RELATIONSHIP OF YELLOW PINE AND DOUGLAS FIR IN THE YELLOW PINE TYPE H. Work s S-I (Ihie date is not for ir tion without consent of the Forest Service.) RELATICHSHIi OP Y3LLG7 illlE MID DCUGIdS FIR II! TH5 YCLLC7.7 i' Animal Silvical Report Salmon national Forest Herman " January 17, x fc k .1 . ^ILTIGAI P. 1912 HIl- OP YLLICT IINJB 110) DOUGI.Ao PIS II THE Y2LI-C7 i-IHE Tli-5. GSOGR11HY The Yellow ^ine Type occurs north of the .Salmon Piver in a broad irregular "band ei-tending from Pourth of July Creek to the western extremity of the Forest, "below Horse Creel:. This bend is -out by high ridges on v/hich fir and other species occur and "by barren and grass areas. The best stands of yell or; pine occur on Pourth of July, ^r.gonhainraer, Anderson, Hughes, Sage, Scuavr, Boulder, Ctrl and Colson Creeks. Belor? Cols on Creel: the stands are immature. Big Creel: has large bodie" of yellow pine tiraber on its lor/er tributaries end valuable stands occur on lorphyry and Silver Creeks at its heed. The Middle Pork country is not v;eH kno'Tn but it has been estimated that the region has 150,000 H feet of aature follow pine timber. The t3?pe is pure in various places throughout this range, notably in the lorrer, rolling lands of Ditch, Hansack, Scua^T and CXrl Creeks. On most of the Creeks the type is pure on the lov/er southerly slopes. Elevation is a factor in determining the purity o -1- the Yellow Pine ?ype. Per instance, the lower bottoms of Ditch Creel; and Owl Creek have large pure stands the t "become mi;:ed further up the etr earns, although slope, exposure end other factors renBin nmch the same in the case of Ditch Creek. Pcurth of July end Tagonhammer Creeks ere higher then the Creeks ;iust mentioned and pure stands are much less ertensive. At these places, hovrever, the factors of slope and exposure are favorable to Douglas fir. But Silver and lorphyry Greeks have excellent pure stands of yellow pins at elevations greater then en lourtl: cf July end "Tagonhamrier Creels, nemsly at 6,000-6,800 feet (esti- mated) . iDhus it is evident that elevation is not of greatest importance. On IdcL, Fourth of July, •"'asonhammer, Hughes and many other creeks the moderate norther^ slopes shov; strong competition "bo-bT7e en yellow pine and Douglas xi r nhile the southerly erzposures are usually pure yellov? pine. Kais condition is especially noticeable on Hughes Creel: v;here the southerly exposures have pure yellow pine up to elevations of about 5,000 feet; the higher slopes show Douglas fir entering, to predominate at about 5,500 feet; the northerl37 slopes, v;hich are steep, have pure Douglas fir, merging into mixture with lodgepole pine and al- pine species at the higher elevations; while pine and fir com- pete on the lorver moderate slopes facing the north end northeast. The steeper the slope, the harder are conditions for yellow pine, doubtless due in large part, to the 3. eel: of sunlight, for the species persists on very steep slopes the. tf ace the sun. A concrete example of the effect of exposure is found on the ridge "between Hughes Creel: and the west Tori: of Hughes Creel:. Here yellow pine extends to the top of the ridge, occurring on very steep, dry ground, facing sotith. It "becomes more dense ancT vigorous on the moderate slopes near the top. Yellow pine is absent from the steeper part of the northern side of the same ridge and is not important on any part of this exposure. SOIL Mr. Girhreath describes the I' ores t in general as a sea of eruptive roclrs with "islands" of sec" imentary character . He observes the. t yellow pine follows 'one eruptive formations while Douglas fir is most successful on water-laid roclrs. He cites the remarlra"ble isolation of areas of yellow pine on Silver and Porphyry Creelrc at high elevations, in a region V7here the general geologic: 1 character ia reversed; i.e. where erup- tive rocks occur in the small "islands" of the watersheds rjust named. Yellow -?ine occinies these eruptive islrrnds. iDhe neighboring region is made up of Douglas fir and loclgepole stands with c onsi derail e grass areas. It is quite prohaole that the loose tesrfcure of vol- canic soils, favoring rapid drying', is of greater importance than chemical differences in affecting forest composition. The demand of yellow pine lor good drainage is everyvrhere evident Douglas fir comes in wherever there is much moisture, sometimes occurring with spruce as on the low etrearn "banlrs of Ditch Cree": and Little Ditch Creel-::. Moisture conditions are undoubtedly of great importance in determining the composition of the mix- ture of Douglas fir and yello~r pine out the thrifty growth of the species on the well watered c.nd well drained banl-s of ditches as v/ell as on very dry south slopes would seem to indicate that variation of moisture supply is less effective in limiting the tjpe than is variation in sunlight. ' - GBOU1ID C07SH The characteristic herbaceous ground cover of pure stands is heavier than that ox mi::ed stands. Bunch grass, lupine, small sunflower and printed cup are chezactistic her os in the pure type and they are much less plentiful o:.- en- tirely absent in mired stands, due to their demand for abundant sunlight, line grass occurs in half-shaded places throughout the I-orest. The mi;;ed stands usually have considerable brush, notably alder, and willows. Huckleberry and snow drop are common over most of the yellow pine country while ceanothus, cherrj- and service berry occur in opening's and ninebarh, willow alder, aspen, red dogwood, rose, elder and thorn follow the streams and seeps. Cover probably e::erts no considerable influence over reproduction e::ce_'t in barring entrance to the soil for the seeds. Repeated enamploc might be cited, showing that both -•• • .