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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1959)
12 MAIL TRIBUNE, MedforJ, Oregon, Sunday, January 23, 193 Medford BLM Reports Successful Year During 1958 The Medford district of the bureau of land management has reported a successful year during 1958. For timber sales, an all-time high in terms of volume was marketed last year. The total volume disposed of in 1958 was 193,587,000 board feet, for which was paid a record price of $4,963,682.53. The next highest calendar . year on record in the Medford " office was 1957 when 114,215, 000 board feet was sold for a contract bid price of $3,024, 113.70. On a fiscal year basis, that is from July, 1956, to July, 1957, about 123 million board feet was marketed, the previous high 12-month pe riod. Latler Part of Year In the latter part of calen dar year 1958, in particular, buyers of BLM timber seemed to be interested in bidding. The average price for stump age in 1958 was $24.98 com pared to an average appraised price of $21.30. Percentage wise, BLM buyers paid 17 per cent above the appraised price, with most of this active bidding being in the last half of the calendar year. Cutting timber on BLM lands in calendar year 1958 was high, as indicated by the rate of collections, which tot aled $3,874,589 97, or about $1,000,000 under the contract price. The comparison shows that the rate of cut follows closely behind the rate of tim ber sales. Payments to O and C coun ties came from the yearly col lections. Until the money is collected, payments cannot be made to the counties, or funds distributed in accordance with the O and C fund distribution formula set by congress by the O and C Act of August, 1937. Minor Products Sales from minor forest products from the Medford district BLM lands in calendar year 1958 was insignificant as to volume and value. Sales of this material totaled $475, and type of material sold was huckleberry brush and items of like nature. Medford District forestry personnel believe that minor forest sales activities should increase in the future. Pres ently hardwood sales are al most non-existent except for fuel wood. On Medford dis trict BLM lands there is a large acreage of hardwood timber, and personnel expect that activity in the minor for est products field will be con siderably increased. Another important item that always takes considerable time is processing timber cut ting trespasses. The end-of- year record shows that 653, 000 board feet of timber was cut' in trespass in the Medford district. Collections received for timber cut in trespass tot aled $18,134.30- A sizeable total of person nel time is expended in tim ber trespass work, in that it involves timber cutting boun dary line running and similar types of survey work and ap praisal analysis. Medford dis trict records showed an un collected balance of $169,686 on timber cutting trespasses at the end of the year. Most of these cases are in the process of being completed and it is expected that most of this value will be collected Land Rent Activity The BLM also noted that land rent activity was moder ately heavy in calendar year 1958, particularly rentals in the form of special land use permits, grazing leases, rights of-way fees, road use fees and fees of like nature. Total col lections for the rents of land for calendar year 1958 was $31,005.63. The number of active graz ing leases at the end of the year was 184, covering acre age totaling 431,913, or ap proximately one-half of the Medford district. The number of stock grazed on BLM lands during calendar year 1958 was 33,111. There were 46 spe cial land use permits of rec ord at the end of the year. A major activity of import ance on BLM lands in calen- f dar year 1958 was reforesta tion. Most the funds for re forestation were made avail able by the O and C counties from receipts allocated from an allotment formula. Scarification The Medford district spent $o7,410 30 on getting forest land ready for tree planting and tree seeding. Scarification of areas is a means of eradi cating the brush and other un desirable vegetation from the forest land area and making it possible to plant or seed. During the year, 1,878 acres were scarified at a cost of $51,075.30. Likewise, 1,246 acres were cleared of all fire killed snags thus making the areas ready for tree planting and seeding. Snags were then cleared at a cost of $5.08 per acre. A total of 2,258 acres of BLM lands were planted last year at a cost of $16.32 per acre. In addition, 1,776 acres were spot-seeded to ponderosa pine or broadcast seeded to either pine or other tree seeds at a cost of $6.94 per acre. Expended on All Phases The Medford district ex pended $49,188.60 on all phases of reforestation in cal endar year 1958- Most of the work was contracted to the lowest bidder, with a good number of contractors coming from other parts of Oregon; one or two of the contractors were local people. In addition to the contract planting or seeding by use of appropriated funds, 807 acres were planted under terms of BLM timber sale contracts during the year, and 147 acres were seeded. Reforestation