35 

18. Object of study.—The object of this chapter is 

to indicate the opportunities for successful application 

of selective timber management to an area which 

differs widely from that described in chapter III; to 

show the advantages of motorized methods of 

transport as a substitute for cable yarding and railroad 

transport in logging selectively managed timber in 

rough country; and to show the opportunities for 

developing. a permanent, low-cost road system, 

which can become the key to profitable and 

continuous management. 

19. General description of tract.—The tract in 

question is approximately 74,000 acres of Douglas fir 

timberland in southern. Oregon. (See Plate I.) The 

control point to the tract as a whole is the confluence 

of the two main branch streams, indicated at the left 

margin of the map. From this point, designated on the 

map as "proposed mill site", a logging railroad and a 

highway extend into the tract. 

Topography and divisions.—The topography of 

many parts of the tract is extremely steep and roughtypical of the rugged foothills of the western Cascade 

region. The main valley, near the proposed mill site, 

is at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. Thence the 

slopes rise in all directions to a maximum elevation of 

5,000. feet. The north, east, and south boundaries of 

the tract generally follow watershed divisions, at 

elevations of 3,000 to 4,500 feet. 

Although it forms one compact body of timberland, the tract divides naturally into two major 

topographic units, which are portions, respectively, of 

the watersheds of the two main branch streams. The 

upper unit has for purposes of management been 

divided into eight blocks, which will be referred to by 

the numbers given them on the map. The lower unit, 

much of which is yet unmapped, has not been so 

divided, and will be referred to as block 9. This block 

includes an irregular area of about 8,000 acres 

extending to the southeast beyond the portion shown 

in the lower right-hand corner of the map; large 

portions of this area support only noncommercial 

timber. 

Timber.—Of the 73,800 acres included in the tract 

as a whole, 11,000 acres are classified as 

nonproductive forest land supporting only noncommercial timber. For the remaining 62,800 acres, 

classed as productive timberland mainly of sites II and 

III, three classes of Douglas fir timber are 

distinguished in different colors on the map:

1. Second growth 1 to 20 years old, occupying 

10,000 acres (including block 1, which has been 

logged). 

2. Second growth 60 to 120 years old, occupying 

12,000 acres and having a merchantable volume of 

400,000 M feet. 

3. Old growth, 300 to 400 years old, occupying 

40,800 acres, with a total stand of 2,100,000 M feet. 

The merchantable volume of both second-growth 

and old-growth stands thus aggregates 21⁄2 billion feet 

over an area of 52,800 acres, averaging approximately 

50 M feet per acre. The old-growth stands are on the 

whole very defective, as is typical of timber in this 

part of the western Cascade region. The best timber 

lies generally at elevations of 2,500 to 4,000 feet. It 

consists almost entirely of pure stands of fairly evenaged Douglas fir; only 12 per cent of its total volume 

is made up of other species, principally western 

hemlock, western red cedar, and silver fir. 

20. Clear-cutting management plan as based on 

cable yarding.—This area constitutes a sustained 

yield unit for which a working plan was prepared in 

1922. The plan was based on the clear-cutting system 

of cable logging. It provides for progressive removal 

of the existing merchantable growing stock at the rate 

of 36 to 40 million feet per year over a period of. 70 

years, followed by 10 years' cut in blocks 1 and 8 (1-

20 year age class), by which time a second cutting 

cycle would begin in the areas cut over first (80 years 

rotation). Under this plan cutting during the first 10 

years would be confined to block 2 (block 1 having 

already been logged), which contains a total volume 

of 380 million feet. The next decade would see the 

CHAPTER IV 

 CONTRAST BETWEEN EXTENSIVE CLEAR CUTTING AND SELECTIVE MANAGEMENT 

OF PURE DOUGLAS FIR ON A ROUGH MOUNTAIN AREA 
 36 

tract only in terms of a 20- to 30-year liquidation 

period than they are from that of the public owner 

which from the beginning plans on sustained yield. 

21. Comparison of road layouts, logging 

methods and costs under cable and motorized 

logging.—Logging costs, road layouts, and logging 

methods will be discussed in considerable detail in 

this case-study for the reason that logging problems 

demand first attention in any proposed plan of 

intensive timber management for this rough and 

mountainous area. The management plan to be 

successful must be based on practical and efficient 

methods of logging. This question will be examined 

by comparing costs of cable logging and motorized 

logging for block 2, which is the first block on which 

cutting has been planned. This area, which in 

topography and timber is fairly typical of most of the 

old-growth portions of the unit, comprises over 6,000 

acres with a stand averaging about 63 M feet per acre 

and totaling 400 million feet (including 20 million 

feet of privately owned timber). The stand consists of 

91 per cent Douglas fir, mostly old growth; 6 per cent 

hemlock; and 3 per cent western red cedar and other 

species. Under the very general scheme shown in 

Plate I all this timber is classified as “loggable old 

growth”. 

The main-line logging railroad already constructed 

was designed to tap this and other blocks in the main 

watershed. The end of the track is at the mouth of the 

creek which flows south through the center of the 

block. Under the cable-logging plan, spurs would be 

built from this main line into all parts of the block so 

as to provide a practical layout for cable logging. 

A detailed topographic map of block 2 is 

reproduced as Plate II. On this map the railroad-spur 

layout required under cable yarding is shown for the 

west half of the block. Superimposed in red lines on 

the same map is shown the proposed location of roads 

which might be substituted for the railroad spurs if the 

area were logged by truck and tractor methods, 

supplemented where necessary by cable yarding and 

swinging. Comparison of road construction costs as 

well as of complete logging costs under these two 

plans is facilitated by the fact that a detailed appraisal 

report covering the cable-logging plan is available; 

This appraisal, by two competent logging engineers, 

was made in 1928 in connection with a proposed sale 

of the block. 

cutting of block 3, which likewise contains 380 

million feet. Cutting in the third decade would be 

divided among blocks 4, 5, and 6; and cutting in the 

fourth decade, between blocks 6 and 7. This would 

complete the logging on the upper unit, with its total 

stand of 11⁄2 billion feet. Thereafter the lower unit 

(block 9) would be logged at the same rate of about 

40 million feet per year. The original timber volume 

on block 9 is 1 billion feet, or sufficient for 25 years 

of logging. Growth accruing in the 12,000 acres of 

stands now 60 to 120 years old over a period of about 

60 years is expected to supply an additional 5-year 

cut to fill out to the end of the 70th year. 

This cutting program is set out in table 8 (from 

which is omitted the 8th decade cut in blocks 1 and 

8). 

The order in which the various blocks enter into 

the cutting schedule follows a plan of economic 

selection by large units of area; for example, block 2 

is taken first because of its accessibility and heavy 

stand of mature timber, and a 10,000-acre area of 60- 

to 120 year-old second-growth timber in block 9 

comes last owing to the thrifty character and present 

low value of this young stand. 

The same order of cutting and the same general 

scheme of clear cutting block by block would 

probably be followed were this area privately owned. 

A private owner, however, would probably strive to 

shorten the 70-year operating period to perhaps 20 or 

30 years by increasing the annual output, provided he 

could obtain so large a share of the available market. 

The conclusions reached in the following study are 

no less significant from the point of view of the 

private operator who at the outset would think of this 

TABLE 8.-Cutting schedule, under clear-cutting management plan, for 

sustained yield unit by blocks and decades 

 Cut in million feet b.m., by decades 

Block 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Total 

2 380 ... ... ... ... ... ... 380 

3 ... 380 ... ... ... ... ... 380 

4 ... ... 170 ... ... ... ... 170 

5 ... ... 140 ... ... ... ... 140 

6 ... ... 70 90 ... ... ... 160 

7 ... ... ... 270 ... ... ... 270 

8 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 

9 ... ... ... ... 400 400 1

400 1,200 

Total 2

380 380 380 360 400 400 400 2,700 

1

 Including 200 million feet contributed by growth, during first cycle, in 

second-growth stands now 60 to 120 years old. 2 Intermingled privately owned timber is available to permit a full cut of 

400 million board fee. 
 37 

Sharp contrast shown in road construction costs.—Under cable 

logging the railroad location and construction problem for this 

block, as will be seen from Plate II, is rather difficult. The end of 

the existing railroad is at an elevation of about 1,500 feet. The 

bulk of the timber lies at elevations of 2,000 to 4,000 feet and 

steep canyon slopes form difficult barriers against entry into the 

main parts of the tract. For this reason the projected main spur 

tapping the west side of the block follows a circuitous route, 

mostly along steep slopes, and rises for several miles on a 5 per 

cent compensated grade. This makes for a long, costly haul and 

high construction costs. 

The railroad problem for the east side is quite similar to that of 

the west side. The entire block would require about 40 miles of 

spurs, including sidings and loading spurs. The cost of 

constructing these spurs, excluding relaying of temporary track, is 

estimated in the appraisal report at $355,850. 

Under the plan for motorized logging the existing main-line 

railroad and its projected extension remain as before; but only 1 

mile of spur is retained. This runs north along the creek through 

the center of the block. From the end of this spur (beyond which 

the grade becomes too steep for railroad construction) a "oneway" truck road about 211⁄2 miles long would be built along the 

creek .to the north end of the block. The cost of constructing the 

railroad spur with sidings and landings, is estimated at $10,000, 

and that of the truck road at $12,000. 

The 30 miles of main tractor roads shown on the map should be 

considered a part of the primary road system; these are the key 

roads by which as much of the area as practicable would be made 

suitable for low-cost downhill tractor logging. The most important 

of these roads are located primarily with a view to getting direct 

access from the railroad to the "easy tractor ground" above the 

steep slopes and bluffs. At the same time, they would serve to 

break up many of the long steep slopes in such a way that lowcost short-distance yarding with tractor-mounted drum units 

would become feasible for much of the nearby timber. 

Portions of these 30 miles of main tractor roads would be built 

along very steep slopes. Four miles of such construction are 

estimated to cost from $1,000 to $4,000 per mile and to average 

$2,000. For the remaining 26 miles the cost is estimated to vary 

from $100 to $1,000 per mile and to aggregate $10,000. Many of 

these roads skirt the lower edges of the favorable tractor logging 

areas, where they provide an outlet for timber that will be brought 

in over numerous branch trails. Others provide the most favorable 

return routes to the more distant portions of the, area. In the latter 

case the route of travel in bringing the loads to the landing would 

frequently be more direct than the return route. 

The estimated cost of main tractor roads would thus aggregate 

$18,000, and this together with the estimated $22,000 for the 

railroad spur and truck road would bring the total cost of road 

construction, exclusive of the mainline logging railroad, to 

$40,000, equivalent to $0.10 per M feet. This represents only 

about 11 per cent of the estimated cost of spur-grade construction 

under the cable logging plan. 

In the foregoing comparison no provision has been made for 

the construction of perhaps 100 to 200 miles of branch tractortrails. Many of these would be constructed with a bulldozer in. the 

same way as the main tractor roads, but the majority of them 

would simply develop in the course of the yarding operations, 

because the ground surface on this tract is generally smooth 

enough to permit tractor travel unhindered except by windfalls. 

The cost of developing these trails, whether as a part of the 

yarding operations or through actual construction, is in a practical 

sense a part of the day-to-day yarding cost, and will be so 

designated in the following comparisons of logging costs. 

Comparison at tractor-logging cost for tractor areas and 

cable-logging cost for block 2 as a whole.—From the point of 

view of logging costs and methods block 2 (see Plate II) is 

divided into the fol1owing classes of areas: 

(a) Tractor areas, comprising approximately 280 million 

board feet of timber located on generally favorable tractor 

ground. Small portions of these areas will require drum units for 

yarding. 

(b) Intermediate areas, comprising about 80 million board 

feet located on steep ground. Drum-unit yarding, bob-tail tractor 

yarding, tractor roading, cable-yarding and skyline swinging may 

be used for various portions. 

(c) Cable-yarding areas, comprising about 40 million board 

feet on the steep canyon slopes of the upper end of the block; this 

timber would be hauled by motor truck to the railroad. 

TABLE 9.-Estimated logging costs for tractor areas at Block 2

under tractor-logging plan as compared with estimated costs for 

Block 2 under cable-logging plan 
 38 

Table 9 compares estimated logging costs on tractor areas under 

the proposed plan with costs under the cable-logging plan. The first 

column gives costs of cable logging as set up in the 1928 appraisal 

report, while the second shows the same costs reduced by 20 per 

cent, so as to bring them more closely in line with the 1934 cost 

level. 

This arbitrary blanket reduction may, of course, be challenged 

particularly with regard to certain items, but it should be noted that 

all the items listed, except yarding and loading costs, are used as the 

basis for corresponding estimated costs under the tractor-logging 

plan. Accuracy of estimates is, therefore, to a considerable extent a 

question of relative costs affecting both plans alike. 

In comparing the last two columns of the table, it will be noted 

that estimated costs are identical for several items, but differ quite 

radically for others. 

For some items the tractor-logging plan shows a reduction of 50 

per cent, which is brought about by lowered railroad operation and 

maintenance costs. The cable-logging plan requires an average 

stump-to-mill railroad haul of about 12 miles, much of it on steep 

grades in rough sidehill country, while the tractor-logging plan 

requires an average railroad haul of only 61⁄2 miles, mostly on a wellbuilt main line for which both operating costs and maintenance costs 

per mile would be lower than those for woods spurs. 

Estimated spur-construction costs per M feet are reduced from 

$0.64 to $0.02, and allowance for profit and risk on the investment 

in spurs from $0.43 to $0.01 per M feet, both reductions 

corresponding with the reduction of the railroad spur mileage from 

40 to 1. 

