Historic, Archive Document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

.

dibit

a note to you

On the cover — Herb Shields, engineer with the Forest Service’s San
Dimas Equipment Development Center in California, is leader of the night
hehtack research project (see story, page 1).

FORESTRY RESEARCH: What’s New in the West, is a report on the
work of the USD A Forest Service’s four Forest and Range Experiment Sta¬
tions in the West. These research centers, and the states included in their
areas of study, are: Rocky Mountain (North Dakota, South Dakota, Ne¬
braska, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Wyoming, Okla¬
homa, and Texas); Intermountain (Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and part
of Wyoming); Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Oregon, and Washington); and
Pacific Southwest (California, Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa).

some credits

Writers for this issue are: Delpha Noble, Intermountain Station; Louise
Parker, Pacific Northwest Station; Marcia Wood, Pacific Southwest Station;
and Phil Johnson, Rocky Mountain Station.

Cover photo by Conrad E. Bluhm, Los Angeles County Fire Depart¬
ment. Back cover photo of an Abert squirrel courtesy Utah Division of Wild¬
life Services.

When reprinting articles, please credit USDA Forest Service. Mention of
commercial products in this issue is for information only — no endorsement
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is implied.

our addresses

Single copies of most of the publications mentioned in this issue are
available free of charge. When writing to research Stations, please include
your complete mailing address (with ZIP) and request publications by
author, title, and number (if one is given).

For INT publications write:

Intermountain Forest and Range
Experiment Station
507 25th Street
Ogden, Utah 84401

For PNW publications write:

Pacific Northwest Forest and Range
Experiment Station
Post Office Box 3141
Portland, Oregon 97208

For PSW publications write:

Pacific Southwest Forest and Range
Experiment Station
Post Office Box 245
Berkeley, California 94701

For RM publications write:

Rocky Mountain Forest and Range
Experiment Station
240 West Prospect Street
Fort Collins, Colorado 80521

If you are planning to move, please notify us as much in advance as
possible. Please note the mailing list information on the inside back cover.

Pilots try night helitack

Wearing special goggles that enable them
to see in the dark, helicopter pilots will
make night flights over wildfires in southern Cali¬
fornia this year. If their test runs are as successful
as the ones they made last fire season, night heli¬
tack will be on the way to becoming a weapon fire
bosses can rely on in planning their fire attack
strategy.

The flights will be made as part of a research
program sponsored by the Pacific Southwest For¬
est and Range Experiment Station, the San Dimas
Equipment Development Center (both: USDA For¬
est Service), the Los Angeles County Fire Depart¬
ment, and other agencies that are interested in
improving night firefighting.

A member of the program’s coordinating
committee once said the group’s intention is “to
do away with night. We want to eliminate the re¬
strictions that nightfall ordinarily inflicts on the
fire boss. At the same time, we want to help him
take advantage of the lower temperatures and wind
speeds that usually exist on wildfires at night.”

The committee’s approach has been to train
turbine-qualified helicopter pilots to safely navi¬
gate to wildfires at night. Of all the night vision
devices that the men working on the program have
looked into, the goggles developed for the military
by ITT have been the most useful. These battery-
operated units are compact and are completely
self-contained. The goggles weigh less than 2
pounds and can be mounted on helmets worn by
the copter pilot and co-pilot. The units amplify
starlight, moonlight, or artificial light, giving the
pilots a view of whatever’s ahead. Most pilots need

to work with the goggles for about 5 hours before
they become adept at picking up visual cues from
the unfamiliar, all-green world they see on the
miniature viewing screens contained in the goggles.

Some of the test pilots have also worked with
a FLIR — forward-looking infrared, installed in a
UH-1M Bell (Huey) that the U.S. Army loaned to
the night helitack project. With FLIR, pilots can
look at video screens in the cockpit to see a day¬
light picture of whatever is in the infrared scanner’s

Night vision goggles amplify starlight and moonlight.

field of view. The FLIR works day and night, pene¬
trates smoke and haze, and has only one serious
limitation — it isn’t usable in heavy fog or a similar
weather condition.

Even though the copter will be returned to
the Army, FLIR will continue to be a part of the
night vision research: This spring, a new FLIR will
be placed inside one of the ships owned by the Los
Angeles County Fire Department. A featherweight
compared to its bulkier predecessors, this new
FLIR will be TV-compatible — whatever the pilots
see can be recorded for playback at the fire camp
or at a training session.

In addition to the night vision goggles and
FLIR, program pilots have also experimented with
an infrared light that was attached to the underside
of the Huey. Pilots reported that the light was
great for illuminating canyons and other places
where there wasn’t adequate starlight or moon¬
light.

Another piece of auxiliary equipment that has
worked out well is the TALAR IV (Tactical Land¬
ing Air Radar) portable instrument landing system.
With TALAR, pilots who are landing at a forest
helispot can receive instrument landing guidance
similar to that provided at a city airport.

Copter in action

Last year, pilots made night flights to four
wildfires — the Devils Canyon, Texas Canyon, and
Prospect Fires on the Angeles National Forest; and
the Soboba Fire on the San Bernardino. Of the
four, the Soboba missions were the best demon¬
stration of the potential of night helitack. The
crew flying on that fire made about 50 water drops
(most of which were on target) and won some
friends, among them sector boss Bob Tinker and
air attack boss Bob Irwin.