is assisting nature, hence is an important function of forestry work in that it assures the regenera tion of a new crop for future generations. Another important function carried on by BLM foresters last year was the inventory program. A review of district program goals and target dates at this time shows that the district is somewhat ahead of schedule. Classification Completed Classification of forest cov er types and condition classes was completed on Nov. 7, 1958. The inventory includes all 817,752 acres of O and C land and 98,445 acres of pub lic domain land in the Med ford district. During calendar year 1958 approximately 500 permanent sample plots were established on BLM lands. Additional plots required to provide con tinuous timber inventory data will be established during the first few months of 1959. Compilation of type maps and the acreages of the vari ous timber types will be com pleted early in 1959, after which new annual allowable cuts can be computed. Elec tronic computing machines will be used in tabulating in ventory data New Allowance Cuts It is anticipated that all field and office work will be completed in time for new al lowable cuts to be declared by July 1. An interim allow able cut, based on preliminary invenory data, was announced on July 3, 1958. As a result, the Medford district's allow able cut was increased from 116,700,000 board feet per" year to 169,900,000 board feet per year of O and C timber, plus 6,000,000 board feet of public domain timber. The only access road under construction in calendar year 1958 was the West Fork Ev ans Creek road, which is un der contract to Lewis River Logging company. When the road is completed it will open up about 1 billion board feet of timber. The timber is owned only partially by the govern ment. Road maintenance is be coming more and more im portant as larger forested areas are opened for timber sale activities. Presently the BLM Medford district main tains a bureau of public roads maintenance crew stationed at Galice. The crew maintains about 100 miles of road, pri- Improvements of Pedestrian Safety Program Are Suggested Medford officials received participation in the American the city's report card for its 1957 pedestrian safety pro gram from Oregon State Mo tor association representatives at city hall last Tuesday, and learned its record was "poor." The report, with recom mendations for improvement, was based on 1957 pedestrian accident figures .and assess ment of the city's safety activ ities. It stems from Medford's LOOK WHAT GAS IS DOING NOW! modern Gas dryer costs you less than any other to install... use. and maintain! At our low rate, each load you dry costs only pennies A fast, efficient, modern Gas dryer could really make short work of wash day at your house for very little money. It would cost less to install no problems, with Gas. And it costs far less to use. Gas always does. Pennies less per load dollars less per month a great deal, over the years. Saves wear and tear on your clothes, too which also saves you money. And you save one more important way. What can wear out about that clean blue flame? TOfjf CALIFORNIA-PACIFIC W UTILITIES COMPANY rxYrrj for tlis lops in TV entertainment watch "Playhouse 90" CBS-TV Automobile association's 1957 national pedestrian program contest. Rudy Tetreault, district manager for the OSMA, pre sented the report to the city Compared lo Other Cities Medford's score was based on comparison with 535 other cities with comparable popu lation. If" received 36 points out of a possible 100, while the established standard was 67 and the leading city, Mon roe, N.C., received 94. Among significant recom mendations included on the report were these: Injured pedestrians should be required to file a complete report so their opinions as to what caused the accident can be considered. The city should enforce its pedestrian traffic laws, start ing with an educational pro gram of several weeks' dura tion. A study should be made on the need for additional police men or adult crossing guards at school crossings. Engineering Program A well-rounded engineering program with attention to maintenance of existing pe destrian facilities and con struction of new facilities should be undertaken. The Medford Safety council should meet often enough to be active in promoting pedes trian safety. Unofficial organiz a t i o n s should be enlisted to help sup port and carry out the official pedestrian program. Their services should be utilized "to a great" extent." Elementary schools should devote at least one hour a week to teaching traffic safety. Public Playgrounds The. need for increasing the number of supervised public playgrounds should be stu died: All high schools should of fer driver education with be-hind-the-wheel instruction for every student. Those in charge of public information for pede s t r i a n safety should seek to get busi nesses in the city to sponsor newspaper advertisements on safety. Pedestrian messages on pos ters, calendars, cards, leaflets, bumper banners and the like should be used to a greater extent. Special projects, such as a "Pedestrian Safety day" or other events or campaigns, should be planned. EFFECTIVE ALARM Syracuse, N.Y. -(UPD- A bur glar alarm, easily routed an intruder trying to force his way into a liquor warehouse. The burglar was drilling a hole through a wooden door at the rear of the buildine when the bit struck the wires attached to the alarm, sent a small charge through the thief and started te alarm. 