Certain items are eliminated entirely under the tractor-logging 

plan, owing to their inclusion in yarding and loading costs. The 

$2.50 estimate for yarding and loading is based on the following 

break-down of costs: 

(a) Direct-yarding (or roading) for 6,000-foot 

 average haul (from table 4) ...........................................$1.12 

(b) Drum-unit yarding at $0.80 for 25% of total timber 

 volume........................................................................... .20 

(c) Construction of tractor-trails (other than main roads) .... .10 

 (d) Loading .......................................................................... .25 

(e) Allowance for profit and risk (not fully covered in 

 machine rate set-up)....................................................... .33 

(f) Extra allowance for long roading and other 

 factors ............................................................................ .50 

 $2.50 

The $0.50 allowance (item f) for the handicap of long roading 

for certain portions of the area gives recognition to the 

disadvantages in going out so far, particularly where so much 

timber has to come to one central landing at the end of the track. 

Fallers and buckers, cold deck crews, etc., would lose a good 

deal of time in going to and from work, and it would frequently 

be difficult to keep the operation running smoothly. Construction 

of truck roads to tap these long corners would perhaps result in a 

saving, but not clearly so, owing to the problem of reloading. 

Under a different truck-haul setup that will be further discussed 

the situation in this respect becomes more favorable. 

Cost estimates for "intermediate" and "cable-yarding" 

areas.—For intermediate areas, which are not accounted for in 

table 9, costs under the proposed plan are estimated at $7.26 or 

$1.50 per M more than for tractor areas. This difference is 

designed to cover increased costs in logging steep slopes that 

require drum-unit yarding, skyline swinging or expensive tractorroad construction and that cause higher costs owing to increased 

breakage. 

For cable-yarding areas, costs are estimated in round figures at 

$9.50 per M—$2.24 higher than for intermediate areas. Of 

this differential $1.65 is the estimated cost of the 2-mile truck 

haul including road construction and maintenance and reloading, 

and the balance is for increased costs of yarding on this 

extremely steep and rough area. The basis for estimation of costs 

is not so strong in this case owing to the uncertainties of a 

blanket cost estimate applied to so difficult a logging show. This 

is, of minor importance in considering the estimate for block 2 as 

a whole, because the cable yarding areas support only 10 per cent 

of the total timber volume. 

Summary at cost estimates for block 2.—The foregoing 

logging-cost estimates are summarized as follows:

 Cost per M feet 

Tractor Areas (280 million feet)........................... $5.76 

Intermediate Areas (80 million feet) ...................... 7.26 

Cable-yarding Areas (40 million feet).................... 9.50 

 Weighted average (400 million feet) ............ $6.43 

The average estimated cost for the block is $1.95 per M less 

than the estimated cost of logging the same timber under the cablelogging plan. 

Savings from reduction of timber breakage with regard to both 

cost and values would result also from adoption of the proposed 

plan. Experience indicates that these savings commonly exceed 

$0.50 per M. 

Truck haul supersedes main-line railroad haul.—One important 

question that so far has not been touched upon, is whether the 

main-line railroad should be retained under the proposed plan. By 

not opening this question it has been possible to refer to the 

estimates given in the appraisal report for an item by item 

comparison without introducing too radical a change in the basic 

set-up of costs. With the comparison completed on that basis the 

question of motor truck haul versus railroad haul will now be 

considered.

The main-line railroad, which extends for a distance of 51⁄2 

miles from the proposed mill site to the end of the track in block 2 

(Plate I) has not been used since its completion in 1928. It is not 

now in usable condition for logging. Restoration of this road 

would require new ties throughout, and much other repair work. It 

is estimated that the cost of this, added to possible salvage value of 

the steel rails, would be sufficient to pay for converting the 

railroad grade into a truck road surfaced with crushed rock and 

wide enough for the most part for two-way traffic. It is further 

estimated that by substituting truck roads for the previously 

proposed railroad extensions, enough money would be saved to 

build 3 to 4 additional miles of truck roads and about 1 mile of 

expensive tractor road (in section 2) which would provide the 

means for shortening of roading distances from various "long 

corners" of the block. (Under the railroad set-up the cost of 

reloading would preclude some of this truck-road construction but 

some of it might be justified even then.) Proposed locations of 

these roads are shown on Plate III. 

In addition to these roads, many miles of tractor roads and trails 

could readily be made a part of the truck-road system, to serve in 

some cases and at some times of the year perhaps for truck haul of 

logs, but more generally for light truck and auto travel such as 

would be needed for transportation of crews, fire protection, and 

general administrative purposes. Such roads will hereinafter be 

referred to as truck trails. 

Through this radical change in the road layout yarding and 

loading costs for tractor areas, previously estimated at $2.50 per 

M, would be reduced by an estimated $0.75 per M. This saving is 

based in part on direct reduction of roading costs (average roading 

distance is reduced from about $6,000 to $3,500 feet without 

figuring possible further reduction through use of truck trails 

which might be very substantial) and in part on indirect reductions 

of various items of cost as already discussed. It is this very 

substantial saving that makes it practical to substitute truck haul 

for rail haul on block 2. 
 39 

Study indicates that similar results would be obtained in all the 

other blocks. The topography and location of these areas are such 

that rail haul does not offer the best solution of the transportation 

problems. If the sawmill were to be located much farther away 

from the tract a different situation would, of course, arise. 

Portable log loader is final step toward flexibility in logging.—

The final touch in the evolution of the foregoing operating plan is 

the introduction of a mobile type of log loader. Maximum 

efficiency in tractor logging, as discussed in the last chapter of the 

logging cost report (7) is best attained by decentralizing the 

yarding operations and by separating yarding from loading. Under 

this plan the tractors would bring the logs to the roads at any point 

where topography permits while the loader would come along a 

few days or a few weeks later to load out. For this particular 

operation a loader of the revolving shovel type would serve the 

purpose, although other types, lower in cost, appear feasible. The 

use of such loaders would, of course, require a wide roadbed along 

the landings to provide room for the load-ing rig and truck traffic.

This operating set-up provides a basis for attainment of 

maximum efficiency and also for the high degree of flexibility 

needed in intensive selective timber management. A permanent 

road system would provide quick and convenient access to all parts 

of the tract and with yarding and loading machinery of the highly

mobile type proposed the growing stock would be placed under 

intensive selective control. For these "cable-yarding" and 

"intermediate" areas this control relates mainly to donkey settings 

and small drum-unit settings. For tractor areas selective control 

would extend for the most part to the individual tree. 

22. Selective management plan based on 

motorized logging.—Under intensive selective

management a detailed plan should be worked out first 

for tractor areas which comprise nearly 75 per cent of 

the total old-growth area. Since these areas are for the 

most part favorable tractor logging ground there is no 

question as to whether intensive selection is 

practicable from an operating point of view. Even if 

the management plan should call exclusively for clear 

cutting, the logging procedure would usually consist in 

a series of individual tree-selection cuttings, owing to 

the operating economy and breakage savings 

attainable by this method of operation. 

Basis of selection in old-growth stands during 

initial operations.-The general character of the oldgrowth stand is revealed by the stand structure 

diagrams presented as figure 12. The upper diagram is 

based on a 10 per cent cruise tally of section 11, of 

block 2, and the lower on a similar tally of section 10 

of block 2. 

The size of the timber is shown to vary over a 

considerable range.4

 The Douglas fir veterans, which 

constitute about 90 per cent of the total volume of the 

stand, range in both cases mainly from 30 to 70 inches 

in diameter. 

4 This rather wide diameter range in an even-aged and, broadly speaking, highly 

uniform stand is true to form for old-growth unmanaged forests. In this respect it will 

prove of interest to compare these stand diagrams with those of the many-aged 

spruce-hemlock stand discussed in the preceding chapter (fig. 7), and to 

note in particular that in all cases a large portion of the volume in 

concentrated in a relatively few large trees. 

Precise variations in stumpage conversion values as 

based on diameter classes and species have not been 

determined in this study but the general situation may 

be stated in approximate terms. The average pond 

conversion value, as of 1934, is estimated at $10 per M 

or slightly less—a low value brought about by the 

unfavorable location of the tract with regard to market 

outlets. For the tractor areas this would give an average 

stumpage conversion value of approximately $4 per M. 

For the bulk of the timber, consisting of Douglas fir

from 30 to 70 inches in diameter, relative values are 

conservatively estimated at $3 for the 30- to 39-inch, 

$4 for the 40- to 49-inch, $5 for the 50- to 59-inch, and 

$6 for the 60- to 69-inch classes. 

The importance of the precise facts as to the relative 

value spread is overshadowed by the condition of the 

stand with regard to defect. This 300- to 400-year-old 

stand contains relatively few windfalls and snags but, 

as already stated, is highly defective. The principal defect is red ring rot (Trametes pini) commonly called 

conk or conk rot. This disease is widespread. In block 

2 approximately 40 per cent of live standing Douglas 

firs 30 inches or more in diameter are defective. 

However, excluding cull trees (trees more than 75 per 

cent defective), of which there are about 2 per acre, 

and including trees less than 30 inches in diameter 

there are on the average acre (fig. 12) about 32 trees 12 

inches or more in diameter of which 14 are sound 

understory trees under 30 inches, and approximately 

12 are sound and 6 partially defective old-growth trees 

in the 30- to 80-inch diameter range.5

Boyce, in his report on decay in Douglas fir, states 

that the fungus causing conk rot almost invariably 

enters the tree through knots or branch stubs-i.e., 

generally near the base of the crown-where heartwood 

is exposed, and only rarely through trunk scars of any 

kind. This is responsible for the fact that the partially 

defective trees are conky principally in the upper and 

central part of the bole and as far down as the defect 

may extend, but with relatively less defect in the lower 

and most valuable portion of the bole. Expert and 

careful culling of defective, low-value portions of the 

trees should therefore result in a relatively high log 

value for the portions actually utilized. 

5 In the cruise tally cull trees were recorded by diameter classes 

as shown in figure 12, while the volume or percentage of defect in 

the partially defective trees was not so recorded, but was lumped 

with breakage as a blanket deduction of 25 per cent from the gross 

cruise volume of the entire stand. Like the cull trees, however, the 

partially defective trees occur in all diameter classes from 30 to 80 

inches and the distribution of relative volume of defect by 

diameter classes would presumably be somewhat similar to that of

the cull trees. 
 40 
 41 

Possibilities for highly effective work along this line are, of 

course, far greater under selective logging with tractors than 

under wholesale clear cutting and cable yarding. In the latter case 

logging a highly defective stand of timber is a difficult problem. 

Cull trees, if left standing, interfere with the efficiency of the 

yarding operation, or if felled add directly to the cost of logging. 

Furthermore, excessive breakage in felling and yarding adds to 

other losses; and the exigencies of high-speed yarding make 

careful log selection difficult. With tractor logging, on the other 

hand, the defective trees can be felled and logged one by one, 

with ample opportunities for careful selection log by log and 

without serious interference with the efficiency of the yarding 

operations. 

Prudent culling in the partially defective trees would 

practically result in the elimination of logs of No. 3 commercial 

grade since these are found almost exclusively in the defective 

portion of the bole. Logs of this grade would, as a matter of fact, 

barely pay their own way from stump to mill even if they were 

sound, because their average value in the mill pond, as of 1934, 

would not exceed $6 per M (as compared with about $11for No. 2 

logs and $16 for No. 1 logs). Elimination of No. 3 logs would 

leave an average value for logs actually taken approximately 

$1.50 per M board feet higher than the corresponding value .of 

sound trees, but this increase in value would, of course, be 

reduced through unavoidable inclusion of defect in logs actually 

utilized. Felling costs would rise in proportion to the percentage 

culled, but yarding, loading, and transportation costs would drop 

owing to exclusion of small rough logs which are relatively costly 

to handle. All in all the possibilities appear to be that through 

careful culling about as high a net recovery per M board feet net 

scale would be made from partially defective trees as from sound 

trees. 

These apparent possibilities of extracting fairly 

high returns need not, of course, be dwelt upon as the 

primary reason for quick removal of the partially 

defective trees. These trees obviously constitute the 

declining element of the stand, in contrast to sound 

trees which are gaining in volume and value. Their 

priority in selection (on the basis of a low discount 

rate), is therefore not all in dispute even if they were 

of much lower relative value than here indicated. 

They constitute the portion of the growing stock for 

which physical and financial maturity go hand in 

hand, and differ in this respect from the cull trees 

which, though physically overmature, have already 

been stricken from the inventory of liquidable assets. 

Basis of selection in second-growth stands during 

initial operations.—Under the foregoing management plan it might be difficult to fill market orders 

for certain grades of lumber, principally No.1 

common, if only the old-growth timber should be cut, 

owing to severe culling of low grade logs. The 

answer to this situation, if and when it develops, 

would obviously be to open up portions of the 12,000 

acres of 60- to 120-year-old second growth, directing 

the cut almost exclusively toward improvement of 

the stand. It is certain that in a 60- to 120-year-old 

unmanaged stand there are vast opportunities for 

constructive measures along this line. This timber, 

with a total volume of 400 million feet, is in the 

prime of its life, capable if intensively managed of

growing at an annual rate of 2 per cent or more by 

volume. If left unmanaged, on the other hand, gradual 

stagnation, of growth together with mortality losses 

from various sources would reduce net increment to a 

very low figure as indicated by the growth predictions 

given in the clear-cutting management plan (table 8). 

By making needed initial thinnings and placing the 

stand under continuous selective control it should be 

possible to cut 4 or 5 million feet a year, as may be 

needed for balancing market requirements, and yet 

for several decades to keep on building up total stand 

volume at about the same rate as anticipated under the 

clearcutting plan. 