-- yellow pine and Doubles fir are easily able to come up through ceanothus ancL other common shrubs. Squirrels lil;:e to cache their cones in willow an d service berry olunos "out reproduction is usually absent from such places, unlike many of the old down- tree caches. REPRODUCTION - VIRC-I1I S2OTDS. Young growth is more plentiful in mi::ecl virgin stands tlir.n in pure old yellow pine. Hundreds of acres of open yellow pine on Hughes Greet: have little young growth, wliile nired stands in the sane region have abundant reproduction. "his condition is easily attributed to the absence of moisture in the surface soil end to the herbaceous cover that prevents seeds frou entering the ground in open stands. She mirture favors Douglas fir except in places where the forest has "been opened. Here j^ellow pine is able to overshadow the fir by reason of its cuiclr growth. In short yell or; pine seems usually to require an opening in the forest and a breaking of the surface soil as necessary preliminaries to reproduction, while fir is able to grow under shade and makes a continuous advance, which is at a slower rate than in the case of pine. The ...uestion of seed 37 ears in relation to reproduction is open for study. Bearing on this question is the case of F.ancaclr Creel: where wonderful reproduction is coming in under a virgin stand. The trees are mostly 12 years old, corresponding in age with those of the adjoining d-rouse Plat where abundant •• fev •:•• .'• '•: reproduction follov/ed cuttings of 14 to 16 years ago. In both cases the v/orl: of souirrels is evident in the frequent occurrence of 5 to 12 seedlings coming from single spots where cones had "been buried. However, tho squirrels can he.rd.ly "be given credit for such \7holesale seeding as is found on Ransac!-, since the Rr.nsach area is more evenly covered vith 3roung growth than the cutover land of Grouse plat. This difference is attributed to Letter general moisture conditions on the gentle north slopes of Ransacr.. Grouse Plat is rather dry and has little north e:-:- posure. The seedlings are in ^rou'^s at the .~lat, mc.ny of the groups evidently c^miH;]; froni old squirrel caches located in dor.Ti tree tops. It is herd to "believe the. t the small areas of Rausaclc Creek ejid G-rouse Hat T7ere favored with an unusually £cod seed year v/hile the lar^e adjoining country had "barren trees. It is reas enable to suppose the* t uninoTm soil coirclitions in the Ransacli; re-gion v/ere exactly favorable to rep reduction and that those conditions T/ere strictly local. In the unsized stands of little Ditch CreeL, above the sav/aill, small iirs are much more numerous and healthy tlian the pines, the shade being- too dense for the latter species. OUT-OVER. Cuttings seem to be almost invariably follo\7ed by ic.ir to excellent pine reproduction. The most striking in- stances of reproduction following old slashings are found on Grouse Plat, parts of Ditch Creel:, and Sawmill Gulch. In the lirst two cc,ses the trees are most ab undant on rolling land, ''•. - • ' ' • " •' ' : • .'.. ,.'.-.... : • . , - • • pins being much "better representec than fir, except on a few gentle north slopes bordering Grouse Plat. Here the fir is putting up a good fight, lout is hardly lil:ely to drive out the pine, which seeras to have etc reed a little later in this in- c stanie. On Savmill C-ulcli a fe,irly steep north slope has a covering of light "brush that is almost obs censed "by a very dense stand of fir and pine reproduction, following the cutting of a mimed stand some fifteen years ago. It is too early to tell wha t the composition of the resulting forest trill "be, but the pine v/ould seem to have the advantage, judging from comparetive growth rates at other places. In the instances mentioned the reproduction is so dense that the development of the stand T7ill "be retarded tc a marked degree unless some marl:et can "be developed for thinniggs. BUBH3: The influence ox severe "burns on tlie mi::ed type mr,y be seen at the head of Id'otle Ditch Creel; nhere ceoiaotlitis rrith occasional fire coid {\-rou;)s of pine have followed an old fire. This one instance does not indicc.ta nucli, hor/evcr, e::cept the dif fictil:cy the iorest may lic.ve in re-establishing itself. The !£10 fires seen to have been as injurious to fir as to pine yotur; •3'roi.rcli. The bunch ^rasE of open stands serves to carry the fire ac woll or better than the brash and little of rained stands , but "he damage is u.stir.lly much less severe in pure stands. vThether fires have a 5-0 od effect in opening the ground to seed in the - •• • • j'sllov; pine county has not "been determined, "but nothing has appeared to indicate that this is the case. A close study of the Hughes Creel: burns during the coming field season may indicate something as to the effects of burns and r.lso as t o the results of a good seed year (1912) . .SILVICULTURE: Pir does not seem to reach its "best development in rai::ture r-'ith yellorr pine, the trees being stunted and more linby than in pure fir stands. At "best, the fir is inferior to pine, e::cept for rough planting or eizposed uses, such a^ flumes, siphcns and bridge worl:. ?he natural fir country supplies plenty of this rough timber and the effort in th3 yellow pine type should be to restrict the fir as much as possible, in order that the j-ellow pine production may "be at the maximum rate. Out over lands on IP our oh of July, 7c£onhaijoer and Hr^hes Cre-elxs seem to indicate that the real essential factor to the reproduction of the y slier: pine type ic the occvirrenee of cu'ctins' that rn.ll breal: the ground cover. A good seed yecr follor/ing closely on such breaking should almost inovitajl;'- result in good r