Treesearch

Foresters have recently begun to seek a more intimate knowledge of the natural, successional stages by which forests regain terrain lost by extensive fires or other pronounced denuding agencies. Studies in this field lead to a closer understanding of the factors which control the distribution, composition and density of the present forest, the silvical requirements of the various species which compose the existing forest and of the soil building or soil deteriorating influences which are operative after large fires. It is the author's privilege in this paper to record certain observations...

It is obvious that seedlings grown in dense stands can not develop so well as those grown without crowding. Nurserymen naturally wish to avoid injury to their stock from crowding, but they also desire to utilize their soil space as fully as possible. The optimum density of stand for each species and age class of nursery stock can be determined within reasonably close limits only by detailed experiments employing plant measurements, weights, root examinations, and observations of survival in the field. Such experiments were conducted at the Savenac nursery in western Montana. Preliminary...

The past five years have seen a very rapid expansion in the use of tractors for logging in the pine region of California. In 1923, when a previous bulletin of this series was published, steam donkey yarding, with which that study treated, was the prevailing method of yarding. During the season of 1928 probably not less than 60 percent of the timber output of this region was yarded with tractors of the track-laying type. This remarkable increase in the use of tractors has come about largely for two reasons: First, the power employed is split up into several units with the attendant possibili...

The bulk of the field work was done by the Southern Forest Experiment Station which, however, received generous cooperation from the State foresters of the Southern States. For this cooperation grateful acknowledgement is made. Office computations and the preparation of all tables were in the hands of the Forest Service under the general direction of Donald Bruce. The text was prepared by R.D. Forbes and E.L. Demmon, former and present directors, respectively, of the Southern Forest Experiment Station.

One of the greatest obstacles to the control of fire in the Douglas fir region is the snags on the logged-off lands and old burns, To make such land safe for reforestation", it is a prime requisite to get down the snags.

To obtain definite information which can be used in formulating slash disposal policies, the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station has begun a study of the slash problem in the Douglas fir region. Although there are numerous related but widely different aspects to this study, only one phase is treated in this brief summary, namely, the effect of fire on the volume of slash.

A large number of foresters, forest entomologists and others are now making use of the increment borer to investigate the effects of cutting, fire damage and other factors on tree growth, or the relation between tree vigor and insect attacks, besides many other factors. The measurement of increment cores economically with consistent accuracy is usually the most difficult part of such work. A brief description of a simple instrument that has proved helpful in District 5 of the Forest Service may be found interesting

It is not necessary herein to quote statistics on the areas and values of timberland destroyed each year in the United States. The losses are sufficiently large to attract attention and to present problems in forest management as well as in forest research. The situation is here and every forester must meet it, be he manager or investigator. This paper is an attempt to present the problems of the investigator whose job is to furnish certain information on reproduction of burned over forest land to the forest manager.

During late July and early August, 1926, the Kaniksu National Forest in northern Idaho experienced its most severe fire damage since the advent of the white man in that region. About 125,000 acres were burned as a result of the conflagrations. The destroyed forests consisted largely of western white pine (Pinus mionticola), western larch (Larix occidentalis), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), lowland white fir (Abies grandis), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). The ground cover, typical of the western white pine type, had as key species Linnea...

Except in unusually moist years the survival of planted stock in the northern Rocky Mountains, even on favorable slopes, has not been satisfactory. On good and poor sites alike, the principal cause of the unusual degree of mortality has been the combination of dry soil and dry winds during the hot days of July and August. The results have made it clear that the most important consideration in forest planting in this region is not the choice of a favorable site for planting, but the kinds of planting stock that are best suited to survive the unusually dry conditions, regardless of site.