8,061 Children Counted in Census A total of 8,061 children between 4 and 19 years old live in Medford school dis trict 549C, according to the 1958 census report conducted by the school. The figure represents an increase of 236, or 3.02 per cent, over the 1957 census of 7,825. In the district, there are 67 pair of twins, 18 mixed, 26 girls and 23 boys, the report showed. There ar 123 mar ried persons, which includes 108 girls, and 15 boys. Four children have birth days on Feb. 29. Foreign birthplaces repre sented in the census report include England, The Nether lands, China, Indonesia, Mexi co, Germany, Norway, Po land, Portugal, Austria, France, Siam, Japan, Argen tina, Guatemala, and Canada. CRIMES CONFUSE HIM Chicago -(UPD- Joseph Pancz ko, alleged professional bur glar already under charges of falsifying. his driver's license application, today explained why he missed a court date Wednesday for arraignment on a burglary charge. "I just got confused with so many cases pending," he said. Wargrave, England -(UPD-Tljames river floods have forced local merchant Tony Shaw to make his deliveries in rowboats. Shaw sells fish. a warm friend . . . MOBILHEAT - The "OIL TO BURN" ESTABLISHED 1896 Expert B'jPTl burner serv,ce marily in the northwest part of Josephine county. It is an ticipated that another road maintenance crew may be needed in the Jackson county area. Access Roads Planned Several access roads are be ing planned for the Medford district, and to get the roads ready for construction, one road location survey crew has been busy throughout the en tire year of 1958. Two mining engineers were kept busy examining mining claims in the Medford district during the last year. Mining activity seems to be on the in crease as compared with for mer years- In order to make access roads ready for construction following surveys, easements over private property on which the road will be lo cated must be secured. One man has been keeping busy negotiating for easements dur ing calendar year 1958. Twenty-four easements were ac quired, covering 15 miles of road area. 947 Acres Burned District records disclose that 947 acres of BLM forest lands were burned in calendar year 1958. The estimated damage to timber on this acreage tot als $12,600. There was a total of 84 fires in the year on BLM land in the district. Most were lightning-caused; only about 14 per cent of the total were man-caused. Blister rust activity was confined to ribes eradication work in the Josephine county area. Conservation Topic Of Television Show George A. Loftin, super visor of the Sams Valley Bea gle Soil Conservation district. and Robert R. Lonzway, of the Soil Conservation Serv ice, appeared on a Portland television station last week. They presented the subject "Conservation Plan With Streambank Protection" on station KGW-TV. The value of conservation plans which embrace the op eration of the farm's conserva tion needs was discussed by Loftin and Lonzway. The major conservation practice of streambank pro tection on the G. W. Jess farm along the Rogue river near Eagle Point was used as an example. They pointed out that Jess has 1,650 feet of frontage protected with about 2,500 cubic yards of gravel covered with 1,650 cubic yards of large angular rock. The top of the bank is seeded to grass. . Seniors Plan Benefit At Eagle Point High Eagle Point -The Eagle Point High school seniors will present a benefit variety show for the Teen-Age-Program for the March of Dimes in the high school auditorium Wednesday, Jan. 28. The show, "Senior Follies," will start at 7:30 p.m. Pro ceeds from the show will be forwarded to the March of Dimes. Doctors believe a low fat content may reduce many cur rent heart ailments. America! Inadequate high-. way system involves a loss of about $3 billion annually to the public in lost time, mis haps and other factors. About 89 per cent of th deaths and 35 per cent of the injuries resulting from motor vehicle accidents occur on Sat urdays and Sundays. HOW r-i Q3 How about a low-cost Home Improvement loan from us? We lend for all sound modernization and re pair projects. Come in: Let's talk about yours! Your funds are insured here up to $10,000.00 by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Your savings earn interest at 2V2o semi-annually. Interest on three years certificates 0B33O 1109 COURT STREET MEDFORD OPEN MONDAY NIGHT UNTIL 9:00 P.M. MANN'S IS A CHARGE-PLATE STORE REPEAT OF SlILILOUT Special Purchase Manufacturer's Close Out O ALL SEASON FABRICS (Royal, Tweed, Taupe, Beige, Gray, Black) O BEAUTIFUL SHADES (Royal, Light Blue, Taupe, Beige, Gray, Black) O LATEST STYLES Misses' Sizes 6-16 ONLY i J tzA j ' II if Apty 4 1 w lOO! MEDFORD FUEL CO. Court & McAndrews Tel. SP 2-21 1 1 Medford, Oregon Phone SP 2-5284 GREEN STAMPS,
