Figure 31. Forest Ranger with his pack horses travelling over his district. Meadow Creek, foot of Mt. Wilson, Montezuma National Forest, Colorado
Investigations Dealing with Poisonous Plants and Predatory Animals. In coöperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry the study of poisonous plants and the means for reducing the losses from them has been undertaken. The death camas, the lupines, the larkspurs, some of the wild cherries, locoweed, and practically all species of zygadenus are plants that have been found to cause death among stock. While the handling of stock to avoid the poison areas can eliminate the losses to a small extent, it has been found that the most expeditious remedy is in digging out and destroying the poisonous plants. On the Stanislaus National Forest in California, a cattle range of about 14,000 acres, containing about 67 acres of larkspur, was cleared of this weed at a cost of about $695. The average loss of cattle in previous years had been about 34 head. Following the eradication of the larkspur the loss was 4 head. The net saving was valued at $1,800. Similar operations are conducted on other Forests.
The work of the destruction of predatory animals has been transferred to the hands of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Formerly special Forest Service hunters were detailed to hunt the animals, and these men used to kill about 4,000 a year. The Biological Survey, however, still furnishes traps, ammunition and poison for the destruction of predatory animals to Forest officers, who do this work in connection with their regular duties. Bears, coyotes, mountain lions, lynxes, wildcats, and wolves are the animals that do the most of the damage. What makes the problem a difficult one is that the wolf and the coyote, the two species which do the greatest damage to game and domestic stock, are transient visitors on the Forests which frequent the Forests only when game and stock is most abundant. They are bred, born, and spend the greater portion of their lives in the foothills outside of the National Forests. Under these conditions the animals killed on the Forests are quickly replaced by others from outside. For this reason the matter was handed over to the Biological Survey, which will destroy these animals throughout the public domain and the results will be much more permanent and effective.
Besides the investigations carried on by the Forest Experiment Stations many studies are carried on dealing with forest products. The purpose of the Branch of Forest Research of the Forest Service is to promote the most profitable and economical utilization of forest products by means of experiments and investigations. The work of the Branch falls into three divisions: National Forest utilization, the work of the Forest Products Laboratory, and industrial investigations.
National Forest Utilization Experiments. The work of the proper utilization of the products of the National Forests is under the supervision of the District Forester and the Assistant District Forester in charge of Forest Products in the districts. Only three out of the seven districts have such an organization. These men have charge of all problems connected with the use and marketing of National Forest timber, the construction of improvements on the Forests, and related administrative questions. The following problems are included: studies of existing industries, covering methods and costs of manufacture, grades, and other specifications of manufactured products and the prices obtained for such products; the collection of market prices, mill scale studies to determine grades and overrun, and investigations in kiln drying; waste in existing industries and closer utilization possible through improved methods; new uses for National Forest species through wood preservation; introduction of industries which will result in closer or more profitable utilization, as the manufacture of pulp and paper, wood distillation, turpentining, and the manufacture of secondary wood products; overcoming prejudices against particular species or classes of material; general questions of timber supply and demand, markets and freight rates; advice and assistance in the construction of National Forest improvements, particularly in the use of wood preservatives; advice and assistance to persons on any matter connected with the utilization of National Forest timber; the preparation of publications upon subjects covered by investigations which have practical or scientific value; and demonstrations of methods or processes developed by the Forest Service for the benefit of local communities.
The presence on a Forest of large quantities of unmarketable timber, or dead timber, or of material not used in current sales would mean an investigation of methods for its utilization. Local problems affecting wood-using industries in manufacturing or marketing timber, such as sap stain in lumber, difficulties in seasoning lumber, and the effect of different silvicultural methods upon the average grades of lumber manufactured, are also taken up with the Products experts at the District Office. Also in the construction of National Forest improvements the Forest Supervisor may need assistance in applying wood preservatives to telephone poles, fence posts, and other material. Sometimes timber treating plants are erected, if necessary, to treat not only material used on the National Forests, but also material used by local residents near a Forest.
One of the important problems which confronts the Office of Products in the various National Forest districts is the utilization of the so-called low grade or inferior tree species. The terms "high grade" and "low grade" or "inferior," as used at present, merely indicate the lumberman's valuation of the timber from his point of view and according to his standards of value. If a certain species will not produce clear lumber, which is straight-grained, easily worked, and not subject to splitting or warping, it is at once classed as inferior. But the Forest Products specialists each year are making progress in demonstrating that wood, in order to be of marketable value, does not necessarily need to be cut in the form of lumber. It is also being shown that proper methods of drying lumber make possible the use of inferior woods for lumber and manufacturing purposes.
The Office of Forest Products in California has made considerable progress in overcoming the lumberman's prejudices against the inferior species in the California National Forests and the species are beginning to find wider use and to command better prices. The discovery that Incense cedar was valuable for making lead pencils caused the price of this so-called "inferior" species to jump from an average of $10 per thousand feet in logs f. o. b. cars to as high as $16. White fir, a species religiously avoided by lumbermen in the woods, was found to have special properties which make it very valuable as a pulpwood. One mill in California now uses annually upwards of 30,000 cords of it for making paper. Lodgepole pine has been shown to have a great value for telephone and telegraph poles when treated with preservatives. It was found to be 12 per cent. stronger than Western Red cedar, the standard pole timber, has a more desirable taper and can be shipped for less money. Many other cases could be cited from this and other National Forest Districts.
Forest Products Laboratory Experiments. The work of the Forest Products Laboratory includes investigations on the mechanical properties of wood; the physical and chemical characteristics and properties of wood; air seasoning and artificial drying of wood; agencies destructive to wood; wood preservation; wood distillation; production of naval stores; and the production of pulp and paper and other chemical products of wood. This work is carried on at the Laboratory and sometimes in coöperation with the National Forests and district experts. At the Laboratory there is a director and a large staff of technical and scientific men, such as chemists, physicists, and engineers, each of whom is an expert in his particular line of work.