Logging costs in the second-growth timber can, 

from all indications, be kept at a reasonably low level 

even during the initial development period owing to 

the fact that very little truck-road construction would 

be required. A portion of the 10,000-acre area in 

block 9 is already served by a truck road. Other areas 

would be tapped by roads needed for development of

the surrounding old-growth areas, and still other areas 

might be tapped by constructing cheap truck trails 

suitable for a couple of months, operation during the 

height of the summer season. Use of specialized 

small-timber logging methods-such as bunching by 

horses or a small tractor-should enable high 

efficiency in logging and at the same time make it 

possible to avoid mechanical injury to the stand 

which is an important matter with regard to 

prevention of fungus infection. Net stumpage returns 

would, nevertheless, be very low on the basis of

present lumber values, but a high return is not 

essential since properly selected timber would 

constitute free, surplus stumpage, the removal of

which would enhance future returns. 

Development of road system and cutting areas 

during the first 15 years of operation.—On the basis 

of the foregoing program rapid development of all 

tractor areas, both old growth and second growth, is 

necessary. Operations during the first 15 years would 

remove 600 million feet of timber (40 million feet per 

year), of which 60 million feet would be tentatively 

allocated to second-growth areas and 540 million (36 

million per year) to old-growth areas. Of 

this 540 million feet, partially defective trees 
 42 

would constitute about 420 million (the estimated 

aggregate net scale of defective timber on tractor 

areas) and 120 million feet would be sound oldgrowth timber. Inclusion of this proportion of sound 

timber is to provide for removal of old-growth sound 

trees that may be injured in taking out the defective 

trees—a measure that should reduce losses from 

fungus infection in the residual stand; of sound trees 

on small areas that may have to be clear cut; and of

sound but stagnant large trees, particularly in the 70-

inch and larger size classes, from which unusually 

high stumpage returns can be obtained. 

The manner in which this cutting program would be 

carried out with regard to road building and opening 

up of new cutting areas is indicated on Plate III. For 

the unmapped portions of block 9 it will be assumed 

that road requirements and percentage of area adapted 

for tractor logging are the same as for the mapped 

portions. Operations during the first three 5-year

cutting cycles might be as follows: 

During the first 5-year period operations in the old-growth 

areas would be spread over approximately 25,000 acres as shown 

on the map. The total volume of timber is roughly 1300 million 

feet of which only 180 million would be removed during the 5-

year period. Operations would follow the line of least resistance, 

with only tractor-arch units used for direct yarding from stump to 

landing. The cut would be concentrated mainly on large defective 

trees of high value; of these an average of less than 2 trees per 

acre need be removed to make up a 180 million foot cut. Where 

many defective trees occur only a few would be cut so that no 

serious slash hazard would be created, and the rest would be 

passed up to the second or third cut; or else, clear cutting of 

certain badly defective patches of timber would be resorted to and 

the slash burned in broadcast fashion. 

Cutting areas in second-growth timber that might be developed 

during this period are not shown on the map. Operations would be 

confined to the west end and central portion of the 10,000-acre 

area in block 9, or to handy portions of the second-growth areas in 

blocks 3 and 4. 

Road construction during this period would consist in 

conversion of 51⁄2 miles of existing railroad grade and construction 

of approximately 31 miles of new truck roads, the latter being 

estimated to cost $6,000 per mile. Including main tractor-roads, on 

the same basis as discussed for block 2 the total cost of road 

construction would be approximately $1.50 per M to be charged 

off in full against the timber removed during the 5-year period. 

During the second 5-year period additional old-growth areas 

aggregating about 7,000 acres, with an estimated stand of 350 

million feet, would be opened up for an initial cut of about 80 

million board feet. The balance of the cyclic cut, of old growth, 

100 million feet, would be obtained by sweeping back over the 

25,000-acre area opened up in the first cut. Within this area spots 

that are too steep for direct tractor-roading, and that therefore were 

passed up during the first cut, would now be opened up, using 

bob-tail tractors or drum units for skidding the logs to the tractor 

roads or occasionally clear cutting small groups where high 

leading at distances over 300 or 400 feet might be necessary. 

Road construction during this period would include about 15 

miles of new truck roads, at an estimated cost of $0.45 per M 

($6,000 per mile). For main tractor-road construction the estimated 

cost would be $0.15 per M, based on corresponding requirements 

in block 2. 

During the third 5-year period approximately 2 or 3 thousand

acres of new cutting areas might be developed. These are not 

indicated on the map. They would consist mainly of certain 

isolated tractor areas that require a disproportionate amount of road 

construction and of intermediate areas that are easily accessible 

from the roads already built, or that can be made accessible at 

reasonable cost by construction of new roads. The bulk of the 

cyclic cut would be obtained by sweeping back over areas opened 

up during the first and second cycles, concentrating on remaining 

partially defective low-value trees passed up previously. 

The cost of truck roads and main tractor roads to be constructed

during this period is estimated at about $0.25 per M. The 

permanent road system would now be nearing its completion with 

only about 10 more miles of truck roads to be constructed during 

subsequent cycles. Upon completion of these there would be altogether about 75 miles of truck roads. This does not include a 

possibly very large mileage of cheap truck trails (the cost of which 

is treated as a part of yarding costs) which would serve as feeders 

to the truck roads during the dry season. 

Throughout this 15-year period the aim would be to 

open up new cutting areas as rapidly as possible and at 

the same time keep the net flow of income at a high 

level. During the first cycle road-construction costs are 

relatively high but yarding costs, through selection of

the choicest tractor-roading shows, are relatively low. 

As road-construction costs decrease, other logging 

costs increase. A fairly steady level of activity is thus 

indicated. Net returns would be high because on the 

whole the most high value defective trees are logged 

during this cycle. 

The above brief outline of how the operations would 

progress over the area and how they would sweep back

over previously developed areas at 5-year intervals 

does not fully indicate the high degree of flexibility 

and continuous selective control of the timber that 

readily can be attained. With a 34,000-acre old-growth 

area to manage, the most efficient operating set-up 

might well be to divide the area into several divisions 

or blocks, to each of which would be assigned one or

two tractor-roading outfits. Within each division 

operation would be carried on continuously, shifting 

from road to road and from landing to landing, and 

spreading back and forth over the entire operating area 

often enough to maintain roads and tractor-trails 

through light but frequent use, and to keep the growing 

stock under complete selective control as needed for

market selection, salvage, and other purposes. With the 

type of roads and logging and transportation equipment here indicated, possibilities along this line are 

virtually unlimited. 
 43 

Disposal of cull trees during and after initial operations.—Cull

trees, of which there are on the average about two per acre 

(exclusive of possible culls among trees less than 30 inches in 

diameter) would be carefully avoided during the first 15 years. 

Since they are live, green trees, in contrast to snags, they do not 

constitute a serious fire menace so long as they are left standing 

and remain green. On the contrary, they would help to maintain 

the crown cover and thus to reduce the fire danger by keeping the 

debris from the tree selection cuttings in the shade of the forest. If 

felled, on the other hand, they would add to the fire hazard and 

hinder the felling and yarding operations. 

No particular reasons would seem to exist for reversing this 

policy in later years, at least not so long as individual tree 

selection is continued without direct aim for regeneration. Where 

group cuttings occur—and these would progress at a faster rate 

after the 15-year period—the cull trees if left would be isolated in 

the open, with the probable result that many would soon drop out 

from sudden exposure to sun and wind. Scattered culls that 

survive would not interfere with the establishment of regeneration, 

although they might retard its growth in their immediate vicinity. 

Felling of these trees would generally cost from $1 to $3 per tree. 

Considering that it would take approximately 30 cull trees to use 

up the growth power of one acre of soil, it is clear that a felling 

expenditure at the rate of $30 to $90 per acre for freeing the soil of 

the trees is wholly unjustified in a region where far more 

accessible and productive forest land, valued at $1 to $5 per acre, 

is lying idle. It would seem best, therefore, to rely as much as 

possible on Nature to dispose of them in the same manner as has 

continually been happening in the past. Since the partially 

defective trees are removed before they become culls the final 

solution of the cull tree problem would probably be reached in this 

manner within a reasonable length of time. 

Development at new cutting areas after completion of third 

cycle.—By the end of the third cutting cycle a total of about 

34,000 acres of the "loggable, old-growth" timberlands would 

have been opened up for logging and brought under intensive 

selective management. There would remain untouched about 

7,000 acres of steep and rugged old-growth areas. The 

management policy would be gradually to extend operations into 

these areas, but preferably without resorting to destructive 

methods of logging. Obviously, it is possible that in the course of 

time accumulated experience with tractors and allied forms of 

flexible logging machinery on rough ground, together with 

mechanical improvements in logging and road-building 

equipment, may so alter the situation that many portions of this 

7,000-acre area can profitably be brought under intensive selective 

management. It would be difficult to conceive otherwise after 

watching the progress that has been made along these lines during 

the last few years. For extremely rough and rocky areas, though, it 

can hardly be expected that these methods of intensive selective 

logging will ever become practical. Areas of this character from 

which reasonably high stumpage conversion values could be 

obtained might be clear cut (by conventional cable-yarding 

methods). Some of the others should perhaps never be logged, 

particularly if their slope and character are such that stripping the 

timber from them might create serious fire-hazard, reforestation, 

stream-flow, and erosion problems. In any event, bringing of these 

areas into full production should wait until two important 

requirements can be met; first, that operating methods fully 

compatible with good, conservative forest-land management shall 

be employed; second, that a reasonably high conversion value 

shall be obtainable. Pending development of this situation these 

areas would constitute a reserve into which operations might 

occasionally be shifted for short periods when demand 

temporarily placed an unusually high premium on old-growth 

timber. Truck and tractor roads built and maintained for operations 

on tractor areas would reach to and into nearly all major parts of 

the nonoperated areas and so would permit quick action in shifting 

operations in and out of them. 

Fire Protection.—This area is within a climatic zone of fairly 

high fire hazard. The old-growth stand with a uniform overstory is 

of a type in which conflagrations have swept in the past, as 

witnessed by the presence of large areas of even-aged stands of 

various ages on this particular tract and throughout this portion of 

the Douglas fir region. Under selective management the 

conflagration hazard, other things remaining equal, would be 

gradually reduced through removal of snags, and dead and stagheaded trees and other hazardous elements of the stand, and 

through the breaking up of the even-aged crown cover by 

systematic group selection. 

Initial fire protection requirements would be the same as those 

discussed in chapter III, such as felling of snags, exercise of 

judgment in felling the selected trees, staggering and breaking up 

of cutting areas, and occasional removal of tops where they 

happen to lodge against other trees. In addition spot burning, 

lopping and occasional piling and burning, etc., would probably 

prove necessary, particularly along the main truck roads and in 

other strategic locations. However, the bulk of the slash on singletree selection areas could be left for Nature to dispose of, 

providing adequate measures were taken for detection and 

suppression of fires. As experience is gained with respect to the 

rapidity and thoroughness of natural decay .of the slash both the 

cutting and the slash disposal programs can be adjusted 

accordingly. This may require temporary suspension of tree 

selection cuttings on areas where the slash hazard becomes greater 

than acceptable safety standards permit, with cuttings to be 

resumed only after conditions become safe. 

On the group selection areas broadcast slash burning would be 

resorted to in the manner discussed in sections 30 and 45. A more 

detailed discussion of fire hazard and other elements of risk under 

selective timber management is presented in chapter VII. 

23. Evolution of selective management plan 

after third cutting cycle.—The proposed plan has so 

far been centered exclusively on the point that quick 

removal of partially defective old-growth trees and 

concurrent establishment of intensive selective control 

of the remaining growing stock is by far the most 

urgent step to take in initiating effective management 

on this property. Since this involves individual tree 

selection (and to a limited extent small group 

selection) in a 300- to 400-year-old stand of evenaged Douglas fir, important questions relating to 

growth, regeneration and other phases of Douglas fir 

silviculture will arise. Douglas fir, which definitely 

demands open space for regeneration, presents a 

silvicultural problem that necessarily must be 

harmonized with the selective form of management. 

The question of how best to obtain adequate and 

satisfactory regeneration is, of course, only one aspect 

of the more important question of how to grow 

utilizable timber. It need not necessarily be answered 

in its final form during the early stages of selective 

management. 
 44 

Owing to extensive clear cutting and fire in the past 

there are already approximately 10,000 acres of 

regenerating areas in blocks 1 and 8 (Plate III, 1- to 

20-year age class). This is sufficient to meet 

regeneration requirements under a selective 

management program at least until the end of the 15-

year period. Then too, there are many small patches 

of young regeneration within the old-growth stands 

and some regeneration may be expected from the 

cutting program carried on during the 15-year period, 

particularly on portions of the area which for one 

reason or another are clear cut. 

Comparison of increment under selective management and clear-cutting management.—The imediate objective under the selective management plan 

is to obtain net increment from the merchantable 

timber. To all appearances, it would accomplish this 

exceedingly well. On the 12,000 acres of 60- to 120-

year-old second-growth stands the cutting during the 

initial development period and the establishment of 

continuous selective control of the growing stock 

(and hence, reduction of mortality losses) made 

possible by construction of a permanent road system 

should result in a substantial increase in net 

increment above that to be obtained in the 

unmanaged stand. On the 34,000 acres of old-growth 

timber opened up during the 15-year period, net 

increment would be obtained partly through removal 

of the losing elements of the stand; and partly 

through drastic reduction of mortality losses, made 

possible by keeping the remaining sound growing 

stock under continuous selective control. As an 

additional source of increase in net ultilizable 

volume, the question of utilization standards under 

tractor logging versus cable logging should be 

considered also. The aggregate effect of these factors 

will naturally be to substantially extend the life of the 

timber supply. Nevertheless, liquidation of merchantable timber would still be going on, principally in the 

old-growth stands. 