If anyone has the right to throw cold water
on the night helitack program, it’s Tinker. He was
caught unawares by one of the first drops made by
the night copter crew and got a soaking. Tinker,
however, has nothing but good words for the night
copter. “The night copter crew helped us to work a
section of line that otherwise would have been im¬
possible to handle,” he claims. And air boss Bob
Irwin is just as enthusiastic. “The next time I’ve
got anything to do with the management of a large
fire, that night helicopter is going to be part of the
action,” he says.

The only thing that went really wrong on the
Soboba was that the night crew unwittingly doused
a backfire that ground crews were trying to start.
The incident was more annoying than anything
else, but it did emphasize the importance of setting
up a communication network between the night air
support, the night ground support, and the sector
boss. “We’re working on it,” says Herbert J.
Shields, engineer at the Forest Service’s San Dimas
Equipment Development Center and manager of
the night copter project. “We want the night heli¬
tack package to fit neatly into fire fighting organi¬
zations.

Other applications

“Although our main concern right now is
with night operations for fire surveillance and for
delivery of water, retardant, crews, and equipment,
we realize that there are a lot of other practical
applications of the night vision research. People
have told us, for example, that night crews could
help with search and rescue missions, emergency
medical evacuation, and wildlife surveys.

“There’s a good possibility that airplane pilots
who are delivering smokejumpers and paracargo
could use the night vision systems, too.”

In addition to the Forest Service and the Los
Angeles County Fire Department, agencies who are
backing the experiment include: U.S. Department
of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management; U.S.
Department of Defense, Army and Air Force; State
of California Division of Forestry; State of Oregon
Department of Forestry; the Aerospace Corpora¬
tion; and Western Helicopters, Inc.

For further information on the night helitack
operations, please write to Herb Shields at the San
Dimas Equipment Development Center, USDA
Forest Service, 444 East Bonita Avenue, San
Dimas, California 91773, or phone him at (213)
332-6231 or (714) 599-1267. □

2

<\

Designing with desk- top calculators

The PNW Experiment Station’s Forest Engi¬
neering Laboratory in Seattle, Washington,
has achieved a major advancement in logging engi¬
neering technology by using desk-top calculators.
The compact Hewlett-Packard 9830 calculator, to¬
gether with a high-speed printer, electronic digi¬
tizer, and plotter, can now be programmed for
road planning and harvest unit design.

The basic cost of the system runs about
$20,000. But even in today’s inflated economy,
that buys a lot of analytic and design capability.
According to Hilton Lysons, project leader at
Seattle, the H-P 9830 system can significantly aid
the logging engineer in expanding his design capa¬
bility.

The Engineering Laboratory acquired their

first desk-top calculator, an H-P 9100, in 1969 to
use in skyline logging design. But they could see
then that this approach had other applications in
forestry — perhaps in road design, timber sale ap¬
praisal, and forest surveying. Since then, the group
has developed seven computer programs for skyline
engineering and five for road planning and design.

“Technology has a long history of advancing
to meet the needs of the times,” Lysons says.
“Today’s environmental constraints, plus the
energy crisis, are forcing us to look at new ways to
get our job done. The calculator lets the user prop¬
erly consider the total systems requirements in
developing the best logging and road plan.”

Ward Carson, an engineer at the Laboratory,
(continued on page 16)

Lodgepole-a versatile tree

What is known about lodgepole pine
and where can I get the information?
This question led to one of the most complete dis¬
cussions of management of a forest species ever
held — the Lodgepole Pine Symposium at Washing¬
ton State University in October, 1973.

Copies of the proceedings, published by Wash¬
ington State University and edited by Dr. David M.
Baumgartner, are now available from the Univer¬
sity at $9.50 per two-volume set. Volume I con¬
tains 38 papers that cover the major topics of the
symposium — the resource, productivities, factors
influencing productivities, and management and
utilization. The second volume, a bibliography de¬
veloped by Dr. James E. Lotan of the Intermountain

Forest and Range Experiment Station, lists over
1,100 references on lodgepole pine. It includes
research reports from 1954 to October 1973.

The symposium proceedings bring together
much of what is known about lodgepole pine and
its management. The publication should tell you
what is known about the most common manage¬
ment problems, and where you can find more de¬
tailed information.

The proceedings may also present a few sur¬
prises about the species. For example, did you
know that lodgepole pine has one of the greatest
ranges of any conifer in western North America?
Lodgepole pine forests cover almost 69 million
acres in the United States and Canada. Lodgepole

4

has been planted widely in Great Britain and New
Zealand and to a lesser extent in Finland, Argen¬
tina, Poland, the Netherlands, and Norway. Plant¬
ing in the United States is relatively new, but it is
growing in importance.

The lodgepole pine is a versatile tree. It has
been used for a longer time and has provided a
greater variety of products than any other western
tree species. Indians used the slim poles in their
tepees and lodges — hence the name. Pioneers built
homesteads and fences and shored their mines with
the timbers from the tall, slender tree. And most of
the railroad crossties in the Rocky Mountain
country were cut from lodgepole pine.

Lodgepole pine has many characteristics that
can be both bane and blessing. For example, it
regenerates well, but many stands soon become
overstocked and stagnated. It is highly susceptible
to mountain pine beetle infestations and is subject
to lingering death by dwarf mistletoe.

The species has excellent reseeding power,
often aided by fire. While natural seed dispersal is
somewhat limited, cones that are on the ground
open readily when subjected to fire.

