32 BULLETIN 1494, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
TABLE 6.—Timber stand in western Montana counties* by species 
[Millions of board feet—i. e., 000,060 omitted] 
_Douglas 
ae Western | Western 
Class of ownership nd | ‘white.| yellow | Other Total 
ee pine pine 
Nation alsionester 2 = see one eee ee ee eee re 8, 660 1, 163 2, 807 7, 480 20, 110 
Other Hederale: ses S- a eea tee we aes 1, 401 129 1, 003 923 3, 456 
Sea eR oor peel ale ST oS Rn a le 1,073 51 526 379 ; 
PTV ACCS eee aL ee eS Sa ee eee ee eee 6, 477 139 4,312 969 11, 897 
MOCAISENCS MEV IVE SS Pee N Eee TS) SET RES 17, 611 1, 482 8, 648 9,751 37, 492 
1 Mineral, Granite, Ravalli, Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Sanders, Missoula, and Powell Counties. - 
The rate of cutting in north Idaho has been covered.in the dis- 
cussion under the western white pine type. The 1923 lumber cut for 
the State of Montana was 426,739,000 board feet, of which 235,768,000 
was larch and fir. Practically all of this came from the western 
Montana counties. Only about 60,000,000 feet was from national 
forests. ‘The drain on the privately owned timber of western Mon- 
tana was in the neighborhood of 360,000,000 feet. At this rate the 
privately owned timber of western Montana would last about 33 
years, disregarding growth or loss from fire. As a matter of fact, 
however, more than half of the timber in this region is owned by 
three companies, and there are only two operating lumber com- 
panies in the State which now own enough timber to run more than 
10 or 12 years at the rate of the 1923 cut. There is, however, a large 
amount of timber still held in comparatively small tracts presumably 
available for purchase, and these will be ctit by existing mills. This 
situation has an important influence on the possibilities of timber 
growing by lumber companies in the State. 
PRESENT LOGGING PRACTICE AND ITS RESULTS 
The older cut-over lands in the larch-fir and yellow pine regions 
in both Montana and Idaho are in far better condition than the 
lands cut over during the past 10 or 12 years. Under the earlier 
practice the slash was left untouched, and while a considerable por- 
tion of the land burned over accidentally, a very large area escaped 
fire and now bears splendid stands of young growth. Logging was 
not so close in the earlier days as it is now, and in many stands in 
the larch-fir type much 12 to 14 inch material was left which will 
soon be ripe for a second cut. In the last 10 or 12 years under the 
compulsory slash-burning laws of Montana and Idaho slash has 
generally been burned broadcast after logging, the fire destroying 
all the young growth in the area and often spreading to older cut- - 
tings which had been left in good condition. In practice the slash- 
burning laws of both States have resulted disastrously to reforesta- 
tion in the larch-fir and yellow pine types. 
_ A single broadcast burn in the larch-fir type may or may not be 
followed by reproduction, depending on the severity of the burn 
and the survival of possible seed trees. As a general thing a great 
deal of young growth and trees under merchantable size are killed 
by broadcast burning. The dead trees subsequently make a veritable 
