The Coconino sun., 1926-01-22
FOREST SERVICE PLAN
NEW RESEARCH WORK


The forest service investigative
committee composed of thirteen scien-
tific and administrative officials of
the U. S. forest service from various
parts Of the southwest, in annual
meeting just held in Albuquerque, has
adopted its program for forestry re-
search for 1926. Studies in brush dis
posal on government timber sales,
rates of tree growth and timber yield,
complete stocking of timber lands,
land erosion, range management, TINS
Der damage from smelter smoke, and
preservative treatment of timber
products will be continued, according
to r. E. Marsh, district chief of for
est management, presiding chairman
of the committee, who states that the
results Of forest service experiments
and Investigations are available to
timber operators and livestock men
who desire them.
Disposal of slash after Jogging, the
chairman states, has been perplex-
ing problem to timber operators
throughout the history of numbering.
There is damage to young growth
when the slash is piled and burned
and when it is left where it falls, a
forest fire hazard and breeding place
for destructive insects is created.
Moreover it costs money to dispose
of brush. Genuine progress has been
made in determining the methods OF
disposal that are the most beneficial
to the forest Much has been learned
about the proper method of brush pill
ing and burning, and of other forms
of brush disposal as we'll as the costs.
The studies will be continued, how
ever, because there are still unsolved
problems of costs and relations to tim
ber productivity of the land.
1t is now possible, according to Mr.
Marsh, to make close calculations of
the amount Of timber that can be har-
vested each year from southwestern
timberlands without the producing
power of the forests being destroyed
or lessened. Growth and yields stu
dies at the southwestern forest expert
ment station near Flagstaff, and IN
various other areas under the super
vision of the experiment station di-
rector show that fully stocked south
western timberlands can be made to
produce timber at the rate of 100 to
$50 board feet per acre per year. Still
further studies of growth and yield
will be carried or for the purpose of
getting even more accurate data on
4 the economic possibilities of the for
! eSts.
Areas in southwestern tinberlands
that are open or only partially stocked
with trees have been accepted by
! foresters more or less resignedly
with the idea that virgin stands had
reached their greatest possibilities.
1 Studies are now proving, however,
/ that by controlling fires and other de-
/ structive agencies it is certainly 1eas-
ible to fill in such openings by ma
tural reseeding in advance of logging
so that the succeeding forest crop will
be we'll on its way before the mature
timber is harvested. So much adj
vantage is gained by such filling up
of open spaces that Investigations in
that direction will be vigorously pur-
sued.
Land erosion is one Of the most
! serious problems that is facing the
southwest. The effects of erosion are
twofold. The hills and mountains, by
the washing and blowing away Of soil,
are being robbed Of that which is
needed to sustain forage and tree life
and the humus and silt that is torn
from the steep slopes are damaging
i storage reservoirs and other irriga-
ton works that have cost millions of
dollars and upon which hundreds of
farmers are stalking their chances OF
agricultural success. The forest
service will devote energetic attention
to the erosion problem.
Range and livestock Investigations
conducted by the forest service graz
ing men have been able to contribute
much that is worthwhile to the live
stock business. The investigative COM
mittee in realization of the large in
!. fluence national forest ranges have on
the economic aspects of the livestock
industry, has set down definite pro-
gram for continuation of these val
liable studies. The projects will in
clude forage types, both grass and
brush lands; what kind Of stock is
best suited to different ranges; how
much grazing the forage types will
stand without damage; better grades
of stock; economic returns; and proper
water and salt plans. Two grazing
experiment areas, the tornado range
reserve near Las Cruces, N. NJ, and
the Santa Rita range reserve near
Tucson, as we'll as the general graz
| ing ranges of the national forests in
! both Arizona and New Mexico, Will