The reseeding success of the cones is fantastic
— lodgepole has had recorded stocking levels as
high as 500,000 stems per acre in young stands and
as many as 100,000 stems per acre in a 70-year-old
stand. Both stocking levels are so dense that the
stems cannot develop into good trees without first
being thinned.

Only the small size of lodgepole pine trees at
maturity delayed its entry into the commercial
timber market. However, developments in harvest¬
ing and milling technology, together with increased
demands for lumber supplies, have improved the
economic picture for lodgepole pine timber. The
annual harvest of lodgepole pine is now more than
300 million cubic feet per year in the United States
and Canada.

As the demand for lodgepole increased during
the last two decades, forest managers saw the
opportunity to convert old, deteriorating forests
into young ones. Most people welcomed the new
attitude toward the lodgepole pine stands. The
lumber industry, for example, quickly built timber¬
processing plants near timber supply centers. A
wave of timber-harvesting activity in this “new
resource” followed, and is continuing.

Aside from its commercial value, lodgepole
pine is the major tree cover in many scenic and

recreation areas of the West. Most of the campsites
in Yellowstone National Park are in lodgepole pine
stands, and the tree is the dominant species at
Banff National Park in Canada.

Not to be ignored is the role of the lodgepole
pine forests as a protective cover for and regulator
of waterflow. Lodgepole pine commonly occurs as
a primary component of the forest cover in major
mountain watersheds.

Extensive stands of mature lodgepole pine
may not be favorable for many forms of wildlife.
However, where a forest is managed for timber pro¬
duction, with a variety of age classes, the fish and
wildlife habitat can be ideal.

These facts, and many more, are incorporated
into the proceedings.

For more information, write to Lodgepole
Pine, Conference Coordinator, Cooperative Exten¬
sion Service, Ag Phase II, Washington State Univer¬
sity, Pullman, Washington 99163. □

▼ Lodgepole is a major species in many recreation areas.

Ponderosa pine and Abert squirrels

Logging is changing the habitat of Abert squir-
_rels (Sciurus aberti aberti Woodhouse) in
the ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest.
Foresters in that area want to know more about
the habitat requirements of the Abert squirrel so
they can plan for its needs as they prepare timber
sales.

Several years ago, Forest Service land man¬
agers in Arizona and New Mexico asked Dr. David
R. Patton to identify conditions necessary to main¬
tain Abert squirrel habitat in managed forests. Dr.
Patton is project leader and principal research wild¬
life biologist with the Rocky Mountain Forest and
Range Experiment Station at Tempe, Arizona.

“The world of the Abert squirrel is confined
to the ponderosa pine forests of Arizona, New
Mexico, Colorado, Utah and part of Mexico,”
Patton explains. “The Abert depends almost en¬
tirely on ponderosa pine trees for food and shelter.
Gambel oak and forest fungi provide supplemental
food where available. In Arizona, the Abert is gain¬
ing popularity as a small game animal. Its well-
known cousin, the Kaibab squirrel, (Sciurus aberti
kaibabensis) lives only along the north rim of the
Grand Canyon. The Kaibab squirrel is considered a
threatened species and is not hunted.”

As Dr. Patton analyzed the problem prior to
planning his research, it became apparent foresters
would need several types of information. They
would want a description of the kinds of trees the
squirrels seek for food and for nesting. They would
also need to understand the forest conditions re¬
quired around nesting sites.

Dr. Patton chose the Castle Creek drainage in
Arizona’s Apache National Forest as the place to
study feeding habits. Squirrel cuttings (branches
and cones) found beneath ponderosa pines along
pre-established sample routes were recorded over a
4-year period. Dr. Patton learned that Abert squir¬
rels prefer to feed on mature trees from 11 to 30
inches in diameter. Trees approaching 19 inches
proved to be favorites. Growing tips, the inner bark
of small branches, and cones provide good eating at
different times of the year.

For the study. Abert squirrels are trapped and tagged.

A backpack radio will transmit signals to scientists. ►

Next he moved to the Beaver Creek drainage
of the Coconino National Forest where he designed
a sampling system to coincide with existing timber
inventory plots. “My objectives here were to deter¬
mine the physical characteristics of trees that make
good nest sites for Abert squirrels, and to describe
environmental conditions surrounding nest trees,”
says Patton.

Using timber inventory points, Patton’s crew
established a grid to guide their search for squirrel
nests. Squirrel habitat existed on much of the
1,800-acre watershed. The crew discovered a total
of 414 nests — a density of one nest per 3.9 acres
of habitat. They selected 302 of these nests to
become center points for 1/ 10-acre sample plots.
Size, age, and degree of dominance of nest trees,
and the position of nest trees in relation to sur¬
rounding trees in the stand were carefully recorded
on each plot. Environmental conditions such as
direction of slope exposure, position of the slope
(inner, middle, or lower), amount and types of
ground cover, density of canopy, and number of
trees were also noted on every plot. An analysis of
these data is now being prepared for publication.

In speaking about his findings, Dr. Patton
points out that “Key factors in Abert squirrel habi¬
tat are (1) tree density and basal area near nest
sites, (2) tree grouping, (3) position of the nest tree
crown in the canopy, and (4) size of trees in which
squirrels nest and feed.

“Our data indicate best overall nesting condi¬
tions are found in ponderosa pine stands of 200 to
250 trees per acre, or the equivalent of that density
for areas less than an acre in size. Average diameter
for trees in these stands will probably be 1 1 to 13
inches. Basal area will be from 150 to 200 square
feet per acre.

