Treesearch

In an exploratory study of personality and background, children who, according to California Division of Forestry files, had set two or more fires were compared with children who had set only one fire. Multiple-fire setters were characterized by several associated problems, such as excessive activity, aggression, and psychosomatic difficulties as well as family and school difficulties, rather than by a single distinguishing attribute. First offense firesetters who show any evidence of these associated problems should be considered potential fire-problem children. Their early identification...

Potential redwood crop seedlings, 3 to 4 years old, were released from competition with shrubs and herbs in a trial on the Redwood Experimental Forest, North Coast California. The release distances tested were radii of 2, 3, and 4 feet; the methods used were basal spraying and foliage spraying with 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D mix, and hoeing-cutting. For the first 3 years, released seedlings grew faster than untreated seedlings. By the end of the fourth growing season, when competing vegetation had already reoccupied the weeded areas, height growth of all seedlings appeared to be equalizing. This...

Douglas-fir seedlings were planted by four methods in late February and late March on hot, south-facing slopes in northwestern California. Besides standard planting, the techniques used included deep planting at two different depths, and shading the lower stem. The differences in survival after 3 growing seasons were not statistically significant, but deep planting had helped height growth. Excellent survival in all treatments was probably the result of good stock, careful handling and planting, proper site preparation, and timely rainfall the first spring.

The optimum interval at which to plant tropical ash (Fraxinus uhdei) is being studied on the Waiakea Forest Reserve, island of Hawaii. Four spacing intervals are being tried: 6,8, 10, and 12 feet. Measurements of trial plots in 1969-8 years after plots were set up-suggest that (a) interval had not affected survival rate; (b) spacing had not affected diameter or height growth; (c) basal area per acre varied inversely with interval; and (d) spacing had not affected proportion of acceptable, desirable, and cull trees to total number of trees planted.

Creeping sage (Salvia sonomensis Greene), a semi-shrub, is useful for plantings to reduce fire hazard and to stabilize soil. The most effective, practical, and lasting technique to break seed dormancy was a soaking in gibberellic acid under constant agitation at 500 p.p.m. for 4 hours. Lesser concentrations of this acid and shorter soaking periods were satisfactory if the seeds were planted soon after treatment and if soil moisture and other conditions favored germination. Sulfuric acid, thiourea, hydrogen peroxide, hot water, and gibberellic acid slurry-used alone or in various combination...

Two traditional techniques of forest control and regulation-formulas and area-volume check-are compared to linear programing, as used in a new computerized planning system called Timber Resource Allocation Method ( Timber RAM). Inventory data from a National Forest in California illustrate how each technique is used. The traditional methods are simpler to apply and less expensive, but Timber RAM allows a more realistic definition of timber resources and can analyze a wider spectrum of forest management practices.

While the age distribution and species composition of North American avian breeding populations is reasonably well known, comparable information is generally not available on migrating populations. Capture data taken at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory on the coast at Bolinas, 23 km NW of San Francisco, and at other stations in California have provided information on the composition, seasonal timing, and relative abundance of various species of land bird migrants.

The knobcone X Monterey pine hybrid (Pinus attenuata Lemm. X P. radiata D. Don) has been outplanted in many places in California, among them the Redwood Experimental Forest and vicinity in north coastal California. Survival and growth in the early years were satisfactory. In 1966, red band needle blight was found to be infecting the plantations. Many of the trees have died. It appears that most of the trees on the best site will die from the needle blight. But one hybrid plantation so far shows no evidence of infection. It lies on a site four times higher in elevation and farther inland,...

The effects of boron and salts in spoil material on survival and growth of 44 grass, shrub, and tree species were tested under greenhouse conditions. The spoil used was from the Angeles Tunnel of the California Aqueduct's West Branch now being built. Several species within each plant group apparently can tolerate boron, but field tests will be needed before most of them can be recommended for widespread planting.

Test plots in a brushfield near Mount Shasta, California, were cleared by bulldozing in 1961, and planted with ponderosa pine seedlings in 1962. Brush regrowth was subjected to varying levels of control by spraying with herbicides. In the first 5 years, brush control definitely promoted the growth of pine seedlings. And this early control also promises to reduce the amount of hazardous brush fuels in the plantations for an indefinite period.