In addition to current increment on the existing 

merchantable growing stock, production would also 

be under way on the 10,000-acre area of 1- to 20-

year-old second-growth (the same as it would be 

under a clear-cutting system), and also on existing 

premerchantable, or newly recruited growing stock 

within the 46,000-acre area in which selective 

operations are being carried on. Remarkable progress 

toward balancing current increment against current 

cut should thus be made within the first 15-year 

period. 

In sharp contrast to this, under a program of

extensive clear cutting, current net increment on the 

existing merchantable timber would be nil.8

Dependence for any net increment under that program 

would have to be placed on regeneration of cut-over 

lands, which during the 15-year period would 

aggregate approximately 12,000 acres; and, in 

common with the selective plan, on potential 

increment from the 10,000-acre area of 1- to 20-yearold reproduction. Potential increment from the 

12,000-acre area as carried on to the end of an 80-year

rotation would (according to the clear-cutting 

management plan) average approximately 8 million 

board feet per year provided that the whole area 

would be restocked well enough to come reasonably 

close to yield table standards. As is generally known, 

regeneration following extensive clear cutting 

commonly falls far short of these standards. 

The contrast between the two systems relates, of

course, not only to the quantity but also to the quality 

and value of the increment. Under the selective 

program there would be substantial current increment 

of merchantable timber. This would be relatively 

valuable material. Particularly valuable, even though 

the rate is exceedingly low (0.4 to 0.5 per cent), 

would be the increment of possibly 4 to 5 million 

board feet a year laid on by approximately 1,000 

million board feet of sound old-growth Douglas fir

trees. Visualized, as it should be, as outside layers of

generally clear and fine-grained wood, much of it 

suitable for high-grade finish and plywood, which is 

being laid on by 300- to 400-year-old trees averaging 

50 inches in diameter, it will readily be understood 

that such material may well have an average stumpage 

conversion value of $10.00 per M or more (as 

compared with the $4 to $5 average stumpage value 

of the timber on which it is being produced). This one 

item of increment alone may amount to as much as 

$50,000 a year (on the basis of present values) which 

is practically as much as total annual stumpage returns 

from liquidating the tract under the cable-logging plan 

of management. 

8

According to the working plan (table 8) an average annual increment of

slightly over 3 million board feet would accumulate over a period of

approximately 60 years in the 10,000-acre area of 60- to 120- year-old 

second growth in block 9 (Plate III); and no net increment at all would be 

forth-coming from the old-growth" stands, the assumption being that 

increment and decay balance each other. Boyce's (6) findings on rate of

decay and other mortality loses, published after the date of the working 

plan clearly imply that in an old-growth stand as extremely defective as in 

the case at hand, losses from decay and mortality would normally exceed 

increment, not strikingly so but quite sufficient on the basis of prudent

forecasting to offset fully the predicted 3 million foot annual increment on 

the second-growth timber. 
 45 

Regularized group cuttings for Douglas fir

regeneration after third cutting cycle.—From the 

foregoing discussion it is evident that the problem of

Douglas fir regeneration is of only secondary 

importance during the first 15 years of selective 

management. Effective work in timber growing (as 

well as in orderly liquidation, and in market selection, 

fire protection and other phases of management) at this 

particular stage of development is a problem that calls 

for individual tree selection, designed primarily to 

remove the declining elements of the stand (which 

constitute the financially most overmature timber), and 

for concurrent construction of a permanent road system 

designed to provide continuous and intensive selective 

control of the growing stock. After this has been 

accomplished the problem of regeneration would 

become more important. How well the foregoing 

management program would provide the right solution 

of this problem should therefore be considered. 

In the course of the initial development of the 

34,000 acres of old-growth stands a large number of

small areas, estimated to aggregate about 2,000 to 

3,600 acres, would have to be clear cut for one reason 

or another. Most of these areas would probably occur 

on steep and rough ground where full-fledged high 

leading (as contrasted with ground leading or modified 

high leading for tree selection) with drum-units may 

necessitate clear cutting of spots ranging generally 

from 2 to 10 acres in area. Clear cutting of spots of

approximately the same size would frequently be 

necessary also on favorable tractor-roading ground, 

particularly in groups of timber consisting mainly of

defective trees, or in spots where slash conditions 

brought about by tree selection may demand clear 

cutting and broadcast slash burning. Occasionally such 

areas might be considerably larger than 10 acres. 

These areas would as a rule restock in quick order. It 

is the authors' opinion, based on many years of

observation in this region, that the best results in 

regeneration from the standpoint both of density of

stocking and of desirable mixture of Douglas fir and 

tolerant species, will be obtained on areas of 2 to 5

acres. As to this, however, no preconceived ideas need 

be accepted as final, because the answer will become 

self-evident as the cutting program proceeds. In this 

respect it is clear that all the aforementioned clear-cut 

areas ranging in size from perhaps less than 1 acre to 

as much as 10 acres or more may be looked 

upon as so many sample plots where regeneration 

results can be observed or studied as closely as may be 

desired. Here many important facts as to regeneration 

may be learned first hand; for example: (a) How size 

of clear-cut area affects density of stocking and how it 

may control the mixture of Douglas fir with hemlock 

and other tolerant species; (b) how size of area and 

density of stocking affect height growth and 

differentiation of height growth; (c) how Douglas fir 

regeneration under shelter may come in, or may be 

induced to come in through tree selection around the 

margins of the clear-cut spots; (d) how all the 

foregoing factors vary for different sites or how they 

differ for north slopes, south slopes and level ground, 

etc. Silvicultural knowledge so gained can be applied 

directly and in a practical manner to the management 

of this particular tract; in fact, not only to the tract as a 

whole but specifically to its various parts as these may 

differ from each other with respect to aspect, site, 

steepness of slope, character of stand, altitude, etc. Past 

experience will be constantly available as a guide for 

future action. The entire forest, including both the 

clear-cut spots and the entire tree selection area, here 

becomes the proving ground for practical experiments 

in cutting procedure conducted without cost as a byproduct of selective logging. 

A fairly well-defined plan of group selection can 

thus be formulated and put into operation by the end of

the 15-year period. This will not mean discontinuance 

of individual tree selection but it will mean that 

enough group cuttings will be made to provide for

regeneration. Approximately 300 acres per year (1⁄2 

per cent of the total productive area) probably would 

be needed for this purpose. As cuttings proceed the 

precise requirements in this respect will become 

known from data obtainable under the continuous 

inventory system described in chapter VIII. 

To explain how a group- and tree-selection program 

can most effectively be combined to carry out the 

economic aims of intensive selective management it is 

well first to briefly consider the character of the oldgrowth stands. As is characteristic of Douglas fir, the 

timber occurs groupwise with wide variations in stand 

density (volume per acre). On block 2, for example, for 

which cruise data are available, several forties carry 

more than 4 million feet and others have less than 1 

million; the heaviest forty on the block supports a 

stand averaging 120 M board feet per acre but the 
 46 

corresponding volume for the lightest forty is only 10 

M. For small, irregular areas the variation is still wider. 

Many small areas of 5 acres or less support stands 

averaging 150 to 200 M board feet per acre and others 

are virtually blank, so far as old-growth merchantable 

timber is concerned. 

Several important points relating to this wide 

variation in density per acre should be noted. First, the 

highest-value timber is found, as a rule, in the most 

heavily stocked groups, owing to the fact that these 

groups have almost invariably originated from dense 

patches of even-aged regeneration where early natural 

pruning and intense competition have resulted in a 

relatively large percentage of fine-grained, clear

timber. Second, in these heavily stocked groups the 

rate of growth is exceedingly low. Growth of the 

veterans would generally be as low as 14 per cent, as 

compared with 1⁄2 per cent or more for trees of the same 

age class growing in lighter stands. (Relation of rate of

growth to density of stocking is shown in table 17 of

chapter VI.) Third, in the most heavily stocked groups 

of old-growth the volume of understory timber is 

negligible (1 to 4 per cent) if not completely lacking, 

while in stands carrying only a light stand of oldgrowth, the volume of the understory is relatively 

large. This is indicated in the stand structure diagrams 

in figure 12 which show that the volume of understory 

(conifers other than Douglas fir) is much larger for the 

stand averaging 51 M board feet per acre than for the 

one averaging 80 M. 

The broad features of the selection program to be 

followed after completion of the first 15-year period, 

should now be plain. Group selection (regeneration 

cuttings) would be centered at first on the most heavily 

stocked groups. For a decade or so it would probably 

touch relatively few groups averaging less than 100 M 

board feet per acre; and another decade or two might

elapse before stands which originally supported less 

than 50 M board feet per acre would be cut to any great 

extent. Throughout this time the operations would 

swing back and forth over the entire property (in the 

same manner as was described above for tree selection) 

picking out small groups of the described type 

wherever they occur. 

In the meantime individual tree selection would be 

carried on but at a slower rate than before. Tree 

selection would thus continue in the 60- to 120-yearold second-growth areas to whatever extent urgent 

market requirements might dictate or at any rate to a 

sufficient extent to take care of mortality losses 

(windfalls, etc.) in the merchantable timber; it would 

also be carried on throughout the old-growth areas, not 

only to take care of mortality but also to liquidate the 

financially most mature trees particularly in stands of

medium and light density. Practical experience, 

accumulating as cuttings proceed, would become the 

guide in deciding how far individual tree selection 

should be carried in stands of different character. In 

stands of medium stocking, it might in many cases be 

carried on for several decades before the remaining old 

trees would be removed through group cuttings. In 

many of the lighter stands, where a heavy understory 

exists, all the veterans would be removed through 

individual tree selection, leaving the understory to 

carryon until some later time when it, too, would be 

clear cut. Until that time stand management 

(individual tree selection) would continue without

interruption. 

Through this procedure group selection, being 

preceded by tree selection, will not lead to as wide a 

departure from the tree selection plan as it otherwise 

would. Tree selection would be carried on to the fun 

extent that it proves practicable and justifiable, after

which group selection would come into the picture as 

the final step. 

From an economic point of view this is essentially 

the same principle that has been applied for centuries 

to many European managed forests. Clear cutting in 

their case is the final cut following a series of

thinnings (cuttings consisting of individually selected 

trees). Clear cutting of this sort on limited areas as 

needed for effective regeneration or as necessitated by 

other reasons of a practical nature is part and parcel of

selective timber management as defined in this report.

Through the foregoing program of regularized 

group cuttings, confined to areas of approximately the 

right size to assure dense regeneration of mixed 

conifers, the progressive building up of a highly 

productive forest would take place. These regenerating 

spots would be scattered throughout the merchantable 

timber area. A permanent road system paid for and 

constantly maintained by operations in the 

merchantable timber, would be continuously available 

and would naturally play an important role in the 

management of the young timber. Intensive stand 

management, beginning with removal of material 

suitable for posts, poles, piling, pulpwood, and small 
 47 

saw logs could therefore begin at a relatively early 

age, and would normally continue for many decades 

before final cuttings again took place. Like clay in the 

hands of the artist the forest could be gradually 

remolded to whatever pattern that might be desired. 

Quantity and quality production would go hand in 

hand toward attainment of the highest possible return 

from the land. 

24. Summary and conclusion.—The timber 

property discussed in this study contrasts sharply both 

as to timber and as to topography with the sprucehemlock property discussed in chapter III. 

Nevertheless, many of the essential features of the 

proposed management procedure are strikingly 

similar. In both cases the steps toward effective 

management are: To open up the property quickly for

a light initial cut consisting of those portions of the 

stand that are financially most overmature; to provide 

permanent roads so that the growing stock can be kept

under continuous selective control, and to shift

constantly back and forth over the entire area (thus 

incidentally maintaining tractor-trails, through light

and frequent use) as needed not only for orderly 

liquidation but also for efficiency in logging, and for

market selection and salvage. The keynote of the management methods in both cases is flexibility and 

control. 

In certain respects the management procedures 

differ noticeably between the two studies. Order of

selection, of operating areas, for example, is a very 

important factor in the case at hand, owing to the 

rough topography. Here the tree selection area is 

confined at first to the most accessible portions, and is 

expanded from time to time until all operable portions

are brought into production. Some portions of the 

property might not be logged for many decades. 

Log selection likewise appears as a very important

factor during the initial period of development, owing

in particular to low value of logs in this locality in 

conjunction with an excessive amount of defect in the 

timber selected for the initial cut. 

No attempt has been made in this study to evaluate 

the full economic advantages of the proposed methods. 

After all it is not so essential that all the details as to 

costs and returns, discount and growth, etc., be known 

beforehand in order to reach an understanding of how 

both financial and physical forces operate to establish 

the superiority of selective timber management over

the extensive clear-cutting system. It is only essential 

to know that selective timber management is based on 

highly efficient methods of logging; that through 

construction of a permanent road system it provides 

complete operating and management control of the 

growing stock as needed for market selection, orderly 

liquidation, salvage, etc.; that so far as order of

selection is concerned it begins with the things which 

obviously need to be done first and from then on it

constantly proceeds on the basis of experience 

accumulated as cuttings continue. Under some 

circumstances one objective may establish the order of

selection while under other circumstances, other

objectives may rule. At all times the selective

procedure is based on the most urgent and immediate 

considerations, taking the whole property into account, 

and at no time are operations based on uncertain 

predictions of distant future rates of growth or

occurrences which may influence values. 
 48 

CHAPTER V 

REBUILDING A BALANCED GROWING STOCK ON AREA DEPLETED BY 

EXTENSIVE CLEAR CUTTING AND FIRE 

25. Location and description of area.—This 

publicly owned forest area is located about 11 miles 

from a common-carrier railroad, reached by a public 

highway. Because the mountain valley where it lies 

has been largely logged out by previous railroad and 

stream-driving operations, the most economical 

method of getting out timber at present appears to be 

to log by truck to a sawmill of about 40 thousand feet 

daily capacity, which is within easy reach of all parts 

of the area. A large mill pond provides ample log 

storage facilities at the mill. From the mill the lumber 

can, at low cost, be hauled by truck to the commoncarrier railroad or to settled areas. 