“Squirrels seem to select nest trees near the
center of close-knit clumps of pines where inter¬
locking crowns provide a canopy of 80 percent or
better above the nest. Nest trees themselves may
range from 11 to 22 inches in diameter; trees that
are about 1 5 inches are the preferred size.

“For feeding, Abert squirrels will need to find
the slightly larger trees I described earlier,” Patton
explains. “Ideally, these larger trees would be near
the nest site. A mature Gambel oak or two on each
acre would also help the food situation.

“The results of our research should give forest
managers good ideas for preserving quality squirrel
habitat in timber harvest areas. I also believe we
should use these results to develop a rating system
for squirrel habitat that foresters can easily use as
they examine stands in preparation for timber
sales,” Patton says. “Such a system would permit
managers to readily locate sites of different habitat
quality. They could then decide how many acres of
each quality level to retain in each timber harvest
area. Designing this system is our next research
task.”

For details, write the Rocky Mountain Station
for Research Notes RM-169-FR4 (“Abert Squirrels
Prefer Mature Ponderosa Pine”) and RM-281-FR4
(“Nest Use and Home Range of Three Abert Squir¬
rels as Determined by Radio Tracking”). Research
Paper RM-145-FR4, “Abert Squirrel Cover Require¬
ments in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine,” will be
available by mid-summer. □

7

‘ *** ^

Publications

a The San Joaquin Range covers 4,500 acres.

Wildlife checklist

Range scientist Don Duncan and wildlife
biologist Tom Newman have probably noted
just about every major species of reptile, am¬
phibian, mammal, bird, and fish that inhabit
the San Joaquin Experimental Range in cen¬
tral California. They’ve used their field obser¬
vations in writing “Vertebrate Fauna of the
San Joaquin Experimental Range: a Check¬
list.” This publication (General Technical
Report PSW-6-FR4) updates a 1955 inven¬
tory; copies are available from PSW-Berkeley.

The Range covers 4,500 acres of foot¬
hills on the west-side Sierra Nevada. It is an
upper Sonoran Zone (annual plant-oak wood¬
land type) community.

Duncan’s observations come from 13
years of living at and studying the Range; col¬

league Newman (now with the Plumas Nation¬
al Forest) spent about one-fourth of his time
there.

Reptiles included on their checklist are
the Pacific rattlesnake, Pacific gopher snake,
Western fence lizard, Gilbert skink, and Cali¬
fornia whiptail lizard.

Two of the most common types of bats
are the Yuma myotis and the California
myotis.

The Range supports a variety of mam¬
mals, including raccoon, badger, coyote, mule
deer, and Audubon cottontail.

Abundant birds on the range are Califor¬
nia quail, acorn woodpecker, mourning dove,
and scrub jay.

Gully control plan

An inexpensive approach to planning
gully control with rock check dams has been
devised by Burchard H. Heede, a hydraulic
engineer with the Rocky Mountain Station at
Tempe, Arizona. Heede was assisted by John
G. Mufich, a computer programer. Their tech¬
nique, based on sediment conditions in the
central and southern Rockies, is adaptable to
other regions.

Successful tests of Heede’s system in
Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona have
shown that a variety of treatments for a single
gully, or series of gullies, can be rapidly de¬
signed by computer. The computer program
has two phases — one for overall treatment
design and one for detailed construction plan¬
ning.

Phase one requires only a few simple
field measurements and office calculations.
The results are (1) an array of treatment de¬
signs for the gully system, i.e., alternative
combinations of construction methods, num¬
bers, and sizes of dams that will do the con¬
trol job; (2) the cost of installing each combi¬
nation of dams; and (3) the benefits of each
combination, i.e., the cost to remove sedi¬
ment from a downstream reservoir if check

dams are not installed. With this information,
the resource manager can select the treatment
design and the type or types of dam construc¬
tion that will best meet the manager’s objec¬
tives and constraints. Phase one may also be
used to inventory gully control needs for land
use and budget planning purposes.

Once the manager has selected a treat¬
ment approach, phase two requires only a few
additional measurements from each dam site
recommended by phase one. Phase two yields
detailed construction plans, costs, and bene¬
fits for each dam to be built.

Design relationships used in developing
the computer program, a description of the
program, and an illustration of its use are in
“Functional Relationships and a Computer
Program for Structural Gully Control,” Jour¬
nal of Environmental Management 1(4): 32 1-
344. Instructions for using the program, and
key equations involved, are in “Field and
Computer Procedures for Gully Control by
Check Dams Journal of Environmental Man¬
agement 2(1): 1-49. Reprints of both articles
are available from the Rocky Mountain
Forest and Range Experiment Station in Fort
Collins, Colorado.

Wilderness wildfires

Preoccupation with prevention and sup¬
pression of wildfires sometimes obscures the
fact that fire has a natural role — that it is an
important link in the complex chain of life in
wildland forest areas.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 opened the
door to fire managers to plan new strategies
for dealing with fire in Wilderness Areas — fire
that would be compatible with the managers’
goal of perpetuating natural and unmodified
ecosystems.

In 1970, the White Cap Wilderness Fire
Management Study was begun in the Idaho
portion of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness,
Bitterroot National Forest, Montana. The ad¬
ministrative study, paid for with funds from

the USDA Forest Service’s fire management
budget, was a cooperative effort between the
National Forest System, Forest Service Re¬
search, and the University of Montana. The
goal — to incorporate the natural role of fire
into a new fire management plan for the
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

Land managers and researchers divided
the 100-square-mile study area into five
management zones, according to the ecology
of each. They then set up specific fire man¬
agement prescriptions for each zone. These
prescriptions provide line officers and dis¬
patchers with guidelines that state what will
be done with fire and when different actions
will be taken. Time of year, location of the
fire, and fire-danger rating are key considera¬
tions. This program is now operational in part
of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and is ex¬
panding to other areas.

