. A descriptive analysis of Montana's forest resources. Forests and forestry Montana Statistics; Timber Montana Statistics. National Forest lands hold the principal influence on Montana sawlog harvest. Since 1962, annual allowable harvests have increased from about 750 million board feet to about 900 million board feet, largely because of changes in utilization standards. About 60 percent of this cut is planned for the Kootenai, Flathead, and Lolo National Forests in western Montana. Actual harvest also increased on National Forests and peaked in 1969 at 800 million board feet—about 95 percent
. A descriptive analysis of Montana's forest resources. Forests and forestry Montana Statistics; Timber Montana Statistics. National Forest lands hold the principal influence on Montana sawlog harvest. Since 1962, annual allowable harvests have increased from about 750 million board feet to about 900 million board feet, largely because of changes in utilization standards. About 60 percent of this cut is planned for the Kootenai, Flathead, and Lolo National Forests in western Montana. Actual harvest also increased on National Forests and peaked in 1969 at 800 million board feet—about 95 percent of the allowable harvest (fig. 20). Since that time actual harvest has declined, because of changes in the classifi- cation of forest land and because manpower and budgets have not been adequate to cover the special planning, sales administration, and control required. Also, logging contractors have been reluctant to invest in expensive, advanced equipment to harvest lower value timber, particularly because few such systems have been thoroughly tested in Montana. Montana's sawtimber resource tends toward small-diameter stems--one-third of the sawtimber volume is under 13 inches diameter breast high (). Diameters are smaller than in West Coast States, but larger than in the central and southern Rocky Mountains. The timber resource is generally found on steep ground, and much of it is overmature with large amounts of cull and dead material. These factors have been a handicap in utilizing the timber resource. However, the capability for logging steep slopes has been improving, and in some localities markets for dead material are rapidly developing. Recent wood shortages and environmental concerns have stimulated research and management activities aimed at using more material formerly wasted. Increasing the harvest of nonsawlog material will depend on the avail- ability of markets and costs of transportation. Posts, poles, and similar products have historically used only a
Size: 4315px × 579px
Photo credit: © Central Historic Books / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionameri, bookcollectionbiodiversity
