Perpetuating Northwestern Forests

(Continued from Page 22) given every ad'vantage of a head start in the battle for survival. Later, the tractor, steered with great exactitude with the aid of special guide pins at the sides of the rows, will again go up and down the rows doing a mass production rveeding job. But such mass methods must in turn ' be supplemented by inevitable hand weeding.

Essential to growing success at Nisqually is the extensive overhead irrigation with its three miles of pipe blanketing the acres. With an automatic control it can deliver an inch of artificial rainfall in seven hours, cool the -tender baby trees in hot weather or nullify the effects of frost on occasidnal nippy nights.

The real pride of the uurserymen is not in the tops, but in the long fibrous root system that every seedling must show after final culling on a specially designed, power- to be set up on industry basis-have the hearty cooperatign'.1;l of the men of the Pacific Northwest Loggers' Association.

Though war is pressing logger and lumbermen alike on ' manpower, nevertheless planning and planting "Trees for :1 Tomorrow" goes on because of the sound conviction that,l; Timber is A Crop.

NOW COL. GREELEY WRITES:

The West Coast lumber indusfty is ch.anging from old ''-. practices to new ones.

Behind it is the migratory tradition of American lumber-,",i men, the pioneer rush from one virgin resource to another.,'f Ahead of them, West Coast lumbermen see timber grow-'.r: ing, more complete and diversified use of raw materiaf r; more permanent industries. They are thinking of their re:r.r

Here c small hcctor with trecd iurt wide euough to slraddle tbe eight' row eeedling bed, towiug q geeder becrring rnuch rsgemblcnce lo cn ordincry grain &iU, rows Douglcrs lir qnd other geeds lo c dePth controlled- to trn eighth oI cn inch. Note specicl cttcchment bebind seed apouts io cover tte seede cnd roll down the bed' driven sorting table, and before being packed in peatlined boxes for holding in cold storage until planting time. It is the root system that guarantees a good start in life when the seedling is moved to the forest lands of Washingon and Oregon to fulfill its mission of timber growing.'

Not all logged-over lands are planted with nursery stock. That isn't necessary because Nature, with the help of the logger who leaves seed trees, does a grand job of natural restocking. But, largely due to a thoughtless public, many areas of new growth are burn€d over each year. Such areas need the helping hand of man so that they may promptly get at the work of growing a new crop of trees. The pres.ent program at the Nisqually nursery provides enough seedlings, at 500 or more trees per acre, to plant thousands of acres annually.

The men of the member mills of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, the organization which sponsored and which operates tlre Nisqually nurserY-the first of its kind

Despite crll the mechcniccrl devicea used, hand weeding "ool;.t nol be entirely elirnincted, but it hcs becn conridercbly cared '1 cnd eimplilied by the invention ol tbese weeding ccrte. ' :, sources less as thousahds of feet and more es acres of land. '

The change in treating the forest as a crop instead of a.. mine is gradual, far from complete. But nearly 70 per cent , of the virgin areas which have been logged or burned are.;ii, no$r regfowing, New practices are taking hold. The lumber ,; industry is growing trees. ''t',,

The greatest obstacle to Northwestern foreStry is fire.' i Neither standing timber nor young forests is an insurable 'l risk.

The fire hazard, is slowly. yielding to experience and. ;):l technique and, the deterniined efiorts of thinking people -. organized to "Keep Oregon and Washington Green." Yet .r few who have not "eaten smoke" realize how it dominates timber thinking; how insecure it still leaves timber crop-,1 ping; or how largely it is beyond the control of forest own- -l ers unless they have the full cooperatio4 of government andi.. public.

Forest industry had to work through this trial-and.,, error stage befcire forestry was possible. It had to cut olf ,-: somc o[ the srrrlrlus strlnrl)age; opcn ul) old fore sts so that ne\\'oncs coul(l start;get 1)rllp alld plv\v()od rnills for bettcr use of raw 1ll:rtcrial; scc lnorc stal)lc timber valucts aheacl; get a grip on tlre lire 1rrohlcm. \\'ith grcirtcr scctlrity in these cssentials, the chane'e fronr licluiclation to tinrber cropping becarre possil)lc. It is non' under u,av.

Thc fir lurllrer ina,,r,r.]nol t..1.,.,r.a an<'l appliccl its ou,rr rules of conscrvation, u'it1.r a practical irrstirrct for cloing first things first. C)rganized firc prevcntioll .;tartecl n-lren forest on'r'rcrs joinerl toe'cther in cmploving guartls for mutual protection. Firc patrol, at the lancl-orl'rrer's cost, lvas made conlpulsory at the clcmarrrl of lunrbermer.r rvho had learned it.s value through practical expclience.

No other states ir the Union have s_r'stcnrs of forcst protection so far-reachins'or so restricti\rc 11por1 thc logger as Oregon ancl Wasl-rington ; arrrl ther- have grol'r'r from the tree roots of industry experience and voluntarv acceptanc:j. ***

Much is yet tc) be learnecl about grou,ing and harvestinq \Vest Coast timlrer. Selectivc logging has great appeal l)ecause it leaves enough trccs to pre.icrve a forest ancl hide the stumps. So far selectivc logging seems more a metl'rod of grarluall-r'harr-esting old trees than of grr,u'ing ue\\'{)ncs: but it merits a deal of study.

Notu'ithstancling scars across Northu,estern land.icapes, clear cutting and slaslr I'urning havc growll r.rerv crops of l)orrglas fir u'l-rerer-er lccurrine' 1llc.; har.c lrccn kept out. Many large tracts of these "junior" forests, proclucir.rg timber at the rate of .50O to 1,000 fcct per acrc e\-er\: \-ear, are