Two of the objectives of the fire plans
are to provide for the safety of people, and to
prevent major adverse effects from occurring
outside the Wilderness Area. Beyond this, fire
managers may decide to let a fire take its
course.

Management plans that treat fire as a
natural occurrence have been made by other
organizations. The National Park Service, for
example, has used natural fire management
strategies in Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Grand
Teton, Yellowstone, and other National
Parks.

The White Cap Study was directed by
Robert W. Mutch of the Northern Forest Fire
Laboratory, Intermountain Forest and Range
Experiment Station; and David F. Aldrich of
the Bitterroot National Forest. For more in¬
formation, see the following articles: “Wilder¬
ness Fires Allowed to Bum More Naturally,”
by D. F. Aldrich and R. W. Mutch, Fire Con¬
trol Notes 33(1): 3-5; “Fire-dependent Forests
in the Northern Rocky Mountains,” by J. R.
Habeck and R. W. Mutch, Quaternary Re¬
search 3(3):408-424; and “I Thought Forest
Fires Were Black!” by R. W. Mutch, Western
Wildlands 1(3): 16-21.

9

Slope stability

Logging activities have sometimes been
responsible for accelerating landslides and ero¬
sion on steep slopes in the Western United
States. Road construction on unstable terrain
is the primary problem, with the hazards be¬
ing greatest during or following heavy rains.
Foresters and engineers try to avoid situations
where watershed damage is likely to occur. In
addition, they continually seek new tech¬
niques and information which will help them
to minimize soil disturbance and erosion.

In a paper presented in Russia in 1971,
geologist D. N. Swanston of the PNW Station
in Corvallis, Oregon, summarized the current
knowledge and research in this field. That re¬
port has now been updated and published as
General Technical Report PNW-21-FR4,
“Slope Stability Problems Associated with
Timber Harvesting in Mountainous Regions of
the Western United States.”

In the report, Swanston indicates that
identification of hazardous sites is probably
the most useful approach to the problem right
now. Techniques now in use in Alaska and
northern California can be applied throughout
the United States, if the land manager has
adequate knowledge of local site conditions
and erosion processes.

In California, aerial photographs are be¬
ing used to identify, delineate, measure, and
interpret topographic features related to deep-
seated soil creep and sliding. Geologic maps
compiled from surface outcrops and drill cut¬
tings aid in interpretation. Vertical color-
infrared photos help identify wet areas that
are especially vulnerable to slipping. Special
maps are being used to evaluate soil creep and
landslide potential.

In southeast Alaska, aerial photo inter¬
pretation has also been used, especially in
locating areas subject to debris avalanches.
Maps of slope angle are particularly useful in
Alaska because slope gradient is a key factor
in stability. In Alaska, also, there is a strong
relationship between areas of high rainfall and

debris avalanches.

Some attempts have been made to sta¬
bilize disturbed areas, but these techniques
are difficult and expensive to use, and don’t
always work. It is better to avoid disturbance
in the first place. Swanston recommends the
following: (1) careful design of forest roads to
avoid placing them on potentially unstable
slopes; (2) proper choice of timber harvest
equipment and methods; and (3) use and
development of balloon logging, helicopter
logging, and other new harvesting methods
which minimize soil disturbance.

Rocky Mountain forests

Silviculturists at the Rocky Mountain
Station have summarized “the status of our
knowledge” about major forest types from
the Black Hills to the Southwest. The result is
a series of five papers that capsulize more
than 60 years of forest management research
in South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New
Mexico, and Arizona.

Four of these papers are state of the art
reviews that cover (1) ponderosa pine in the
Black Hills, (2) subalpine forests in the central
and southern Rockies, (3) southwestern
mixed conifers and aspen, and (4) south¬
western ponderosa pine. The fifth paper is a
36-page overview, entitled, “Silviculture of
Central and Southern Rocky Mountain For¬
ests: A Summary of the Status of Our Knowl¬
edge by Timber Types,” (Research Paper
RM-120). Robert R. Alexander, research for¬
ester at Fort Collins, Colorado, wrote this
summary paper for busy administrators who
don’t have the time to read each of the re¬
ports in the series. He includes summaries on
the silviculture of each timber type, discusses
management practices, and points out needs
for additional research.

For specialists in silviculture and timber
management, the other reports in the series
contain information that may help them solve
specific forest management problems. Each

10

report contains a thorough list of references.
And, as with the overview, each paper con¬
cludes with an inventory of areas in which
research is still needed.

Black Hills ponderosa pine

Research foresters Charles E. Boldt and
James L. Van Deusen at Rapid City, South
Dakota, teamed up to write “Silviculture of
Ponderosa Pine in the Black Hills: The Status
of Our Knowledge” (Research Paper
RM-124). Major sections in their paper con¬
tain descriptions of the life history and beha¬
vior of the species; the effects that damaging
agents such as insects, disease, fire, weather,
and animals have on forest stands; and the
influence of soil and topography on forest
development.

