Treesearch

It is not often that a large forest fire occurs conveniently near a weather station specially equipped for measuring forest-fire weather. The 13,000-acre Quartz Creek fire on the Kaniksu National Forest during the summer of 1936 was close enough to the Priest River Experimental Forest of the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest Experiment Station for the roar of the flumes to bring the residents to their doors several times; so close that hose and gasoline-powered pumps were installed to protect the buildings; so close that the women and children were sent away to greater safety during the most...

During the past 18 years lightning has caused 39 per cent of the forest fires in the northern Rocky Mountain district, which includes Montana, northern Idaho, and a small portion of northeastern Washington. For the seasons of 1924 and 1925 the figures are 51 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively. As long as such conditions prevail it should be of decided value to know everything possible about the occurrence, behavior, and characteristics of lightning storms in time and place.

Readers or the Idaho Forester do not need to be told why it is necessary to study forest fires in Northern Idaho. They have seen the fires sweep though virgin stands or merchantable timber and through beautiful young stands of valuable reproduction, greatly reducing the value of the merchantable timber and trees and often completely destroying the young stands which soon would have been merchantable. The readers know that there are different causes of these fires, that some fire seasons are much worse than others, that some fires behave altogether differently from others, and that the cost...

In the northern Rocky Mountain region there are vast areas of forest land denuded by fire, which will remain virtually unproductive for generations to come unless planted by hand with nursery-grown trees. After the first sweep of fire through the original stands of western white pine timber (Pinus monticola) on these lands, the forest in most instances started to come back naturally, but before recovery was complete fire came again and this time swept away all the small new trees and all sources of seed for future growth. Forest planting is the only practical means of making such land...

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and white or grand fir (Abies grandis), two shade-tolerating species which are found in more or less abundance in the western white pine type in northern Idaho and northwestern Montana, must usually be classified as undesirable species silviculturally, and for several reasons. In both species the liability to infection by heart-rot at an early age causes such a high percentage of defect that by the time the trees reach merchantable or saw-log size they are apt to be largely or entirely worthless. Even when sound, the material produced by these species...

In 1912 and 1913, when nursery experiments were started under direction of the then "Priest River'' Forest Experiment Station, at Priest River, Idaho, and elsewhere, western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) was one of the principal species being planted on a large scale in the northern Rocky Mountain region and millions of plants were being raised each year in the Forest Service nurseries; but comparatively little careful study had been made to determine the best methods of handling this stock in the nursery to obtain good quality at a minimum cost. The experience of the years following 1909,...

Three kinds of weather control the fluctuations of forest-fire danger-wet weather, dry weather, and windy weather. Two other conditions also contribute to the fluctuation of fire danger. These are the occurrence of lightning and the activities of man. But neither of these fire-starting agencies is fully effective unless the weather has dried out the forest materials so they are dry enough to burn.

In any fire-ridden forest region, such as north Idaho, there is great need for a tangible basis by which to judge the length and the intensity of the fire season in different forest types and at different elevations. The major and natural forest types, such as the western yellow pine forests, the western white-pine forests, and the subalpine forests occur in altitudinal zonations one above the other and are the result of differences in air temperature and precipitation which affect not only life, growth, and distribution, but the fire hazard as well. It follows, therefore, that in addition...

In experiments with the western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) at the Savenac Nursery at Haugan, Mont., many helpful things have been learned, although it may now be seen that the first years of experimentation were not as effective as they might have been. The problem was attacked in much the same way as that of the western white pine (Pinus monticola), because at that time there was no means of knowing that the western yellow pine has no such decided preference for one season of sowing over another as is the case with the western white pine. For at least two seasons sowings were made in...

Planting denuded forest lands with nursery stock is the dependable and established way to get new forest crops started. The fact, however, that it is in many places an operation involving heavy expenditures has led the American forester to try out other methods to a considerable extent. His characteristic discontent with established practice as such, and his constant and persistent efforts to discover better ways, have led him to give not a little attention to field sowing as a possible short-cut in the artificial regeneration of forests. He considers that it is certainly successful under...