Anonymous

“ The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and National Grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service to a growing Nation. ”

“ But survival of the fitter does not produce National Forests of the fullest value in our modern day, for not all tree species are useful to man. These and other undesirable forest vegetation fight for their share of soil and water and, if strong enough, crowd out or slow the growth of more desirable trees. Very old trees, like very old people, become afflicted with infirmities. They suffer disease and decadence; unlike people, they seldom die alone, for they threaten an entire forest by inviting infestation by insects and creating conditions favorable to fire. ”

“ The forest manager knows that deciduous trees require some moisture throughout the year, while conifers can survive where it is concentrated mostly in winter snowfall. But this is only the start, for there is also the magic of tree seeds to fathom, interpret, and adapt.
Seeds range in weight from the heavy, large black walnut down to specks almost as fine as sand. Some are borne on wings, so remarkably balanced that they ride the winds for miles. Some are sown only by birds and other animals—if not consumed by them first! Many trees produce seeds every year, others less often or irregularly. ”

“ Each of the tree’s oval branches stands for a renewable resource of the forest—water, timber, forage, wildlife, recreation—and the products and services flowing from them. The trunk represents the Nation and its people who benefit from forest resources. ”

“ In natural areas, old trees and surrounding vegetation are subject only to minimum management so that visitors may read living history as written on the land. In wilderness and wild areas, timber cutting is not allowed. Those primitive lands, 141⁄2 million acres in all, have been dedicated by the Forest Service to wilderness use and are protected in their natural state for those who enjoy extensive foot or horseback travel in serenity and solitude.
Each forest resource and each of the many uses of resources is needed in the pattern of a growing Nation. ”

“ Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is the most valuable and extensive timber tree of the Southwest, ranging in a 300-mile belt from the Gila National Forest of New Mexico to the Kaibab Plateau of the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. It grows just above the sagebrush and pinyon-juniper woodland, requiring less water than most other commercial trees. Tenaciously the seedling withstands drought, often surviving on only the dew of night. A year-old tree will sink its roots 2 feet deep in quest of water, a 4-year-old tree more than twice as deep. ”

“ Through forest management and its implements, including timber cutting, National Forests are cared for in their own best interests and in the interests of man. The most useful trees are perpetuated in their proper environment through silviculture (silva, the forest, and culture, to cultivate) , the science of producing and caring for a forest. ”

“ As they grow, the forest thins naturally; in a century the trees can reach 200 feet in height and may then number about 115 to the acre.
Small trees are hardy and attractive for ornamental planting. With their soft, rich green needles hanging on long after cutting, they are also beautiful and popular Christmas trees.
The wood, yellowish to light red in color, is strong for its fairly light weight, and is resistant to decay. The size of the tree permits the manufacture of lumber remarkably free of knots and other defects, with pieces 60 feet long by 2 feet square. ”

“ In this sturdy, stately tree, tapping may go on for years without seriously affecting the life of the tree or the quality of its wood. In spring, after the sugaring-off season, the maple sends forth myriads of greenish-yellow clustered flowers from which bees obtain pollen and nectar. In early summer seeds mature and fall to the ground on papery wings. Later, in autumn, sugar residue in heart-shaped thin leaves combines chemically with other substances to produce the most striking orange-yellows and reds of the hardwood landscape. ”

“ Those remaining in a stand, shorn of protection from neighboring trees above and interweaving roots below, became victims of blowdown in high winds. Nor would Douglas-fir reproduce itself without benefit of full sunlight. Thus, clear cutting or patch cutting is practiced on blocks of 40 to 100 acres; this enables sunlight to reach the ground and to help the valuable Douglas-fir forest renew itself. Seeding by hand or by airplane and planting nursery-grown seedlings are methods used to reforest these large openings. ”

“ Beneath the canopy of upper limbs and leaves, openings on the forest floor fill with little trees. They shoot up from the ground or sprout from the stumps of old trees which have died or been cut. They test their strength to survive against lesser plants, insects, and animals, for whom they are the sustenance of life. ”

“ It is estimated that the native American forest once covered more than 900 million acres, with extensive borders and many open places where grass, plants, and herbs grew and served as food for deer, elk, wild turkey, and other animals and birds. In our modern managed forests, clear cutting and heavy selection cutting make more food available to animals and birds by opening clearings and creating edges. ”

“ In field and lawn, the shade tree has space to reach upward and outward for its sunlight. As it grows, the 3 limbs spread and the crown becomes broad and rounded. But the forest tree lives close to its neighbors, and in turning to the sun must reach upward. ”

“ Or in other cases, as in the Southwest where virgin timber grows amid a dense understory of young growth and water is in short supply for a growing population, he may consider heavy thinnings to replace deep-rooted trees with grasses and broadleaf herbs, making more water available for human use.
In campgrounds and picnic areas, recreation values are protected by limiting cutting to dead, dying, and diseased trees. ”

“ Of the more than 20 species of commercially important Eastern oak, white oak is truly outstanding. From the earliest days it provided a valuable source of timber for houses, ships, and furniture. Strength, durability, and beauty are the words for white oak. Its uses range from barrels and bridges to flooring and fine cabinets.
22 Exploring the World of Trees
In every National Forest there are places where visitors can see and learn more about America’s trees—the firs, pines, poplars, maples, and oaks already briefly described, and others of the forest’s 175 commercially important species. ”

“ Under favorable conditions individual trees may live a thousand years, grow 10 feet through and 300 feet tall, with furrowed, cinnamon-brown bark 1 foot thick.
Douglas-fir scatters its seed prolifically (with an average of 42,000 seeds per pound taken over its entire range; California has 30,000-35,000, British Columbia 49,000) and young trees grow fast and dense in the mineral soil of 13 the Northwest. At 10 years they are 15 feet high, and in 25 years are twice as tall with sometimes as many as 1,000 trees to the acre. ”

“ Some forests are best managed through selection or partial cutting. In starting harvest of a virgin stand, older trees are cut first. So are the defective and diseased. Younger, healthier trees are encouraged, by this release from competition, to further growth—much like the weeding of a garden. ”

“ The marked nature trail demonstrates how the forest lives and grows, its relationship with other natural resources, and how man supplements Nature’s management. This camp is operated by Wisconsin wood industries in cooperation with the Forest Service as a school primarily for high school and college students and teachers in conservation. ”

“ Maple has been a choice wood since the time of the Romans, who used it for their pikes and lances as well as furniture. Known to the lumber trade as hard maple, the strong, close-grained wood makes firm flooring, lustrous furniture, bowling alleys and pins, and musical instruments. Accidental forms known as curly maple and birdseye maple are prized for fancy-figured furniture and cabinets. ”

“ Uncontrolled logging and fire can strip the land of its porous cover, leaving it unable to absorb water. The disastrous consequences are soil erosion, flash floods, and muddy streams. Thus, as soil conditions require, the forester may plan light to moderate selection cuttings. ”

“ This drive through the heart of the Green Mountains will show managed northern hardwood forest types, including sugar maple.
In addition to these areas, many of the 800 National Forest ranger stations contain displays on local trees. All are designed to show the American people how the resources of the National Forests are cultivated and used to serve the country now and in the future. ”

“ Its lower branches, cut off from sunlight, wither and fall. It develops height, with a long, clean trunk, attractive to the eye and highly suited for the milling of its wood into thousands of useful products. ”

“ This is a 120-acre primeval forest of towering eastern white pine. Parts of the land were presented to the Government by a lumber company and women’s clubs. About 15 miles east of Hearts Content is the Tionesta Scenic Area, nearly 2,000 acres of magnificent virgin hardwoods and eastern hemlock. ”