In their section on silvicultural prescrip¬
tions and management techniques, Boldt and
Van Deusen discuss such topics as silvicultural
condition class descriptions and treatments,
ways to cut to obtain regeneration, guides to
intermediate cutting in managed stands, and
reforestation techniques.

Suba/pine forests in the Rockies

Robert R. Alexander compiled “Silvi¬
culture of Subalpine Forests in the Central
and Southern Rocky Mountains: The Status
of Our Knowledge” (Research Paper
RM-121). The paper is divided to treat two
major forest types: the lodgepole pine type
and the Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir type
of Wyoming, Colorado and northern New
Mexico. These types are the leading timber
producers in Wyoming and Colorado.

Alexander first provides an overall de¬
scription of subalpine forests within the three-
state territory. Major topics here include
climate, geology, soils and landfoims, life
zones, succession, and plant communities. He
also reviews the amount and quality of the

timber resource in the subalpine forest.

In the remainder of the paper he dis¬
cusses the spruce-fir type and lodgepole type
separately. For each discussion, his major top¬
ics are characteristics of the type, past cutting
history, damaging agents, requirements for
natural regeneration, determination of site
quality, growth and yield potential, silvi¬
culture and management for old-growth for¬
ests, and management of young forests.

Black Hills ponderosa pine responds to thinning.

11

Mixed conifer and aspen forests

John R. Jones, research forester at Flag¬
staff, Arizona, has pulled together informa¬
tion on “Silviculture of Southwestern Mixed
Conifers and Aspen: The Status of Our
Knowledge” (Research Paper RM-122). Jones
defines these forests as a combination of
Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, white fir, Engel-
mann spruce, aspen, southwestern white pine,
blue spruce, and corkbark fir growing to¬
gether, often in more or less that order of
abundance.

Jones concentrates his discussions on
mixed conifer forests of Arizona, New
Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. He
begins with a description of their composition
and their distribution. He then turns to eco¬
logical factors, such as moisture, temperature,
light, wind, biotic agents, and fire, with a dis¬
cussion of their influence on silvicultural prac¬
tices.

He devotes the rest of his paper to sec¬
tions on unique characteristics of species that
comprise mixed conifer, successions and cli¬
maxes, ecosystem classification, typical stand
structures, and applicable silvicultural prac¬
tices. In the silvicultural section, Jones deals
with methods for obtaining reproduction, and
intermediate practices useful in maintaining
or improving the growth and condition of
existing stands.

Southwestern ponderosa pine

Research forester Gilbert H. Schubert of
Flagstaff, Arizona, has completed “Silvi¬
culture of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine: The
Status of Our Knowledge” (Research Paper
RM-123). In this report, Schubert considers
ponderosa pine forests throughout Arizona,
New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. He begins
the paper with a historical review of pon¬
derosa pine forestry in the Southwest, and an
assessment of the current status of the timber
resource in this type.

His comprehensive section on habitat
conditions contains descriptions of physio¬
graphic features, soil, climate, moisture, light,
temperature, succession and climax, plant
competition, damaging agents, and site qual¬
ity as they affect ponderosa pine forests. The
next section is a resume of growth, yield, and
wood quality.

Schubert then discusses the silviculture
and management of southwestern ponderosa
with emphasis on ( 1 ) requirements for natural
and artificial regeneration, and (2) treatments
essential to the development of managed
stands that will yield desired end products.

▼ Young mixed conifers developing beneath aspens.

12

How to obtain copies

Copies of these papers may be purchased
from: Superintendent of Documents, U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington,
D.C. 20402. Please use the following informa¬
tion in placing your order:

Research Paper

Stock Number

Price

RM-120

0101-00368

$~90

RM-121

0101-00381

1.55

RM-122

0101-00377

1.10

RM-123

0101-00380

1.40

RM-124

0101-00384

1.20

Bibliographies

Two bibliographies that should be of in¬
terest to forest land managers are available
from the PNW Station.

“A Summary and Annotated Bibliog¬
raphy of Communications Principles,” by
Ronald E. Dick, David T. McKee, and J. Alan
Wagar, appeared in the summer 1974 issue of
the Journal of Environmental Education.

“An Annotated Bibliography of the Ef¬
fects of Logging on Fish of the Western
United States and Canada,” is a General Tech¬
nical Report (PNW-10-FR4) by Dave R. Gib¬
bons and Ernest O. Salo.

Timber plan aid

Timber management planning requires a
lot of information. Summarizing and organiz¬
ing this information into management plans is
time-consuming and expensive. Clifford A.
Myers, principal mensurationist at the Rocky
Mountain Station’s Fort Collins laboratory,
has devised a computer technique to reduce
the time and cost of this process. Myers’ pro¬
gram is known as TEVAP, Timber Evaluation
And Planning.

With TEVAP, managers can rapidly pro¬
cess inventory data into tables and summaries

and can prescribe management for even-aged
as well as two-storied forest stands. The sum¬
maries give a detailed description of timber
resources within planning units and can be
used to compare current volumes with those
that will exist when management goals have
been attained. More importantly, managers
can use TEVAP to calculate (1) allowable cut
by area and formula methods; (2) volumes
that can be salvaged after fires or insect at¬
tacks; and (3) areas and volumes that will
need periodic improvement work, if produc¬
tion goals are to be reached.

TEVAP was tested for 2 years on the
Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota
by an independent team from that Forest and
Colorado State University. A summary de¬
scription of the test is presented in “Com¬
puter-Produced Timber Management Plans:
An Evaluation of Program TEVAP” (Research
Note RM-251-FR4). This publication is avail¬
able from the Rocky Mountain Station in
Fort Collins.