For the purposes of describing different portions of 

the forest, and of showing how cutting can readily be 

controlled when the forest is handled under short 

cutting cycles, leading to sustained yield, the portions 

of the area having merchantable timber have been 

divided into 10 blocks, each of which is sufficient, 

under selective timber management with a short 

cutting cycle, to constitute an operating unit of the 

entire sustained yield area. Division of the area is 

based in part on topography and location of 

transportation routes and in part on equalization of 

logging areas and volumes among suggested periodic 

cutting areas. 

On the general map of this locality (Pl. IV) is 

shown the location of pond and sawmill and the 

several blocks. A portion of block 1 is depicted with 

more detail, from various aspects, in Plate V. 

As is shown by Plate IV, the floor of the main 

valley lies at an altitude of about 1,200 feet. From this 

the slopes of varying degree rise to elevations of 

3,000 to 4,000 feet. The merchantable timber zone, 

determined by soil and steepness of slope as well as 

by elevation, is nearly all below 3,500 feet. 

The classification of timber types and size classes 

is the same as that adopted by the Forest Survey for 

the Douglas fir region, except that several 

noncommercial types and certain regeneration classes 

have been combined. The most important type is the 

Douglas fir timber type, which is defined in 

the Forest Survey working plan (31) as follows: 

"Douglas Fir—Stands containing approximately 60 

per cent or more, by volume, of Douglas fir—the 

characteristic forest west of the Cascades.” Within the 

area shown, four size classes of Douglas fir are 

delimited by the survey working plan (31) as follows: 

6. Douglas Fir A: Stands where the volume is 

mainly in trees over 40 inches diameter breast high. 

8. Douglas Fir C: Stands where the volume is 

mainly in trees 20 to 40 inches in diameter-younggrowth timber. 

9. Douglas Fir D: Stands where the volume is 

mainly in trees 6 to 20 inches in diameter. 

10. Douglas Fir E: Stands in which most of the 

trees are under 6 inches in diameter. 

In addition to the Douglas fir, considerable areas of 

hemlock, of somewhat inferior development, and a 

small area of cedar type are present. The map legend 

shows the symbols which designate these types and 

size classes. 

Perhaps because it is in a transition zone from west 

Cascades to east Cascades conditions, this valley does 

not include the high-quality Douglas fir trees that are 

characteristic of classes A and C under the typical 

climatic conditions of the Douglas fir region. Site 

quality is usually not better than Douglas fir site III 

(medium quality). Besides a tendency toward rough 

boles from persistent branches, the percentage of 

defect is high, and many trees are worthless. In 

Douglas fir A the net stand per acre averages about 50 

thousand board feet. On block 1 the trees over 40 

inches d.b.h. constitute about 88 per cent of the total 

volume of all trees above 20 inches. On other blocks 

the proportion of timber under 40 inches is larger. 

Table 10 gives the area of each type by blocks, the 

total area in each block, and the total for the entire 

tract. 

The southern part of the area has most of the 

mature and overmature timber which should be cut 

first. This portion is divided into 5 blocks, 

designated by numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The northern portions are 
 49 

stocked predominantly with young age classes 

which are not ready for stand management under

present market conditions; but they also contain 

limited areas of mature timber, some of which 

should enter into early management operations. 

These areas are designated by letters, blocks A, B, 

C, D, and E. 

Table 11 gives merchantable timber volumes 

and related information for each block by types 

and the totals for the entire tract. Saw-timber 

volumes include trees over 12 inches diameter. 

26. Logging methods and log transportation.—Unlike the timber described in 

chapters III and IV, timber from this more depleted 

property will have to be taken out from the 

beginning in too small volume and for too short

hauls to permit economic use of railroad 

transportation. With a permanent road system and 

short truck hauls, logging costs should, however, 

be very low. Savings in logging cost will be 

partially offset by the cost of trucking lumber 11 

miles from the sawmill to common-carrier railroad 

or other market outlet. The average log truck haul 

for the whole area would be about 6 miles, which 

involves a log trucking cost to the mill of

approximately $1.50 per thousand board feet. 
 50 

Truck Roads.—Plate IV shows the present and prospective truck 

road development. Owing to lighter traffic truck roads, although they 

should be surfaced with crushed rock or gravel, may be constructed 

on the average to somewhat lower standards than on the area 

discussed in chapter IV. The cost is estimated to average about 

$4,000 per mile. A total of approximately 50 miles will be needed of 

which 30 miles already exist in partly developed form. 

Tractor Roads.—Two classes of tractor roads may be employed in 

developing the operation: (a) Main tractor roads and (b) tractor trails. 

The construction and location of tractor roads and trails has also been 

discussed in chapters III and IV. None of those is shown on the 

general map (Plate IV) but a typical distribution is shown by Plate V 

for part of block 1. 

Truck and tractor roads and tractor trails are to be constructed only 

as required and as the costs are very low they should be charged off, 

as road expense, to current operation. The road cost per thousand feet 

will gradually decline because complete development of nearly all 

roads and trails necessary for permanent use will occur during the 

first three or four cutting cycles. After construction is completed the 

roads and trails will be maintained through continued use. The 

principle involved is to charge off investments resulting from expenditure of capital and labor as quickly as possible in order to lift 

from industry the burden of the resulting capital charges. 

Skidding Methods.—Skidding to truck roads will be performed by 

tractors operating in any of four ways-direct yarding, direct roading, 

yarding with drum units and a combination of two or more of these, 

as detailed in the logging cost report (7) and in chapters III and IV. 

Here the first cutting cycle will usually involve use of only direct 

roading. Later .cycles will bring in yarding with drum units and 

combinations of the several methods. Detailed allocation of cutting 

for two cutting cycles shown on Plate V for part of block 1 illustrates 

how this selective principle works in practice. 

27. Plan of group and tree selection.—The basic 

principles of selecting financially mature trees for early 

removal, and creating the least possible disturbance in 

the continuing growth of merchantable trees throughout 

the forest are discussed in detail in chapter VI. It is to be 

especially noted that selection of trees and tree groups to 

make up the current cut must take into consideration 

rapidly changing quantities and values. In this virgin 

forest, however, there are many single trees and tree 

groups that have culminated in value and can make very 

low returns from further holding. These are mostly 

within the size classes from 40 inches up, especially 

those over 50 inches. 

The removal of these trees should improve the net 

current growth for the area in two ways—first, by 

leaving trees and undisturbed stands that are making the 

most rapid growth and thus raising the mean average 

growth; second, by removing trees in which defect, 

which is offsetting growth in the same and other trees, is 

progressing and thus directly reducing net growth. In 

addition to these gains, many of the thrifty trees up to 

about 30 inches in diameter may be expected to increase 

their growth rate when released from competition. 

Through these means a relatively high rate of 

growth may be attained on an ample growing stock 

(including merchantable trees up to large sizes) and 

earnings from growth in volume, quality, and price can 

be maintained at the highest practicable level. These 

basic objectives should never be lost sight of although 

under some circumstances they may necessarily be 

subordinated to the immediate objective of high 

current income. It is reasonable to conclude that on 

this property neglect of these principles will impair 

permanent values out of all proportion to any 

immediate gain in current income. 

Without departure from the major objective of 

maintaining and building up permanent values the 

immediate objective in allocation of cuttings is to 

select trees and tree groups which will yield the largest 

possible current income within reasonable sustained 

yield limits. It happens that on this area, because of 

heavy cuttings and fire in the past, sustained yield of 

valuable tree sizes must for a long time be much less 

than the growth of all sizes. All evidence available 

indicates, however, that under conservative selective 

timber management the sum of the current income that 

should accrue within a decade plus the capital value 

maintained in the forest may reasonably be expected 

greatly to exceed the total values that can be obtained 

from the forest by any other method of management. 

Specifically, it appears to be demonstrable that this 

procedure will be more profitable than liquidation on 

the one hand or sustained yield under an extensive 

clear-cutting system on the other. 

In order to avoid losses from undertaking truck and 

tractor road construction prematurely and from 

deferring utilization of timber that has ceased to grow 

in value at a reasonable rate, a 5-year cutting cycle is 

recommended for this area. That is, cutting should take 

place systematically on each block every five years. 

During the first cycle only the most accessible part of 

each block would be reached, during the second cycle 

a slightly more remote portion would be added and so 

on. By the end of three or four cycles permanent roads, 

charged off to current operations, would have been 

extended nearly everywhere and from then on cuttings 

would be distributed generally through each block in 

turn. 

Under this program most of the declining, 

stationary, and slowly increasing values should be 

recovered within the first three or four cycles. The 

advantage in doing this is evident. 
 51 

Timber removed during the first five-year cutting 

cycle comes out on the average in 21⁄2 years; during 

the second, in 71⁄2 years; and during the third, in 121⁄2

years. Discounting at only 3 per cent the present value 

of a dollar due in 21⁄2 years is approximately 93 cents, 

as against 80 cents for a dollar due in 71⁄2 years and 69 

cents for a dollar due in 121⁄2 years. This shows the 

losses that can occur by holding values that do not 

increase with time. In addition to avoiding discount 

losses the removal of decadent or stagnating trees 

increases the growing space for those that are 

increasing in value or frees the soil for regeneration of

new stands. This general problem of the effect of

discount of future income is discussed with detailed 

illustration in chapter III and summarized in chapter 

VI. 

28. Application of short cutting cycle selection in 

block 1.—This entire block is within the Douglas fir 

type and bears a very small volume of conifers other 

than Douglas fir. It is chosen for detailed discussion 

because it illustrates the procedure necessary to 

liquidate overmature trees and to restore depleted 

growing stock on the property as a whole. For two 

sections, including most of the merchantable stand in 

the block, information was obtained by methods 

described in chapter VIII (see Plate V). Stand averages 

for these two sections are assumed to apply to the 

same types in the remainder of the block. The map 

shows topography, roads, timber types, approximate 

location of trees over 40 inches in diameter, and 

location of groups to be clear cut and adjacent tree 

selection areas for the first two cycles. For the "20 to 

40 inch" and "over 40 inch" stands complete 

information is available on the number, basal area, and 

volume of trees in each diameter class from 6 inches 

up. Figure 13 shows graphically for the entire acreage 

of each of these two classes of stand the distribution of

basal area by 2-inch diameter classes. Basal area is 

chosen for graphic comparison of conditions in 

different stands because smaller diameter classes are 

represented inadequately or not at all by board foot 

volume figures. 

Such information as is available justifies the 

assumption that under selective operation a permanent

growing stock of not less than 25,000 to 50,000 board 

feet per acre should be retained or built up if now 

lacking. The following discussion of each class of

timber on the block shows how far this standard is met 

at present. 

Douglas fir size class A. (volume mainly in trees 

over 40 inches). There is an area of 1,181 acres which 

averages 71,745 board feet gross volume per acre. The 

surplus volume should be gradually reduced to about 

the above tentative standard, in 3 to 5 cutting cycles. 

In making this reduction it would be better to err on 

the side of conservatism and maintain the volume at 

not less than 35,000 board feet per acre if possible, at 

least until other areas are built up to a desirable level. 

The shortage of high-quality timber on this block as a 

whole, however, will undoubtedly necessitate drawing 

heavily upon it to hold up the value of the annual cut. 

(Fig. 13, upper graph.) This stand includes a 

considerable number of premerchantable 
 52 

(6- to 10-inch diameter) and small merchantable (12- 

to 20-inch) tree groups. The Douglas firs among these 

have come in, as in many other Douglas fir stands, 

following spot and ground fires. 

Douglas fir size class C (mainly trees 20 to 40 

inches). This nearly even-aged stand, about 100 years 

old and 1,313 acres in area, contains an estimated 

average of about 30,000 board feet per acre in trees 

more than 12 inches in diameter. There are very few 

trees over 34 inches in diameter. It would therefore be 

permissible to cut each cycle an amount nearly equal 

to the growth, if care is taken to reserve the majority of 

the 22- to 34-inch trees so as to build up the larger, 

high-value size classes. Realization on culminated 

values in Douglas fir class A stands is so much more 

urgent than cutting in these smaller stands that it 

should probably be deferred almost entirely for 15 to 

20 years (3 to 4 cycles) unless an active demand for 

piling, poles or posts, or for saw logs with a high 

percentage of common lumber should arise. In that 

event light cuttings should be made, confined to the 

poorer crown classes, to the larger trees which are too 

rough to retain for future growth, and to spots where 

dominant and codominant trees crowd each other. 

During these cycles any practicable cuttings in the 

suppressed crown class with light removals in the 

intermediate crown class can be added to the net yield 

as a surplus not now foreseen. This cutting would 

principally take the place of mortality which has been 

allowed for in these size groups in later discussion of 

yield possibilities for this block (see fig. 14). 

Douglas fir class E (volume mainly in trees under 6 

inches in diameter). These areas which aggregate 

2,730 acres (including a large area of unregenerated 

spots), are not apt to enter into cutting plans within the 

next 8 to 12 cycles (40 to 60 years). If the growing 

stock and yields have in the meantime been 

maintained in the Class A and Class C stands a gradual 

increase in the cyclic cut may be permissible 

beginning at that time. (See fig. 14, 10th to 15th 

cycles.) From then on a long period of stand 

management (probably 100 years or more) will be 

necessary before the yield of the valuable large 

diameter classes can be restored on this portion of the 

block. In the meantime, however, each cycle should 

yield some net income from the small timber cut from 

these stands. 

