54 BULLETIN 1200, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The Douglas fir bark weevil (Pissodes fasciatus Lec.) attacks me- 
dium to large saplings of Douglas fir and kills them by boring be- 
neath the bark toward the base and along the stem. In controlling 
bark weevils reliance must be placed on systems of forest manage- 
ment which will bring about conditions unfavorable to them. 
Occasionally, in the Douglas fir forests of the Oregon and Wash- 
ington coast, extensive defoliations by caterpillars occur. 
The spruce budworm (Harmologa fumiferana Clem.) has been 
found to defoliate Douglas fir seriously in Idaho and there are 
indications that ravages by this important pest are increasing 
throughout Idaho and elsewhere. Any records of serious defoliation 
of Douglas fir should be reported to the Bureau of Entomology, and 
specimens of the insects or their work should be submitted also. This 
insect and other defoliators can only be controlled by a system of 
forest management which will decrease the species most favorable to 
the insect in the forest types concerned. 
Defoliations by needle-devouring insects during the past 30 years 
on thousands of acres in the Grays Harbor portion of southwestern 
Washington, and in Clatsop and Tillamook Counties of northwestern 
Oregon, have resulted in the loss of many millions of feet of timber. 
Often both Douglas fir and western hemlock are defoliated by the 
same insect. In 1919 and 1920, the western hemlock looper (Therina 
Ellopia somniaria Hulst), killed at least 400,000.000 board feet of 
high-quality Douglas fr and western hemlock in Tillamook county, 
Oreg. The dead trees scattered through this damaged area are now 
a serious fire risk, and if they should burn they would not only 
kill much of the timber that was left unscathed by the defoliators 
but would also destroy the young growth which follows in such in- 
sect-killed areas. Unfortunately, however, no control measures 
against these defoliators seem now to be practicable. 
SUMMARY. 
The future of the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest de- 
pends on perpetuating the forest, an objective for which Douglas 
fir is peculiarly fitted because of its remarkable ability to restock, 
its rapid growth, and its high yield. 
The Douglas fir is well adapted to the climate and soil of the Cas- 
cade region and the western sections of Oregon and Washington, 
and produces good timber in the dry regions as well as in the areas 
of greatest precipitation, and on all exposures from sea level to ele- 
vations of 3,500 to 4,500 feet. 
Restocking of Douglas fir oceurs naturally in the Pacific North- 
west if the forest is properly handled. As young growth comes 
chiefly from seed stored in the forest floor, it is necessary to protect 
this seed during logging and burning. 
The vitality of the seed and the activity of rodents in burying 
seed are the principal factors that insure a supply of seed in the 
forest floor at all times. 
Seed in cones on the trees will live through a forest fire. Pro- 
tected by a cover of mineral soil or of moist litter and duff, seed 
survives forest or slash fires. Dense stands of young growth origi- 
nate from seed that has passed through a forest fire or a slash fire, 
or sometimes a combination of the two. 
