TIMBER GROWING IN DOUGLAS FIR REGION 7 
species are Sitka spruce and western hemlock, though Douglas fir 
is never absent over a large area. Western red cedar and, farther 
south, Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsomana) are also con- 
spicuous. Most of this type is in private ownership and is now the 
scene of active logging operations. The method of logging is identical 
with that in the Douglas fir type proper, but the brush disposal and 
fire protective conditions are somewhat different, and hence require 
a slightly different system of forest management from that suited to 
the Douglas fir type. Where these differences are significant the 
treatment for the fog belt will be mentioned separately; otherwise 
the two types will be considered jointly. 
- THE UPPER-SLOPE TYPES 
On the upper slopes of the Cascade, Olympic, and Siskiyou Moun- 
tains the forest cover is largely of species other than Douglas fir, 
which at certain altitudes disappears altogether. It is needless to 
go into a description of these mountain types, which are made up of 
a varying proportion of silver fir, noble fir, mountain hemlock (T’suga 
mertensiana), western hemlock, western white pine, Alaska cedar 
(Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), 
Douglas fir, alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), etc. Some of these upper- 
slope forests have high commercial value, but for the most part they 
are so inaccessible that they will not be logged until the virgin 
stands at lower altitudes have been exploited. As they will not for 
some time to come play an important rdle in the timber-growing 
problem of the Douglas fir region, and as they lie mostly within the 
national forests, these upper-slope types are not considered in the 
following pages. 
FACTORS AFFECTING NATURAL REFORESTATION IN THE DOUGLAS 
FIR TYPE 
As Douglas fir is so superior a tree and is the one upon which the 
lumber industry of the region is built, it is natural that landowners 
and foresters should desire to obtain chiefly Douglas fir in the new 
crop wherever it will grow satisfactorily. The forests of the future 
should be composed to a large degree of this species, and in the 
Douglas fir type proper forest management will be directed toward 
this end. Other species, such as hemlock, cedar, and silver fir, will 
come in to some extent; it would not be easy to prevent them, even 
if it were desirable to do so. Where the production of pulp wood is 
the object of the owner, as it will be increasingly in the spruce- 
hemlock forests of the fog belt, it may be advisable to manage the 
land with a view to extending spruce in the new crop. Where the 
land is managed to obtain principally Douglas fir in the new crop, 
consideration of the secondary species is of no consequence. As a 
matter of fact, the treatment that results in regeneration of Douglas 
fir is also sufficiently favorable for that tree’s natural associates. 
It may be said at the outset that Douglas fir has every character- 
istic favorable for its abundant reproduction in this region and no 
inherent traits to prevent its plentiful natural propagation. An 
abundant and frequent seeder, its seed germinates quickly and vig- 
orously in almost any kind of seed bed, and the seedlings grow 
hardily and have good resistance. | 
