Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-11-03
TO SAVE sEoUoiAS
Lumber Companies Plan to Preserve
Famous Redwood.

| Famous heoWoOo.
The famous redwood sequoia-the
"big trees" Of California are to be saw
ed as matter Of good business. What
is said to be the most important step
on, the part CT private numbering COM
panies toward the preservation of the
nations timber supply was announced
by the National Lumber Manufac-
| turers' association. The Union Lum-
ber company, the Pacific Lumber Co.,
and the Mendocino Lumber Co., the
principal private companies, owning
the California redwood forests have
agreed hereafter to conduct their
numbering operations on the principle
tenance of the forests as a whole.
This decision, says a statement OF
the national association, means that
the redwood forests, made up Of the
largest trees extant, and the oldest
living things, the sequoia of /. the
sempervivens species, will be maintain-
ed infinitely as an economic factor in
the life of the nation and as one Of the
wonders >of America @s-s
The method Of preservation of the
forests, it is understood, includes
cutting Of timbers in more scattered
stands, while every precaution is taken
against ground and high fires, and re-
forestation will follow upon the steps
Of the cutters.
Ample areas of the forests will be
preserved forever in the same state
of aged maturity as they have been
ever since the coming of the white
man and possibly for thousands Of
years before. The state ofsiCalifor- !
MIA has bought areas Of these for
ests for parks, and the lumber men
themselves have donated areas border
ing much Travelled roads. -
Redwood Region.
The redwood region should not. be
confused with that OF the Sierra
sequoias which are not numerous
enough to be of any great Importance.
1t is said. It consists of narrow strip
of land along the northern coasts Of
California and overlapping into Oregon
which is never more than 25 miles
wide. 1t covers about 1,360.0O0 acres,
of which only about one-third has been
cut over, the remainder being virgin.
The total amount of standing timber
is estimated at between sixty billion
and seventy-five billion feet Of which
eighty-five per cent. is redwood.
Many Of these trees are more than
1000 years old! some have been cut
that are automatically known to have
been 1873 years Of age, and some may
be as old as 1000 years. At the pres
ent rate of cutting, about 600,040,o00
feet year, the stand is expected to
last about century.
The redwood is among the most in
teresting Of the tree, family. Although
one Of the longest living things the
redwood grows very rapidly and at
tains height of $50 to 200 feet with a
diameter of feet in the first fifty
years. The stands often run to 10000
feet to the acre. Mature trees attain
a heighth OF $50 feet-as high as q
thirty-story building-and diameter
of % feet.
1t is very persistent, highly fire ro-
sistant, and especially adopted to re-
growth because 1t reproduces from
sprouts, from stumps and from roots.
1t has been found practically impossi-
BILE to eXterminate the trees except
where agriculture is maintained, and
little of its habitat Is said to be suit
able for farming. The tree has no
very destructive insect or fungus
enemies, and decays very slowly. AS
which make it highly priced. 1t is
slow burning and strongly resistant to
decay. 1t is soft and easily worked,
finishes well with a pleasing color and
grain and has an agreeable fragrance.
Agreement Hoped For
If all the lumber companies in this
area that are at present interested In
the perpetual numbering" idea, agree
to adhere to it, all but II per cent. OF
the California redwood will thus be
protected, it was said. With the pres
ent large supply of virgin timber to
work on, it was declared the present
production can be kept up indefinite
ly, while the redwood at the same time
comes back to possession Of practically
all Of the originally 100000 acres, ex-
cept about 100000 acres suitable for
cultivation.
The method of reforestation is es-
sentially that Of protecting and en-
couraging the natural and persistent
regrowth from stumps and root in
newly cut over lands. Some Of the
logged-over lands will be partly re-
stocked with seedlings. Without arti-
fetal planting, most Of the redwood
land will come back at the rate of 50,-
900 feet to the acre, or more in forty
or fifty years, if fire is kept out, now
that the owners have decided to ad-
minister the cut-over land as a per-
manent timber crop land rather than