On the basis of this evaluation, Myers
revised TEVAP to improve its usefulness un¬
der a wider range of conditions than those
found in the Black Hills. The new program,
TEVAP2, provides data for more working
groups and more species than the original pro¬
gram. It also provides a means of accounting
for the effects of dwarf mistletoe on forest
development. TEVAP2 may be used for (1)
ponderosa pine in the Black Hills of South
Dakota and Wyoming; (2) ponderosa pine in
Arizona and New Mexico; and (3) lodgepole
pine in Colorado and Wyoming. The program
is easily modified for application to other spe¬
cies. For example, work by Robert R. Alex¬
ander, principal silviculturist at Fort Collins,
has resulted in the numerical relationships
needed to use TEVAP2 in planning manage¬
ment for Engelmann spruce.

A description of TEVAP2, and examples
of its use, are in “Computerized Preparation
of Timber Management Plans: TEVAP2” (Re¬
search Paper RM-115-FR4). For copies, con¬
tact the Rocky Mountain Station.

13

Ponderosa regeneration

Ponderosa pine is the most widely dis¬
tributed pine in North America, extending
from the Fraser River in British Columbia to
west-central Mexico and from northeastern
Nebraska to the Pacific Coast. Its size, wood
properties, and accessibility for logging make
it one of the most important pines for lumber
use.

This all sounds great — so what’s the
problem? Today, many of the extensive
stands of mature ponderosa are gone. Pon¬
derosa has been a prime target for use since
the Gold Rush days and the ensuing settle¬
ment of the West. Some cut-over sites have
been invaded by chaparral or by other species
that don’t have the desirable characteristics of
the stately ponderosa. In addition, years of
fire control have allowed climax species such
as Douglas-fir and grand fir to take over sites
originally dominated by ponderosa.

The Intermountain Forest and Range
Experiment Station has recently published a
paper that summarizes present knowledge of
natural and artificial regeneration of pon¬
derosa pine, spanning a period of 50 years of
research and observations. In “Regeneration
of Ponderosa Pine in the Northern Rocky
Mountain-Intermountain Region,” Marvin W.

Foiles and James D. Curtis review the differ¬
ent methods of reproducing the pine in a large
geographical region. Copies of their report
(Research Paper INT-145-FR4) are available
from the Intermountain Station.

Because ponderosa grows under such
diverse conditions, there is no single prescrip¬
tion for regeneration. Natural regeneration of
the ponderosa is a chancy matter, for the
combination of good seed crops and the right
moisture conditions doesn’t happen very
often. Therefore, land managers have often
turned to artificial regeneration. The authors
stress that with either method, site prepara¬
tion is the most important consideration.

Site preparation methods have changed
dramatically in recent years. To the un¬
initiated, the sight of a bulldozer methodical¬
ly creating planting strips might be horrifying.
But this type of site preparation, followed by
careful planting, has produced ponderosa pine
plantations in parts of Utah and Idaho where
other efforts over a 30-year period have
failed.

Whether artificial or natural regeneration
methods are used, the seedlings need about 3
years to become established. Logging damage,
fire, disease, and insects lessen the chance that
seedlings will survive. Managers watch over
their plantings carefully.

Campground study

Popular campgrounds can become dust
bowls under the tread of thousands of
campers’ feet and the treads of hundreds of
recreational vehicles. What can the land mana¬
ger do about it?

Closing campgrounds for a period of re¬
covery shifts the burden to other sites and
starts a chain reaction of deterioration. And
public reaction to closure of favorite camping
spots can be less than ecstatic.

Letting the use continue, but at a re¬
duced rate, may mean recovery will take
many years, or might not occur at all.

14

In 1965, Point Campground, one of the
most popular in Idaho’s Sawtooth National
Recreation Area, was overused and rundown
after more than 30 years of heavy camping
use. Forest managers decided to close the
campground for the 1966 and 1967 recrea¬
tion seasons for rehabilitation. They also
started a cooperative program with Inter¬
mountain Forest and Range Experiment Sta¬
tion researchers to find the best methods of
rehabilitating the site.

A basic premise was that there was no
point in attempting to maintain vegetation on
very heavily used parts of the campground.
So, roads, trails, parking spurs, and pads be¬
neath the tables, fireplaces, and grills were
surfaced with a gravel-asphalt mixture. In
areas that were to carry vegetation, under¬
ground sprinkling systems were installed.

In 1968, a four-year vegetation rehabili¬
tation study began; and it began with the re¬
opening of Point Campground to public use.
Researchers divided the 1 6 camping units into
clusters, and applied various combinations of
seed, fertilizer, and water. Forest managers
excluded campers during a scheduled sprin¬
kling period once each week. During the 4-
year study period, campers made few com¬
plaints about the relocation, and many
commented favorably on the noticeable im¬
provement in ground cover.

Point Campground now provides a “sus¬
tained yield” of benefits to campers in the
scenic Recreation Area. The study also shows
that cultural treatments of the vegetation can
improve a campground while visitors continue
to enjoy the area. Wendell G. Beardsley, Ros-
coe B. Herrington, and J. Alan Wagar outlined
the program in an April 1974 Journal of For¬
estry article. More detailed study information
is available from the Intermountain Station in
USDA Forest Service Research Paper INT-87-
FR4, “Improvement and Maintenance of
Campground Vegetation in Central Idaho,”
and in Research Note INT-129-FR4, “Eco¬
nomics and Management Implications of
Campground Irrigation.”

