UTILIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF LODGEPOLE PINE. 35 
thousand. The cost varied with the number of brush piles per acre 
and the depth of the snow. It was found that on an average one 
man could in one day burn 536 piles under 8 inches of snow, 418 
under 10 inches of snow, and 299 piles under 12 inches of snow. 
REGULATING THE CUT. 
In the existing unmanaged stands of lodgepole pine the arrange- 
ment of age classes is never ideal, and a long series of carefully 
planned cuttings is necessary to convert the irregular forest into a 
regular or normal one. Certain age classes usually occupy much 
more than their share of the ground, while one or more classes may 
be entirely lacking. For this reason the first cuttings in such a 
stand are, as a rule, based primarily on volume rather than on area. 
An estimate is made of the actual amount of growing stock on the 
ground and also of the probable yield during certain periods — -usu- 
ally 10 years — throughout the length of the rotation by the various 
age classes represented. With these figures as a basis, it is possible 
to fix the volume which can be cut during each period without 
exceeding the amount of wood produced. If, through the presence 
of large bodies of mature and overmature timber, the growing stock 
is greater than normal, the surplus should be removed by cutting 
for a few years more than is being produced; while, if through the 
presence of large bodies of younger age classes, the growing stock is 
less than normal, the deficiency should be made up by cutting for a 
time less than is being produced. 
The management planned for the timber on the Bernice division 
of the Deerlodge National Forest furnishes a concrete example of 
the method of regulating the annual cut during the course of the 
next rotation. Table 16, which is based on figures secured by an 
estimating crew which gridironed the area in lines at intervals of 
one-fourth mile, shows the different classes of timbered and untim- 
bered land on the Bernice division. Table 17 shows the degree of 
normality, volume, and annual increment of the different age classes 
found in the timbered area of the division, and Table 18 shows the 
proposed method of cutting for the next 140 years. 
Table 17. — Classification of the land and timberland on the Bernice division, Deerlodge 
National Forest, Mont. 
LAND. 
Area. 
Percent. 
Timberland i 
Acres. 
63, 051 
12,563 
912 
674 
1,569 
80.0 
Grass land 
15.9 
Brush land 
1.2 
Cultivated land 
.9 
Barren land 
• 2.0 
Total 
78, 769 
100.0 
62,491 acres, or 99.1 per cent, productive; 560 acres, or 0.9 per cent, alpine. 
