UTILIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF LODGEPOLE PINE. 31 
sional small openings, however, which will not seed up for from 10 to 
20 years. The result will be a new stand with a considerable range in 
age. A number of the 4, 5, and 6 inch trees left standing will undoubt- 
edly be blown down. Such loss, however, will be far less than would 
be the case if a sufficient number of the larger trees were left uncut 
to insure the wind firmness of the smaller ones. In the latter event, 
there would probably be a severe windfall among the larger trees; 
the cost of logging would be increased, and a considerable part of the 
producing power of the soil would be lost for a time. 
In mature stands, cut under the selection system, windfall will be 
negligible if the marking is carefully done. In many of the openings 
seedlings will start and grow vigorously; in other places, where a fair 
number of trees still remain on the ground, they will grow slowly until 
released by a later cutting; while in still others the stand will be too 
dense for reproduction to start. From 15 to 20 years later it will be 
possible to cut the stand again, at which time the process just outlined 
will be repeated. Later cuttings will completely remove the original 
stand, leaving one of many age classes, the latter largely in groups. 
When immature stands of lodgepole pine are thinned one or more 
times, the final stand will contain trees more nearly uniform in size 
than is the case in virgin stands. When the large trees are removed 
in one cutting, as outlined for overmature stands, the previous thin- 
nings will have resulted in more or less reproduction, which, together 
with the seed from cones on the ground and from small trees left 
standing, will furnish the basis for the next stand. If the large trees 
are removed in two or three cuttings, reproduction will be secured by 
the shelterwood system. 
Thinnings pay well for themselves in accessible areas near Butte. 
From 1 acre on which there was a 60-year stand consisting of 2,044 
poles, from 25 to 45 feet tall, 1,022 lagging poles were cut. Four 
hundred and eighty-four (about 3 per square rod) of the largest and 
most thrifty trees, varying from 4 to 6 inches in diameter and from 
35 to 45 feet tall, were left. In addition, there were also left 538 
suppressed trees too small to interfere with the growth of the larger 
ones. This thinning yielded $30.66 per acre in stumpage, and the 
trees which were left are now splendidly placed to grow rapidly to 
large size. 
Wherever a mature or overmature stand is accessible, and the cost 
of removing the timber is not great, it is advisable to cut more lightly 
than indicated by the marking rules, in order that defective and 
deteriorating trees may be removed and growth stimulated over the 
largest possible area. Where the timber is more or less inaccessible, 
however, as is usually the case with lodgepole pine, it is necessary to 
cut heavily in order to justify the expense of the necessary improve- 
ments. 