Clear-cut spots originating under group cutting, as discussed 

more fully in chapter VI, should be treated in much the same way 

as the present young even-aged stands except that they may be 

expected to regenerate with much higher density. On account of 

slow natural pruning in Douglas fir the dense young growth 

expected to originate in small openings should be left undisturbed 

until natural pruning has cleared or at least deadened the branches 

on as much length of trunk as desired for the life of the tree. 

Normally this may be expected to produce branch deadening for 

about the lower 35 to 50 feet by the age of 40 to 60 years. From 

that time on heavy thinnings should be made in each of the next 5 

to 10 cutting cycles, if markets permit. These may be expected to 

retard shortening of the live crowns, and to maintain the rate of 

growth on individual trees. If this treatment is successful the lower 

35 to 50 feet of trunk will lay on increments of clear wood from 

about 50 years on, or as soon thereafter as the dead branches have 

rotted away. The upper portion of the trunk will produce rough 

logs with sound green knots. If the natural pruning process is 

prolonged beyond 40 to 60 years, branches at the base of the crown 

will continue to die but will not completely decay and will form 

loose black knots which never become covered with clear wood in 

the upper logs. It will pay, therefore, to carryon thinning regularly 

if it can be done without loss. Until thinnings begin, little labor or 

money will have been spent in regeneration or care of these stands. 

The earnings from older timber surrounding should carry all the 

costs very easily. From the time thinning begins until the final 

trees have reached 40 inches or more in diameter and are utilized, 

these groups will provide some net income every 5 to 10 years. 

Summarizing now the cutting policy for the whole block: For 

about three cycles the cut should consist mainly of large-sized, 

high-value timber taken from Douglas fir A stands. (See fig. 14.) 

From then on, an increasing proportion should consist of young 

timber taken from smaller size classes in the process of rebuilding 

them to profitable yields. Still later the clear-cut groups will 

provide similar small material. Eventually stability should be 

attained in distribution of the cut between the more valuable large 

sizes and less valuable small material removed in a continuing 

process of stand management. 

The volume of large, high-value trees (40 inches diameter and 

up) in each cyclic cut should probably not fall much below 40 per 

cent of the total if skill in management is exercised and if the 

growing stock has not been depleted in the past. This necessitates 

the cutting of only one such tree per acre every 15 to 20 years. To 

meet this requirement the growing stock must include 3 to 8 trees 

per acre of the large timber class (over 40 inches). These need not 

be uniformly distributed but may be more or less concentrated on 

the better sites where growth is prolonged at a more rapid rate. 

They need occupy no more than one-eighth to one-fourth of the 

ground space, so that all the rest of the area will be available for 

smaller and faster growing merchantable and premerchantable 

trees. 

On this block, however, past clear cutting prevents holding the 

cut of large timber at 40 per cent of the whole beyond the first few 

cycles until the growing stock has again been built up in the large 

sizes. 

Evolution of the stand on the block as a whole.—

Keeping in mind the foregoing treatment of the block 

and the character of stands within it, it should now be 

of interest to consider the possible aggregate results on 

block 1 of short cutting cycle selection. This method 

of treatment should, if successful1y carried out, 

eliminate permanently the large premerchantable area 

(now over 50 per cent of the block). More than half the 

volume growth in fully stocked stands on the 

premerchantable area occurs in trees which will die 
 53 

out of the stand before they become of utilizable size. 

All of the remaining volume will yield income only in a 

distant future. In lieu of this large wastage of growth and 

long deferment of income due to an excessive area of 

these stands such stands distributed throughout the block 

in small groups should occupy only from 10 to 20 per 

cent of the area. The remaining area should be occupied 

by merchantable size stands in which the growth losses 

of premerchantable stands have practically ceased and 

where at short intervals a volume equivalent to the current growth can be utilized. 

In considering evolution of the growing stock under 

these conditions it should again be strongly emphasized 

that the actual every day process of selective timber 

management concerns itself very little with long-time 

forecasts of future events. It proceeds by means of light 

cutting and short cutting cycles to make only very 

moderate changes in the stand at anyone time. These 

changes are based on very careful study to determine 

what trees or classes of trees are financially mature and 

can be removed without injury to the remaining stand. If 

market conditions permit utilization of the surplus 

inferior elements of the stand, cutting within these tree 

classes is also studied. In both cases the nature of the 

residual stand and the effect of the cuttings upon it are 

carefully considered. Wherever a heavy growing stock 

of vigorous trees is maintained under this treatment, 

there is every reason to believe that the current rate of 

growth and consequent constant progression of trees 

from diameter class to diameter class will be 

satisfactory. Full confidence may therefore be felt in the 

future; the more so since the maintenance of a 

preponderant portion of the investment in merchantable 

trees and the presence of a permanent road system will 

always permit rapid recovery of the major investment in 

case this should become necessary. Long term forecasts 

are considered of doubtful value owing not only to 

occasional damage wrought by natural agencies but even 

more to economic factors and to variations in the skill 

exercised in management. 

It should be distinctly understood, therefore, that the 

following calculations of future desirable evolution of 

the stand are made solely for purposes of illustration and 

do not in any sense constitute a forecast of the future. 

This should be obvious, in view of the fact that the type 

of management here discussed has not been definitely 

adopted for the area. Wherever selective management, 

under full inventory control, is undertaken in actual 

practice similar records should be built up cycle by cycle 

as discussed in chapter VIII and illustrated in figure 

15 with its footnote.

In thus illustrating how the evolution of the three 

classes of stands toward a common goal may be 

brought about, the basal areas of both classes of stand 

shown in figure 13 are thrown together and shown in 

composite in figure 14 (1st cycle). Table 12 shows 

corresponding data starting with number of trees and 

gross board foot volume in its present condition for 

each size group. Beginning with this condition before 

the first cyclic cut, the calculated cut and the 

additions by growth are shown cycle by cycle for 14 

cycles (70 years). The purpose of this somewhat 

extended calculation and graphic representation is to 

show the manner in which a stand may, without 

disturbing conditions required for continual growth 

on the merchantable size classes, be led into the desired form. Although this may seem somewhat 

theoretical, it has been done on numerous forest 

properties in Europe, starting under the adverse 

condition of a depleted growing stock such as would 

be the condition over this entire block if no Douglas 

fir A and C stands were present. (See figure 15 and 

accompanying note.) With a surplus growing stock on 

a substantial part of this block, outside of areas 

devastated by past cutting, the gradual transformation 

of the stand should be a relatively simple matter for 

skilled technicians. 

The calculations on which the diagrams and the accompanying 

figures are based were carried out as follows: An intensive cruise 

was made of the major portion of the Douglas fir A class and of 

an adequate sample of the class C stand. From these cruises the 

total number of trees in each diameter class from 6 inches d.b.h. 

up is known within narrow limits for the entire block. From these 

figures the basal area- shown in the upper and lower graphs of 

figure 13, the volume of each diameter class, and the total volume 

were computed. The first cycle diagram of figure 14 is a 

composite of the two diagrams, shown in figure 13. 

The diagram for the 1st cycle, figure 14, and accompanying 

data in table 12 therefore represent present conditions and 

constitute the starting point for calculating the first cyclic cut 

(assumed to-start in 1935) and the growth by the method 

explained in section 37 (chapter VI), that is, by calculating for 

each cycle the number of trees that move up from each 2-inch 

class to the next higher. In determining the rate of movement of 

diameter classes in progression through to the larger sizes, data 

cited in table 17 (Lewis County) are relied upon for large 

diameters and the Douglas fir yield table (20) for the smaller. In 

accord with site conditions already described the figures used are 

for site III. Table 13 shows the rates of growth and other factors 

used, assuming 60 per cent stocking and that the more thrifty 

trees are reserved at each cut for growing stock. Obviously what 

diameter classes should bear the brunt of the 

cutting during each cycle is a matter of judgment 
 54 
 55 
 56 
 57 

based on the objectives already explained. The resulting stand 

diagrams have therefore very little in common with the "normal" 

diameter distribution curve for even-aged stands. 

Beginning with the conditions now present before the first cyclic 

cut, the calculated volumes and numbers of trees removed by 

cutting and mortality are deducted and the numbers of trees moving 

into each diameter class from the class below are added to those 

remaining in each class. The volume and basal area at the end of 

the first cycle can then be computed to show conditions of the stand 

before the second cyclic cut. This forms the new basis of 

calculations for the second cycle and in like manner each of the 

remaining 14 cycles is computed. Each diagram thus shows for the 

assumed method of management the probable condition of the 

stand at the beginning of each cycle. Although these calculations 

have not been carried forward as many years as is frequently done 

for management plans based on extensive clear-cutting procedure 

and yield table data, it has already been noted that they are here 

introduced only for illustrative purposes and not as a definite 

prediction of results. 

The cut for the first cycle is calculated at approximately 

12,000,000 board feet net (20,000,000 feet gross) from block 1. In 

addition to the trees cut, certain mortality from insects, disease, and 

possibly fire must be allowed for. All of these factors causing tree 

removal are combined with the trees cut and shown for each cycle 

in table 12 opposite the caption "Amount of growing stock 

removed by cyclic cut and mortality." Out of the total gross board 

foot volume of the trees removed by cutting and mortality only the 

utilized portion can be credited to the net cut. During the first two 

cycles it is known that the trees to be removed contain much defect 

and. that the trees dying in the smaller size classes are not likely to 

be salvaged. Therefore the net volume utilized is calculated at only 

60 per cent of the gross volume removed. By the third cyclic cut 

utilization is expected to improve slightly and as the permanent 

road system is extended, markets improved, defective trees 

eliminated and mortality anticipated, from cycle to cycle, the net 

utilized volume should constitute a gradually larger percentage of 

the gross. The assumptions of net utilization for each cycle are as 

follows: 

 Per Cent Per Cent 

 1st cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 6th cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 

 2nd cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 7th cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 

3rd cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 8th cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 

 4th cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 9th cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 

 5th cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 10th and later cycles 90 

By the 10th cycle approximate stability may be expected in the 

standards of utilization. As this is primarily a saw-timber area, the 

volumes referred to are saw-timber volumes calculated in board 

feet and do not include the portions of trees not customarily 

utilized, ,or trees under saw-timber size. If the utilization of such 

material becomes possible, volumes should be computed in cubic 

measurement which would, in fact, be desirable even now in place 

of the present inaccurate system of measurement. 

As the dead and down material and defective trees are cleaned 

up, and as utilization of smaller trees becomes possible, less gross 

volume has to be removed at each cyclic cut. Accompanying these 

changes it can readily be visualized that the tangle of dead and 

down material on the forest floor will gradually clear up. This in 

itself will facilitate utilization of smaller sizes which for 

economical handling would probably be bunched by horses. 

Another striking change which should be expected during the 14 

cycles is the gradual elimination of over-sized trees. Much later, 

stabilization of the cut should occur on the basis of about 40 per 

cent of the volume from trees more than 40 inches in diameter and 

60 per cent from trees 40 inches and under. In numbers, however, this may not mean cutting more than one large tree to 20 or 

more small trees. Following is the estimated percentage of the 

total volume cut each cycle from trees more than 40 inches in 

diameter: 

 Per Cent Per Cent

 1st cycle.......................... 95 8th cycle ...................... 25 

 2nd cycle ........................ 95 9th cycle ...................... 20 

 3rd cycle......................... 75 10th cycle .......................121⁄2

 4th cycle ......................... 65 11th cycle .......................11 

 5th cycle ......................... 55 12th cycle ...................... 11 

 6th cycle ......................... 55 13th cycle ........................ 8 

 7th cycle ......................... 45 14th cycle ........................ 8 

 After the second cycle the cut would have to be reduced owing 

to the decrease in quantity of large timber. It could readily be 

restored to the original volume by the 10th cycle, owing to the 

expected growth exceeding the cut and to the restoration of the 

growing stock in volume, if it were not for the persisting deficit in 

large-sized timber resulting from fire and extensive clear cutting 

in the past. Logging and manufacturing experience to date and 

prospects for the future do not warrant the assumption of 

successful operation in this locality for the general lumber market 

unless the large timber sizes constitute at least 10 per cent of the 

cut. Under any conditions that can reasonably be foreseen the cut 

should be increased very gradually from the 10th cycle 

on until the growing stock of large-sized timber has 

been restored in volume. This would require a period 
 58 

from 10 to 20 cycles beyond the period represented by diagrams in 

figure 14. This does not mean that the block would be wholly 

unprofitable during this extended period. On the contrary, it may be 

expected to yield a cut every 5 years with some profit; but it cannot 

be expected to attain full productivity in money yields for a long 

period. In the meantime cuttings should be made regularly, since if 

they are not, restoration of valuable tree sizes would be materially 

delayed while roads and other forest improvements would 

deteriorate. 

Every effort should be exerted toward restoration of the larger 

size classes in the growing stock to insure that the volume yield of 

large trees will be restored as rapidly as possible to about a 40 per 

cent ratio. This should insure that 15 to 25 per cent of the log output 

will be of the clear grade. If quality of output is not built up to this 

standard, permanent shrinkage in the financial yield from the 

property appears unavoidable. 

The evolution in the proportion of the trees and volume coming 

from large timber, in the log grades obtained, and in the parallel 

development of the road system naturally will be accompanied by 

changes in the growing stock. Oversized trees will gradually 

disappear but care must be exercised to insure that sufficient additional trees will advance as rapidly as possible into the classes above 

40 inches so as to provide for continued yield of large timber. On 

this block the present deficiency in medium-sized timber (22 to 40 

inches) is a handicap to rapid progress. This means that cutting will 

have to be very conservative in these size-classes. In the 12- to 20-

inch classes cutting can be carried on rather freely whenever there is 

a market for such material. Such cuttings will remove it majority of 

the inferior trees as well as surplus trees from overcrowded portions 

of the stand. These measures will favor the better trees and are 

expected to help sustain the growth at above the average rates of 

unmanaged stands. 

