WESTERN WHITE PINE AND LARCH-FIR FORESTS 2A 
As a result of the condition in which cut-over lands are left, the 
dangerous fire period in north Idaho is over twice as long in the 
operating districts as in the nonoperating. Some years, when no 
extensive fires occur in the nonoperating districts, there are numerous 
destructive fires on cut-over areas. 
In short, logging operations in the Coeur d’Alene and Pend 
Oreille districts, the most active logging center in north Idaho, 
have brought about a condition in which certain areas of cut-over 
land have burned three or four times in the past few years, and in 
which the whole cut-over area is being burned over at the average 
rate of once in 17.5 years in the Coeur d’Alene district and once in 
26 years in the Pend Oreille district. 
Under such conditions it is obvious that the first and fundamental 
necessity in growing timber in the white pine region is some form of 
slash disposal that will leave the land in such shape as to make pro- 
tection from fire possible. 
PILING AND BURNING SLASH 
The disposal of slash by piling and burning has been common prac- 
tice in the national forests for many years. This method consists of 
complete lopping of the limbs from the top, piling in compact piles, 
and subsequent burning in the fall or spring. In some instances the 
slash is burned progressively by building fires and throwing the 
limbs on, thus making one operation of piling and burning. Either 
method properly executed results in a clean burn of the slash, with 
little or no destruction of remaining live trees or young growth, and 
the burning of not to exceed 10 to 30 per cent of the surface area. 
Forest conditions on the area are not destroyed. Green trees are left 
green, and the typical moisture-loving, vegetative ground cover of 
the forest is not replaced by inflammable fireweed, grass, and thistle, 
as after a broadcast burn. The duff cover on the ground is not con- 
sumed except where the piles are burned, which is an important 
factor in obtaining white pine reproduction. 
Very careful burning of piled brush is essential to keep the fire 
from scorching living trees or running over the ground between piles. 
A considerable degree of skill and judgment is required in selecting 
the proper time for burning. Conditions must be such that the piles 
are dry enough to burn, but that the ground surface is too damp for 
fire to run. Such conditions are sometimes found in the fall after 
the September rains, but early spring is usually the most favorable 
season. 
An area is not rendered fireproof by piling and burning the slash. 
No white pine area is fireproof. But it is made far safer than either 
the original slashing or a broadcast-burned area, and the inflamma- 
bility decreases progressively each year after cutting, whereas on a 
broadcast-burned area it increases each year for many years aiter 
burning. 
The present law in Idaho requires all slash to be piled and burned 
unless some other form of disposal is specifically authorized by the 
State forester. It is to be expected that under the provisions of the 
new law piling and burning will become the standard practice and 
the menace of the broadcast-burned area will gradually disappear. 