Herbicide evaluated

In studying the effects of the controver¬
sial herbicide 2,4,5-T on the environment, sci¬
entists have concentrated mainly on the effect
of the chemical itself. But the effects of the
contaminant TCDD, which is produced during
the synthesis of 2,4,5-T, are much more im¬
portant.

Even in small quantities, TCDD, (some¬
times called dioxin), is highly toxic to fish. In
laboratory studies, scientists found that
TCDD caused many types of physical damage,
fungal growths, loss of interest in feeding, and
reduced growth in both guppies and salmon.
Growth inhibition was most pronounced in
young coho salmon. Scientists want to pin
down the threshold level — that point at
which harmful effects begin to show up in
fish. So far they haven’t been able to do that.
The smallest quantities of TCDD used in these
experiments caused some damage.

Researchers have also recommended a
monitoring program to determine how much
TCDD is getting into streams and staying
there. So far no sampling has been done in
either terrestrial or aquatic forest environ¬
ments. Very sensitive monitoring devices will
be necessary.

Spray operations with 2,4,5-T should be
carefully laid out with buffer strips along
streams and around other bodies of water.
Application should be done at times when
there is very little wind and wind direction is
away from streams and other bodies of water
so that contamination of aquatic habitats by
drift of herbicides is minimized.

For details, see “Toxicity of TCDD in
Aquatic Organisms,” a reprint from the Sep¬
tember 1973 issue of Environmental Health
Perspectives, by Richard A. Miller, Logan A.
Norris, and Clifford L. Hawkes. Norris and
Hawkes are with the Forest Service’s Pacific
Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Sta¬
tion in Corvallis, Oregon, and Miller is with
the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at
Oregon State University.

15

Desk-top calculators continued

has used the calculator package to improve the de¬
sign of skyline logging systems. He says recent
skyline developments have promoted new interest
in this method of logging.

Skyline systems are complex. The logging de¬
signer who opts for a skyline system is faced with a
multitude of engineering problems, including an¬
chors, allowable deflections, tensions, loads, topog¬
raphy, and the overall capability of the system
under consideration. The chances for failure are
almost legion and the hazards costly in terms of
shutdowns, equipment failures, and hazards to life
and property.

But skylines also have some distinct advan¬
tages. They can be used to log country that is steep
and rugged without causing excessive environ¬
mental damage to the slope. Energy requirements
are low, especially when compared to the heavy
energy demands of helicopter logging, an alternate
system for logging steep slopes.

In order to work with skylines, Carson says
the logging designer must understand them
thoroughly. In the past this was only achieved after
long practice and experience in the field. “Now,”
says Carson, “that experience can be obtained by
studying the system through the computer.” He
claims that any skyline design can now be handled
on desk-top computers.

Checking alternatives

“A properly designed computer program puts
the designer right into the act,” Lysons says. “It
enables him to quickly analyze the data, look at all
alternatives, and then select the best possible de¬
sign. That’s the only way to meet the environ¬
mental constraints in an economical manner. Be¬
fore the computer, the process of checking out all
possible alternatives took so long that by the time
you got one design thoroughly analyzed, you said
the hell with it and let it go at that.

“The calculator provides the option of check¬
ing alternative systems quickly and of determining
which system really fits the terrain. With the 9830,
it takes about the same time to check all possible
alternatives that it used to take to do one design by
hand.”

Doyle Burke, a logging engineer with the
Seattle group, says that planning of timber access

roads has always been one of the weak links in
logging engineering. “The location and quality of
commercial timber and elevation can be deter¬
mined from aerial photos and topographic maps,”
Burke says. “Road planning and design informa¬
tion, such as horizontal and vertical curvature and
earthwork volumes, are not readily apparent from
maps but can be developed with the interactive
9830 calculator system and the road design pro¬
gram package. Road design alternatives can be eval¬
uated at up to 1,000 feet of road per minute.”

Instant feedback

George Goddard, forest engineer on the Wil¬
lamette National Forest in Eugene, Oregon, is im¬
pressed with the applications of the 9830 in stump-
to-mill total systems planning. The Forest
presently has units at Oak ridge, McKenzie Bridge,
and Sweet Home.

Personnel on the Willamette spent nearly a
year debating the pros and cons of the various soft¬
ware systems presently on the market. Goddard
talked with representatives from Hewlett-Packard
and discussed the function and capabilities of vari¬
ous sytems with the Seattle engineers. The result
was a decision to go with the 9830.

According to Goddard, the system is a real
benefit in putting sales on the Forest’s 5-year ac¬
tion plan. “We can see if we have a go or no go
situation, and know right now whether we can put
the sale in our plan or not. Later on, we can refine
the system for specific sales that we decide to in¬
clude. The 9830 enables us to examine a lot of
alternatives in a very short time.

“The instant feedback of the 9830 approach
has made our job of long-range planning an easier
one. And, our road and logging designers are plan¬
ning together in closer association than in the past.
It’s obvious that the design capabilities of systems
such as the H-P 9830 will expand beyond the con¬
fines of skyline logging and road design.”

Several reports have been prepared on the
PNW Station work, and more are in preparation.
Write to Publications, Pacific Northwest Forest and
Range Experiment Station, and ask for all the cur¬
rent reports by Doyle Burke, Ward Carson, and
Hilton Lysons on computer applications in skyline
logging and road design. □

16

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