These cuttings will gradually shape the stand somewhat into the 

pattern exhibited by the heavy line in the last diagram of figure 14. 

This pattern, once attained, should have substantial permanence; but 

no rigid limit should be placed on the future. As noted in the case of 

the other diagrams this does not follow the pattern of an ordinary 

diameter class distribution curve for even-aged stands. It merely 

represents an approximation to the basal area required in each 

diameter class to provide for the cyclic cut and mortality in that 

class plus an adequate number of trees for future development into 

higher diameter classes. Skilled management is, above all else, a 

continuing process of adapting growing stock size distribution and 

total volume toward a balance which makes the most of the site on 

the one hand and performs the greatest industrial or human service 

on the other. 

In working toward this balance the economy of producing 

lumber and other products from large trees should never be lost 

sight of. The average tree cut in the group over 40 inches yields 

about 5,000 board feet. The average tree cut in the 12- to 20-inch 

group yields about 200 board feet of relatively inferior material (in 

even-aged stands on Site III the average tree at the age of 100 years 

is 16.9 inches) (20, table 3). Leaving quality of the product entirely 

out of consideration the cost of felling and bucking, skidding, 

hauling, and manufacturing 25 trees containing 200 board feet each 

is practically certain to exceed the cost of logging and 

manufacturing one tree containing 5,000 board feet by an amount 

far greater than the entire out-of-hand cost of producing stumpage 

of the larger tree sizes under selective management. 

The operations within the tract during each cutting cycle may be 

visualized in more detail as follows: 

First cycle (Cut of 1935). In order to obtain the highest 

conversion values, high quality trees in concentrated groups on 

accessible and easily logged areas will be selected. The map (Pl. V) 

discloses that these conditions will best be met by selecting groups 

designated in the legend and trees from the adjacent tree selection 

areas. Logs should be trucked partly from two landings directly 

on the highway and partly over one-half mile of truck road which 

must be built. (P1. IV.) Tractor road and trail construction will be 

confined to about 10 miles laid out with some attention to grades 

and to location of heavy groups. These should cost not over $350 

per mile. The total truck-road charge against the net cyclic cut of 

12,000,000 feet b.m. will therefore be about 30 cents per M feet, a 

figure which is about tile same as road cost if the whole tract were 

logged. The cost items and estimated total cost of getting logs to 

the sawmill are given in column 1 of table 14. 

Second cycle (Cut of 1940). The groups to be cut in the second. 

cycle (see Pl. V) include many similarly selected, easily logged 

groups together with adjacent tree selection areas and also some 

steep areas which will require drum-unit yarding, sufficient to 

yield about 11,000,000 feet net. The remaining 1,000,000 feet 

from block 1 should be picked up by tree selection and salvage of 

windfalls and otherwise damaged timber tributary to the tractor 

roads built during the first cycle. The cost items and total costs for 

this cycle are shown in column 2, table 14. As in the first cycle 

the unsalvaged dead trees scattered through the young stands will 

be a total loss; but loss by mortality in the old timber should be at 

a minimum from this time on, owing to the presence of welldistributed roads. 

Third cycle (Cut of 1945). Only a little tractor-road 

construction will be necessary. Most of the groups will be located 

on ground too steep for direct tractor yarding and drum units will 

have to be used, at an added cost of about 75 cents per thousand 

feet. The remaining cut will be obtained by logging scattered 

trees which can be taken out on roads constructed in previous 

cycles. 
 59 

TABLE 15.—Probable distribution of the cyclic cut and growing stock to timber groups after restoration of the growing stock (block1).

Necessary growing stock Volume of 5-year cyclic cut 

Timber size group 

Volume Trees Basal area

Volume 

of 

average 

trees 

felled 

Trees 

remove

d each 

cycle1 Gross Net 

Distribution of 

volume

 M ft. b.m. Number Sq. ft. Ft. b.m. Number M ft. b.m. M ft. b.m. Per cent

Large (over 40 in. diameter) ............................................ 85,000 17,000 227,000 5,000 1,700 8,500 8,000 40 

Medium (22 to 40 in. diameter)....................................... 130,000 130,000 540,000 1,000 8,000 8,000 7,000 35 

Small (12 to 20 in. diameter) ........................................... 30,000 150,000 170,000 200 27,500 5,500 5,000 25 

Premerchantable (2 to 10 in. diameter)............................................500,0002 100,000 ............. 40,0003 ................. ............... ..............

 Totals................................................................... 245,000 797,000 1,037,000 ............. 77,200 20,0004 20,000 100 

1 Includes volume loss due to unsalvaged mortality and breakage. 

2

 From this number must come each cycle nearly 40,000 recruits to the small merchantable group to offset thinnings and 

movement of trees from that group to the medium-size group. 3

 Natural thinnings in premerchantable stand, i.e., unsalvaged waste during premerchantable period. 4

 Surplus allows for mortality losses. 

As much of the old timber area is opened up by roads, the unsalvaged 

mortality can be expected to shrink and the net utilization to rise to 

65 per cent of the gross volume removable. From this time on the 

loss by defect will also be reduced. 

Fourth cycle (Cut of 1950). Tractor roads will have been all 

opened up by this time, except for extensions into the younger age 

classes. Selection will extend mostly to single trees throughout the 

mature stands, with group selection where necessary. 

Fifth to ninth cycles. Cutting will continue throughout most of the 

merchantable stands but since younger stands hitherto largely 

untouched predominate in certain parts of the block considerable 

concentration will continue, first at one place then at another in 

succeeding cycles. 

Tenth to fourteenth cycles.—The heavy clear cutting in the past, 

which completely removed the growing stock from over half of the 

block, has caused a serious shortage of growing stock of large timber 

which will persist during these cycles and for some time later. This 

will result in a low percentage of the yield in high-value timber. As it 

is deemed impracticable to operate if the cyclic cut includes less than 

10 per cent of large timber it will become necessary to reduce the 

total cut far below the calculated growth. The medium growing stock 

(22 to 40 inches) which yields about 45 per cent of excellent timbers 

and No.1 common lumber (see chapter II, figures 3 to 6) will tend to 

hold up average values to a considerable extent. The remaining cut 

will come from small timber (12 to 20 inches) and must be expected

to be of marginal value. 

During this period the 2,730 acres of area clear cut between 1915 

and 1935 may be expected to come under thinning operations. After

the 10th cycle thinnings may also be expected in groups originating 

on areas cut over in the first cycle. These should be repeated in both 

cases every 5 to 10 years. Gradually all the young stands will be 

treated similarly and will yield continuous returns. As enough cleanboled, fast-growing trees should be retained to keep these groups well 

stocked until trees of large size and maximum value are brought to 

maturity, group cutting will continue to be the ultimate destiny for 

most of the stand. While these groups are developing, surplus trees in 

sufficient numbers to provide a regular cyclic cut will be continually 

available. They will provide income and pay their way through many 

decades of tree selection and should hold the cost of producing large 

timber to a low figure. 

Under this procedure the ultimate returns from cutting 

high grade timber should contribute largely to net income. 

Compound interest calculations of earnings or costs are 

unnecessary because all costs, including road construction and

maintenance will be charged off annually. The time element, 

therefore, will not influence the cost of forestry except as it 

appears in the form of capitalized value of the permanent growing 

stock which this system of continuous forest growth demands. Essentially the methods proposed hold close to Nature's methods, 

differing only in the fact that trees will be removed when they 

reach a zenith of value without waiting for slow decline and death 

from disease or other adverse influences. 

A great mass of recruits from the area which has already been 

clear cut should come into the premerchantable group from the 

third to the tenth cycles and by the end of 70 years should have 

moved into the upper portion of the small timber group and the 

lower portion of the medium timber group. This is shown in the 

basal area diagrams for the 13th to 15th cycles in figure 14. Trees 

can move in large numbers into the large timber group only during 

a period of 10 to 20 cycles beyond the time covered by these 

diagrams. 

In the meantime, however, if the stand on 1,313 acres of

Douglas fir C type has been continuously subjected to selective 

management, removing inferior and slow growing trees and

reducing excess density where necessary, the accelerated growth 

of the superior individuals in the medium group should bring them 

into the large timber group at a rate in excess of the removal by 

cutting. Increase in the volume of the large timber group from this 

source begins to show in the figures for the 13th, 14th and 15th 

cycles in table 12. Under sound management this will be an 

accelerated process when the surviving trees now in the 16- to 24-

inch diameter classes move forward to the large timber class 

during the 15th cycle and later. 

It has been noted that if this type of management is continued 

the stand should gradually take on a form approaching the curve 

superposed on the last cyclic diagram of figure 14. With the 

growing stock thus distributed it is estimated that the continuing 

yield can consist of large, timber about 40 per cent, medium about 

35 per cent and small 25 percent by volume. Actually so much of

this area is Site III that it may be necessary to be satisfied with a 

lesser yield of large timber. Table 15 gives a rough estimate of the 

approximate distribution of the growing stock to different size 

groups, the estimated yield from each group, and related data 

designed to throw light on the condition of the growing stock 
 60 

 Total 

 Net amount Value per stumpTimber group where of cyclic cut M ft. b.m. age value 

cyclic cut originates (M ft. b.m.) (dollars) (dollars) 

Large (42” diam. and over) 8,000 5.00 40,000 

Medium (22” to 40” diam.) 7,000 2.00 14,000 

Small (12” to 20” diam.) 5,000 .50 2,500 

 Total 20,000 56,500 

required to maintain the forest in profitable production. The 

efficiency of such a growing stock in maintaining earnings can 

readily be realized, when stumpage values and gross stumpage 

returns are taken into consideration. The following returns are 

considered representative if present prices apply in future to an 

annual cut distributed to size classes as shown in table 15. 

varying conditions of the growing stock. The main cut 

has been calculated as of the first year of each cycle, 

namely, every 5 years beginning with 1935. The timber 

selection methods are assumed to provide current 

income for each 5-year cycle and at the same time to 

maintain or, as in this case, gradually to enhance the 

value of the property. The provision is flexible, 

however, and in the event of fire, windfall, or disease, 

salvage cuttings may be undertaken in the same block 

later in the same cycle. Or should fire or other damage 

in other blocks within the management unit demand 

that logging and milling equipment and market outlets 

be devoted to salvage in those quarters, cutting in 

block 1 might be suspended for one or more cycles. In 

other words the keynote of the suggested operating 

plan is flexibility, leaving each succeeding 

management free to work toward the most effective 

balance between the biological condition of the forest 

and the economic demands upon it. 

Under such a short-cycle method of selection, 

continually seeking high-value trees for cutting, there 

can at the same time be maintained growing stock 

with a sufficient number of trees of all sizes to 

provide for replacements in all diameter classes. 

These replacements are brought about by the 

continuous recruitment of the small timber group (12 

to 20 inches) from the premerchantable timber group 

and the progression of the recruits through each 2-

inch diameter class in turn until a selected few come 

into the large timber group (over 40 inches diameter). 

Each cyclic cut is eventually made up of three 

elements—about 40 per cent of the volume to come 

from large timber, 35 per cent from the medium 

timber, and 25 per cent from the trees that fall by the 

wayside in the progression through the small timber 

classes. In initial cutting in the stands heretofore 

unmanaged a larger proportion (as shown in table 12) 

comes from the large timber group. 

29. Timber extraction costs.—Net conversion 

values in each cycle depend on the order of selection of

each class of timber and the cost of extraction. Since 

high quality timber receives continued preference the 

highest average sale value is assured. In order to 

maintain extraction costs at a low level, cutting cannot

at first be spread through the entire large-timber area. 

Instead, the selected groups and accompanying tree 

selection areas should be somewhat concentrated where 

road costs will be lowest. Plate V shows for part of

block 1 the progress of selection for the first two cycles, 

which is summarized on pages 58 and 59 and in table 

12. 

This is equivalent to an annual return -from the 5,225 acres of 

productive forest in block 1 of $11,300 per year or $2.16 per acre 

annually. Since all utilization and road costs and most of the fire 

prevention have already been deducted to obtain the net stumpage 

value the remaining forest costs consist of general fire protection 

and administration both of which should be carried within a cost 

of 20 cents per acre leaving approximately $1.96 per acre net 

annual returns before taxes. If the land were privately owned the 

tax cost would probably be from 25 to 60 cents per acre. 

At the higher figure the money outlay, including administration 

and fire protection, would be about 80 cents per acre per annum, 

which is equivalent to about $1.04 per thousand board feet of 

stumpage produced. Whatever amount is realized on stumpage 

above this figure is available for earnings on the forest property 

investment. As the average stumpage is estimated above at $2.83 

per thousand feet, about $1.79 per thousand feet remains as return 

on the property investment. This appears adequate for a rough 

mountain area where land is submarginal for all purposes except 

forest use. (Prices used are based on present market. It is generally believed that prices and hence net earnings will increase in 

the future.) 

A glance at the estimated returns reveals that if large timber 

were absent from the cut the returns, on the basis of these 

estimates, would be very low even if the rate of production 

remained the same, which is very doubtful. Since the money cost 

of production would not be lowered, the net return would 

practically disappear and with it the capital value of the property. 

During the first 5 cycles, while evolution of the stand toward a 

fairly permanent form is taking place, the road system should 

attain permanent development. As the weight transported each 

cycle, except for the period needed for the restoration of growing 

stock, will amount to approximately 75,000 tons, or an average of 

15,000 tons a year, heavy duty roads with crushed rock surface 

would be necessary for trucks. It would probably be desirable 

during the first 3 cycles to add about 11⁄2 miles of spur roads to 

the through truck roads already on two sides of the tract. 

