Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest: Protecting Existing Forests and Growing New Ones, from the Standpoint of the Public and That of the Lumberman, with an Outline of Technical MethodsAllen, E. T. (Edward Tyson)
Science
Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest: Protecting Existing Forests and Growing New Ones, from the Standpoint of the Public and That of the Lumberman, with an Outline of Technical Methods
Allen, E. T. (Edward Tyson)
Pacific Coast -- Forestry
Western cedar is a typically shade-bearing tree and also endures
much ground moisture. Its occurrence as an under story and in swamps
does not indicate that it always requires such conditions, however,
but more often means merely that they protected it from competition
or from destruction by fire. Charred remains of very large, fine
cedar are often found on comparatively dry slopes where fire has
resulted in complete occupation by fir at present. Cedar's failure
to reappear there after removal is probably because its thin bark and
shallow roots allowed its destruction by a fire which was survived
by some better protected fir seed trees. Nevertheless, cedar must
be classified as a moisture-loving species and occupies dry soils
only in coast or mountain localities where there is a compensating
heavy rainfall.
Reproduction and management of western cedar have not been sufficiently
studied to warrant very positive conclusions. This neglect is probably
due to a wide belief that in spite of its present commercial importance,
its place in the future forest will be small. It most commonly occurs
with other trees in heavy stands, which make the preservation of any
young cedar difficult because of the destructiveness of logging. Being
of comparatively slow growth, also persistent in retaining branches
when grown in the light, it is not as promising for artificial
reproduction as Douglas fir or white pine. To let it become old
enough for good shingle material will be too expensive to pay,
for roofing is one of the wood products easiest to substitute for.
While cedar is adapted for poles, posts and other underground use,
less decay-resisting species can be made equally durable by chemical
treatment. In other words, as a second crop it is probably below
other species in ease of establishment, rapidity and quantity, and
will not have sufficient peculiar value to compensate for consequent
less economical use of the ground.
There may be exceptions to this rule. Good young cedar in forests
which are to be handled under the selection system should be carefully
protected. It can always be utilized and may bring revenue before
anything else can be cut. For the same reason it has been suggested
for planting with fir and white pine, either simultaneously as a
small proportion or later in blank spaces where the others fail.
Under such conditions the main stand will not be modified and the
cedar will afford a valuable adjunct.
SITKA SPRUCE (_Picea sitchensis_)
Although found in the moister mountain regions, this exceedingly
valuable tree seldom occurs to a commercially important extent
except along the coast, where it is common on swales and fertile
benches and in river bottoms often forms pure stands of great density.
Yields of 100,000 feet an acre are not unusual and the trees are
very large. It is also common, although of small size, in swamps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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