerations, is causing landowners more and more 
widely to study the possibilities of reforestation. These develop- 
ments have created a demand for information on the timber-growing 
methods which are adapted to the various types of forest growth 
in the United States. 
Timber culture, like the growing of farm crops, is necessarily gov- 
erned in any country by its soil and climate, by the requirements of 
the native forest trees, and by local economic circumstances. Les- 
sons may be drawn from the experience of other countries, as the 
United States has drawn upon the forestry practices of Europe; but 
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