The remaining transportation would be by tractors with or 

without tractor roads. With very little expense some of the tractor 

roads should gradually become permanent. Both types of roads 

should be charged to current operating expenses and no capital 

charges created for them. Maintenance would thus be the sole 

charge against the cyclic cuts and this would be very low long 

before the first 10 cycles have been gone through. 

Recapitulation.—Cutting on block 1 has been 

traced for illustrative purposes through fourteen 

cycles at varying rates per cycle, according to the 
 61 

In later cycles cutting should proceed more 

vigorously in the younger, 22- to 40-inch size group, 

and the yield of big timber would be proportionately 

reduced as already noted. With this program of 

selection in mind the logging costs for the first 4 

cycles are estimated as shown in table 14 on the basis 

of present costs. 

Conditions disclosed by Plate V indicate that if 

logging were immediately extended over the whole 

tract on a selective basis, the average cost would be 

greater than the cost for the first cycle. Under the plan 

proposed, some increase will take place in later cycles 

but not a radical increase. The cost will be held down 

chiefly by two factors. First, through selecting areas 

which require only moderate road construction 

charges, easily absorbed as a current cost, a 

permanent road system will be gradually provided, 

extending into the more remote portions and the 

capital investment amortized. In this way the remote 

timber will escape much of the capital charges which 

under prevailing practice would have to be levied. 

Second, the selective procedure permits a heavy 

current growth of merchantable material, which will 

share the burden of maintenance costs as to the closein roads and will further assist in lifting this charge 

from the more remote stands. 

Under clear cutting no immediate further use of the 

roads is possible and in consequence the whole road 

charge for close-in and remote timber must be met at 

once. In addition, the pooling of the young timber in 

the immediate cut would raise costs for felling and 

bucking, yarding, roading, and otherwise probably by 

$1.00 per thousand board feet, making a total, in spite 

of tractor operation, of about $7.00 per thousand feet. 

It is understood that this is about the same as the 

steam-logging costs on timber removed from the 

easier ground in the main valley. 

As clear cutting by producing a large volume of 

low-grade logs would also reduce average log value, 

the net stumpage value under it would approach the 

vanishing point. The method here proposed is 

estimated to produce net stumpage values of about 

$5.00 per thousand feet on the portion cut from large 

timber under present market conditions. 

30. Handling the entire management unit for 

sustained yield.—Each of the 5 blocks in the 

southern portion of the property is estimated to be 

capable of contributing 12,000,000 board feet net 

during each cutting cycle for two cycles while the 

surplus growing stock in over mature stands is being 

reduced. Each of the young timber blocks 

(A, B, C, D, and E), although understocked, contains 

some old timber and is estimated to be capable of

contributing a minimum of 3,000,000 board feet net

each cycle during the next several cycles. In the course 

of time, barring accident to these young stands, the cut 

can be increased to more than make up for a 

temporary decline on the part of blocks 1 to 5 after the 

surplus growing stock has been liquidated in the old 

stands. 

In 1936 block 2 would be treated in similar manner 

to the 1935 cutting on block 1 and blocks 3; 4, and 5 

would be treated similarly in 1937-1939. On each 

block the cut during the first cutting cycle should be 

selected from the timber of high log value which can 

be logged at the lowest cost and yield the highest 

conversion values, except for such as may be cut from 

windfalls, defective trees, etc. 

Realization of the maximum income during the first

five years, under this light selection policy.—The same 

policy applied in succeeding cutting cycles will yield 

for each the maximum income that can be taken from 

the forest without impairing its future productivity. 

During the first 3 or 4 cycles the cutting will be 

confined to Douglas fir of size class A (volume mainly 

in trees over 40 inches in diameter), and the yield will 

be nearly all of large timber. By the end of that time 

the surplus growing stock will have been removed 

from those stands and the rate of cutting in them will 

slow up.

To compensate for the loss of volume from this 

source cutting should gradually spread into Douglas 

fir C (20- to 40-inch diameter) with a consequent 

reduction in diameter of the average tree cut. Timber 

in the 6- to 20-inch classes will gradually grow to 

merchantable size. Thinnings may be made even in the

younger stands. Eventually (probably in 40 to 60 

years) the timber tracts that were clear cut in the past 

will grow to sizes where selective stand management 

can begin. In this manner the entire area within the 

unit can be restored to continuous production. The 

most important principle is to prevent excessive 

depletion of the existing large timber. Not over 15 per 

cent of the area should be clear cut in groups even 

during the liquidation period extending through 3 

cycles. Thereafter not more than 2 to 3 per cent should 

be clear cut during each 5-year cycle. 

The aggregate results of cutting these 10 blocks, 

with cutting cycles running concurrently but starting 

in successive years, should be sustained annual yield 

at the rate of about 15,000,000 board feet per annum. 

The aggregate of mature growing stock behind this cut 
 62 

is of mature growing stock behind this cut is so great 

and the growth in maturing trees so large that there is 

no doubt that it can be sustained both in quantity and, 

what is even more important, substantially in quality 

for many cutting cycles to come. Barring fire and other 

accidents to the young stands, production can

eventually be increased. Increased output hinges 

largely on future development of markets for the 12- to 

24-inch timber which needs to be removed in stand 

management. 

In managing this entire unit, the same problems of

stand treatment are involved as discussed for block 1. 

Blocks 1 to 5 bear mostly overmature timber which is 

deteriorating. Cutting on these areas therefore has the 

object of selecting trees which will yield an adequate 

net return, recover capital tied up in surplus growing 

stock, and through removal of slow growing and 

defective trees leave the remaining stand in a condition 

of more active growth. 

Blocks A to E, on the other hand, except on small 

portions, are deficient in growing stock both in 

quantity, and, what is more serious, in quality. There 

are too few trees of the large sizes needed to yield 

satisfactory returns from cutting operations. As soon as 

practicable, management should begin in. these stands, 

by removing the rough and ill-formed trees of the 

larger sizes, but chiefly by reducing overdensity and 

salvaging small-sized material. Otherwise, mortality 

losses will continue in every diameter class to a degree 

that will offset a large proportion of the annual growth. 

This management program looks to building up a 

growing stock with well-distributed sizes and 

averaging 25,000 to 50,000 board feet per acre. The 

better part of a century will be required. for these 

stands to attain a high earning basis, but, as only 

cuttings that can yield some net return are 

contemplated, the process should provide a moderate 

net income in each cutting cycle. No investment in 

silvicultural measures other than intelligent utilization 

practices appear at this time to be necessary. 

By the end of the period discussed the growing stock on all 

blocks should be more uniform in volume and in distribution 

among size groups, but from 10 to 20 cycles will have to elapse 

before the growing stock in young even-aged stands will be built 

up in quality to the conditions which should be maintained in 

managed stands. As stated in chapter VI, selection of timber for 

cutting should be based on two complementary principles or aims. 

The first is .selection on the basis of maximum financial maturity, 

in order to insure an income sufficient to meet capital charges and

other costs continually accruing against the property. With the 

returns obtained in this manner the forest property can be maintained as a going concern and as a support to community and 

industrial life. When the foregoing principle has been successfully 

carried out a second or residual aim comes within the range of

practical industrial procedure. This has to do with the practically

profitless utilization of surplus elements of the timber stand, the 

removal of which will benefit the stand. This involves the removal of

such products as cord wood and sometimes posts, poles, pulpwood, 

etc. Even though these may yield little or no profit, their removal, if

properly done, will be of benefit to the forest. These benefits may 

consist of reduction of density so as to permit more rapid growth of

the remaining trees; the removal of insect and fungus infested timber

so as to prevent spread of insects and disease and accumulation of

inflammable refuse; and other benefits resulting from keeping a forest 

clear of such undesirable stand elements. It is not necessary that these 

forms of utilization result in much immediate profit because in 

addition to benefiting the forest they provide employment for labor 

and serve the needs of consumers. 

These two objectives of utilization should be kept clearly in mind 

although it must be expected that in many cases there will be a 

continuous gradation of conversion values from zero to the highest 

values. 

Roads.—As noted under discussion of block 1, 

extension of the truck road system will be made as 

needed and will be charged to current operating expense. 

In like manner tractor roads will be gradually developed. 

Within three or four cutting cycles the road system will 

be practically complete and though the capital investment has been wholly amortized they will constitute 

perhaps 5 to 10 per cent of the investment value.

This permanent road system is of the utmost 

importance. It will provide means of taking timber from 

anywhere in the forest at the lowest possible cost. It will 

involve a fundamental change in the economic condition 

of the forest. Instead of losing millions of feet of timber 

in over mature or diseased trees, and in standing and 

down trees killed by fire, insects, fungi, or windfall, it 

will be possible to salvage most of these trees. Road 

construction charges, administration charges, and other 

more or less fixed costs can be spread not only over the 

volume of timber now standing, as would be the case 

under clear cutting and liquidation, but also over a large 

additional volume of timber that will grow from year to 

year. 

Fire protection.—This area is within a climatic zone 

of special fire hazard. It is therefore very important that 

a sufficient portion of the savings effected by selective 

operation should be budgeted for fire protection. A tentative budget item of 50 cents per thousand feet is 

suggested. With this sum a crew with a tractor can 

prepare the logged spots for slash burning. Preparation 

may consist of hauling tops from adjacent tree selection 

areas into the clear-cut spots and of preparing a crude 

fire line around these spots by dragging two or three 

rough logs or other device. The same crew would also 

fell the snags and do some ax work in preparation for 

slash burning on clearcut spots. This part of the 

work should not absorb more than 30 cents per
 63 

thousand feet. The remainder should be devoted to 

piling and burning slash. 

These activities should be coordinated with regular 

fire protection in the valley, including patrol and fire

crews. The slash disposal crew should always be in 

readiness to hasten to any fires reported within the 

unit. 

After several cycles devoted to removal of 

overmature stagheaded trees (which constitute serious 

fire traps), felling of snags, picking up of windfalls, 

and extension of roads, fire hazards on the tract as a 

whole should be measurably reduced. Since light 

selective cuttings will follow closely or anticipate the 

natural removal of trees from the stand, the leaves, 

branches, and tree trunks accumulating on the ground 

will be of less volume than in the virgin forest. Under 

these conditions the fire protection budget may be 

gradually reduced. Fire hazards under selective cutting 

are discussed more fully in chapter VII. 

31. Comparison of financial results with those 

under clear cutting.—Under the extensive clearcutting system, starting with a forest where losses from 

windfall, insects, and disease equal or exceed growth, 

it is necessary under sustained yield to make the old 

stand last until a new even-aged stand can be brought 

to maturity. No rotation for even-aged timber has even 

been seriously suggested which would produce the 

large-sized, high quality material contemplated by the 

application of selective management recommended for 

this area.. To produce low-quality timber such as is 

now cut into railroad ties and common lumber a 

rotation of 70 to 110 years has usually been recommended on public forests. 

Of the 64,000 acres of productive surface, 

approximately 20 per cent is old fir and 12 per cent is 

old hemlock and cedar. Under a plan calling for 100-

year rotation these would be cut over in about 30 

years, including all merchantable timber in the stand, 

and at the present stumpage levels would yield about 

$2.00 per thousand board feet. This period would 

clean up all the high quality timber and no more would 

be produced. From that time on through the first 

rotation and all future rotations low-quality timber, 

mostly submarginal or worth at the best no more than 

$1.00 per thousand under present conditions, would be 

the only material forthcoming. 

It has been brought out in chapter IV that the yield 

in volume also will be materially larger under selective 

timber management than under clear cutting. This 

springs from the fact that this type of management 

retains a heavy growing stock and provides for 

continuous production of merchantable timber on all 

areas except a very small percentage of area in regenerating groups. No attempt is made to evaluate 

precisely the difference in productivity on this area 

under the two systems. The authors believe that during 

the first 15 to 20 cycles, owing to several contributing 

factors, selective timber management will yield from 

20 to 40 per cent more utilized volume .and 100 to 200 

per cent more value annually than can be obtained 

from clear cutting with rotations of 70 to 110 years. 

These comparisons do not attempt to take fully into 

consideration the possibility of thinnings in young 

stands, because these are to be made only as they were 

able to pay their way. The potential volume of material 

from such thinnings, if an outlet for it could be found, 

would be greater under the extensive clear-cutting 

system, because about 1 to 1.5 per cent of the area of 

old timber would be clear cut annually as against 0.5 

per cent or less in the groups under selective methods. 

Owing to the prevalence of permanent and semipermanent roads everywhere under the selective 

system, the opportunity for getting out the product of 

thinnings from young tree groups will be far better 

than from large areas of young stands which would 

follow clear cutting. In the latter case roads will have 

to be reopened at the expense of the material from 

thinnings. The same considerations hold for salvage of 

fire- or insect-killed timber. 

A third possible method of procedure sometimes 

urged on public forest administrative officers is to 

withhold cutting entirely. This would result in annual 

losses of timber approximately equivalent to the 

possible annual yield, since every diameter and age 

class is subject to continuing mortality from numerous 

causes. Conservative selective timber management, on 

the other hand, would anticipate these removals. Even 

the few exceptional trees that would be carried through 

to large sizes (about 2 per cent of the total that survive 

the premerchantable period on a given area) would be 

utilized before loss by death and decay can take place. 

In contrast, where management is withheld, the trees 

which grow but which are not utilized are added in 

annual installments to the debris on the forest floor and 

together with lack of roads increase the difficulty of 

protecting such forests from fire. In other words, 

proper use and flexible management of the forest 

develop values. Non-use of forests, on the other hand, 

leads to stagnation and equilibrium between growth 

and decay.