LUMBERING IN PINE REGION OF CALIFORNIA. 3 
per cent; lodgepole pine, 2 per cent; big tree, 2 per cent; other 
species, 3 per cent. 
The region is essentially one of mixed stands. The four typical 
species are sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) , western yellow pine (Pinus 
ponderosa), white fir (Abies concolor), and incense cedar (Libocedrus 
decurrens). • All four are found throughout the region, though sugar 
pine and incense cedar are infrequent in the pine stands on the 
eastern slope of the Sierras. In these stands and at high elevations 
yellow pine is frequently mixed with or supplanted by Jeffrey pine 
(Pinus jeffreyi). No difference appears to be made commercially 
between the lumber of these two species, which is known to the trade 
as white pine or California white pine. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxi- 
folia) forms the bulk of the stand in the Northern Coast Ranges ; and 
on the western slope of the Sierras it extends south to Fresno County. 
In the Northern Coast Ranges this species forms nearly pure stands, 
but all exploitation of it in California is in connection with other 
timber species. California red fir (Abies magnifica) also forms pure 
stands, but at such elevations that it is seldom reached by lumbering 
operations. Lodgepole pine (Pinus eontorta) is little exploited on 
account of the inaccessible locations of its stands and of its relatively 
poor qualities. The stand of big trees (Sequoia washingtoniana) tim- 
ber is confined to the Southern Sierras, where it occurs in large 
groups or groves. This species is logged, incidentally with other 
species, for the manufacture of lumber by one large and one small 
concern. 
The stands now merchantable vary in volume from an average of 
11,000 feet, board measure, per acre in the pine and white fir stands 
east of the Sierras to an average of 50,000 feet per acre in the heart 
of the sugar-pine belt. Other representative stands average 25,000 
feet per acre in the Northern Coast Ranges; 23,000 feet on the upper 
Sacramento; 27,000 feet on the lower Feather River; 25,000 feet on 
the Consumnes River; 30,000 feet on the Stanislaus River; and 25,000 
feet on the Kings River. The maximum stand per acre on record is 
200,000 feet, of which approximately 75 per cent is sugar pine. 
Good quarter sections run as high as 70,000 feet per acre. The 
majority of the present lumbering operations are located in stands 
averaging from 18,000 to 40,000 feet per acre. 
The timber ranges in size from an average breasthigh diameter of 
28 inches to an average of 50 inches for trees over 12 inches in diam- 
eter. Individual sugar-pine trees have been found with a breasthigh 
diameter of 120 inches. The height ranges from 4-log trees in the 
yellow and Jeffrey pine stands to 13-log trees in the best sugar and 
yellow pine. A 16-foot length is regarded as the standard log. 
The following average figures, which were obtained from the cruis- 
ing measurements on two large timber sale areas in the Sierras, show 
