Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-11-20
Forest Service EXPERIMENTS With Differ.
ent Methods of Brush Disposal.

Is yellow pine reproduction better
where the brush is cut up and scattered
over the ground, or where it is piled and
burned? This is a question which the
Forest Service hopes to answer through
interesting experiments which have just
been started on the Fremont National
Forest in Oregon.
Whenever the Government sells tim
Der from the National Forests an essen
tial provision of the contract is that the
brush must be disposed Of In the yell
low pine region it is usually piled and
burned. In the Douglas fir region the
whole cut-oyer area is burned broadcast
under careful guards and after fire lines
have been constructed about the area.
The primary object of the disposing of
the brush on cut-over areas by burning
is to get rid of fire trap, but in some
types of forest, particularly in the
Douglas fir forests, it serves another
very beneficial purpose, that is, it
promotes the natural seeding up of the
area and the starting of another crop of
Douglas fir. In the yellow pine forests,
however, such as are found over in
eastern Oregon and Washington and in
the Southwest the effect of burning
brush may be detrimental rather than
helpful to the young growth. In these
semi-arid regions the soil dries out very
rapidly and natural reproduction of yell
low pine is in some localities very poor
on this account. A soil covering or
mulch of brush is quite effective in pro.
tecting the soil from the intense sun
shine and helps to conserve the soil
moisture. 1t may be wiser, therefore,
to leave the brush unburned in these
dry stands of yellow pine.
1t is to settle this question in this lat
ter type of forest, that the present ex-
periments have begun. On an area
from which about half of the merchant
able timber is now being cut by the
Oregon Valley Land Company, two
representative plots of about eight acres
each were selected. Each was divided
in two parts in such a way that the con-
ditions on one-half were just about the
same as conditions on the other half.
On one the brush will be piled and
burned, on the other it will be cut up
and scattered over the ground. Here,
with the two methods being tried side
by side, is good opportunity to prove
their relative merits. This fall there
will be abundant yellow pine seed so
that by next summer the results of the
experiment will begin to show. These
plots will be examined by officers of the
Forest Service from time to time. If|
there are more seedlings at the end oftwo
years on the half of which the brush is
scattered than on the half on which the
brush is burned it will indicate that in
order to secure the best growth OF young
seedlings it is better not to burn the
brush. If the experiment does turn out
this way it is probable that in this vel
low pine region where the soil is liable
to dry out and natural reproduction is
poor, the brush will be scattered over
the ground in logging operations on the
National Forests hereafter. Wherever
the danger from fire is great, however,
the brush will have to be piled and
burned and even though this method
may be less favorable to reproduction.
The essential consideration is to prevent
the brush on Cut-over lands from being
a fire menace. In most types of forest,
slashings are menace for years after
logging unless the brush is disposed of.
The burning of brush on cut-over land
is becoming common practice, not only
by the Forest Service, but by lumber
men on their own lands. In fact in
some of the eastern states the burning of
brush after logging is made compulsory
by law.