Show THE PROBLEMS OF FOREST GROWING By Frederick S. S Baker In the Intermountain Region there are over 27 million acres of land administered by the federal Forest Service It is the business business business busi busi- ness of the Forest Service to tomake tomake tomake make all these forests yield the best revenue possible in a a. far farsighted farsighted farsighted sighted way taking into consideration consideration consideration con con- not only the actual money return from the sale of I timber but also the indirect ct benefits benefits benefits bene bene- fits arising from forests on the mountains such as the maintenance ance of water supplies the prevention prevention prevention pre pre- of floods and a host of f other benefits that make up the sum total of the value of the fo forests forests forests fo- fo rests to the public Not only the lands that actually bear forests at the present time are taken into consideration but also great areas within the forest boundaries covered with sagebrush oak- oak brush and various other kinds of chapparal which are producing no direct cash revenue except from grazing fees The question of what may bedone bedone be bo done with such lands to serve the public inte interest st the best and how to manage the naturally for forested sted areas properly is naturally naturally naturally ally very complicated and requires es consideration from many angles At present the region is not sufficiently developed to approach approach approach ap ap- ap- ap near to th the ideals of forest forest forest for for- est management which require an intensive utilization and arid onla only i a few broad policies to safe guard the existing forests from deterioration deterioration deterioration deter deter- are in force But sometime sometime some some- time this Intermountain country will be fully developed and the forests will be almost as intensively intensively intensively used as the agricultural lands os the valleys as is the case casein casein casein in European countries today there will be many technical questions coming at that time and their solution mu must t be attempted attempted attempted at at- tempted at once because it takes so many years to get results from experiment with trees Although Although Although Al Al- though many questions are similar similar similar simi simi- lar to those handled at Agricultural Agricultural Agricultural tural Experiment Stations there is a difference in the type of experiments experiments experiments ex ex- ex- ex and the way of carrying carrying carrying carry carry- ing them on on due very largely to the fact that the agricultural in investigator investigator investigator in- in can grow a crop and get results every year while the forestor forester must wait from to years for a mature crop This enables an Agricultural Experiment Experiment Experiment Ex Ex- Ex- Ex Station work on present present present pre pre- sent pressing problems of immediate immediate immediate im im- im- im mediate interest to every farmer while the forester must work on things that will not be pressing pressing pressing press press- ing until sometimes in the future The work is none the less essen essen- I on this account however When it comes to growing forests forests forests for for- ests it is astonishing how much there is which has bas to be learned little by little by experience and r experiment for there are as many problems in forest culture as in farming and we know very 0 Y much less about them A farmer I gains knowledge from his own and nd his neighbors experiences that beco become e plain common commonsense sense and is IS taken as a a matter d dof of course There is none of this store of knowledge in forestry and each step has to be worked out as we go The simplest means of learning about trees is the formers' formers way of learning about his crops If he has repeated repeat repeated re re- peat d failure with potatoes in inthis k this field he concludes that it is no place for potatoes If a forester forester forester for for- ester plants pine on a certain place and it keeps dying he may reasonably concluded th that t it is is not the right place for pine The worst of it is however that the pine may flourish for 20 to 40 or Continued on Page 8 Eo est Growing Pr Problems Continued from Page 1 11 more years and then start to dying off before it even reaches a useful size Then it can be replanted to see if it repeats I its first failure and in perhaps years experience will have taught something In practice we can hardly afford to wait so long and so O forest investigations ar are are endeavoring to probe into the underlying principles of growth growt 1 of our native trees to get some som sort of short cut to results results' that would otherwise take tak scores of y years ars t to attain J The areas in Utah offer an example of what must be solved They are characteristic of of the lower mountain slopes lopes throughout the state and cover cover thousands of acres but except for a limited amount mount of grazing and their protection protect on of watersheds watersheds watersheds water water- sheds they have practically no value At corresponding elevations elevations elevations eleva eleva- i a few hundred miles both to the north and south the western west western west west- ern yellow pine a valuable timber timber timber tim tim- ber tree occupies sites which I are ate similar to all appearances appearance I Whether this pine can be successfully successfully successfully suc suc- I I introduced into the oak oak- brush type is a big problem If possible how rapidly will it b ba likely to grow and how much value is it likely ly t to have If it will not grow well in the oak- oak brush what prevents it and tsar tan the cause be removed d Similar conditions are found in nearly all forests the weed trees of low value tend to increase at the expense expense expense ex ex- ex- ex pense of valuable species bringing bringing bringing bring bring- ing in little r revenue from lands I 1 they occupy It is on such things that the investigators of the Forest Ser Service Service Ser Ser- vice are working At the Great Basin Experiment Station near Ephraim Utah the cheif investigations invest invest- investigations deal with the question of the replacement of by western yellow pine and the proper management of at atthe the aspen forests which ar are characteristic of the region |