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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1963)
Features Sports Medford Tribune .Mm, o ' t P -ti . One of Medford Corporation's hed-boom loaders deftly eases a log on one of Austin King's logging trucks in the Butte Falls truck in 15 minutes compared to the tedious method employed formerly with stationary steam (donkey) engines, winches and Timber By JOE COWLEY Mall Tribune Staff Writer What is the most efficient way to dispose of logging debris? How can timber be harvested wilh the least dam age to the soil and second growth? Does selective log ging really pay? These and niher questions vere answered during the A group of the Industrial Forestry association's tour examine the Columbus Day storm damage from last year. The wind hit the area in strips. Tha vacuum created by the storm lifted trees out of the ground. Numerous access roads made it possible to salvage the downed timber more easily. Pennsylvania Congressman John Sayler, extreme left, flanked by Jack Hanel, Pacific Power and Light biologist, listen to an explanation in Elk Lumber company's Imnaha road area. a7 M'"' it Members of Ihe Wednesday Industrial Forestry tour hear an explanation of slash disposal in the Medford Corporation opera i r,e'Uhe l-t South Fork rd. Considering the time and num her of men required slash burning is a costly process, it was ex- inivl a tinn plained Management Industrial Foresty associa tion's field trip Wednesday through the Prospect and Butte Falls areas. Timber management practices as used by Elk Lumber company and Medford Corporation were viewed by approximately 35 persons. Among those on the trip was John Sayler, Pennsyl li it" V vania congressman, who was visiting Dr. Edwin Durno, Medford physician and ex Oregon congressman. Con gressman Sayler came here following the Republican con vention in Eugene last week. He is ranking senior mem ber of the House interior and insular affairs committee. As Dr. Durno. another member of the field tour party, ex- Practices Reviewed on Tour of Area plained, this committee is concerned with irrigation, forestation and rccre a t i o n major economic developments of the Rogue valley. Sayler had never seen lum ber operations in this area. H i s Pennsylvania district covers Johnstown and Pitts burgh, an area which includes some hardwood lumber in dustry. The congressman was im pressed with the log sizes at Medford Corporations, logging site on the the East South Fork rd. "Congressman, if you think these trees are big, wait until you see our old growth tim ber. This is only second growth," Calvin Smith, for ester with the Industrial For estry association, remarked with a grin. First stop was at the Elk Lumber company's logging site, a partial cut area on 60 per cent slope on Elk Creek near the Oscar Hanson prop erty. Sam Taylor, company wood operations boss, explained the soil is never left completely bare. This allows for repro duction. This, contrasts to all timber removal and ground burning followed by resccd ing never very successful in 'obtaining second growth, Taylor pointed out. Water bars were constructed on the slope to prevent erosion, he . said. Slash is left scattered on the ground to provide pro tective humus later for seed ling trees. A forester in the group pointed out that under Ore- area. Such a rig can load booms. gon law the operator is re sponsible for any fires start ing in the slash until a forest agency such as the forest service releases them from that responsibility. Selective logging leaves enough shade so the slash deteriorates rap idly making it possible to re lease the slash in two or three years instead of the usual eight. Because of the 14,000 acres of slash Elk Lumber company . carries on its lands it has to ' maintain a larger fire de partment than that of the Southwest district of the state department of forestry, it was pointed out. Logging selectively is not necessarily more expensive, foresters said. Because of the many roads through selective timber stands it was possible to start logging the Columbus Day storm windfalls a week after the blow-down. Selective logging also in sures m u 1 1 i p 1 e use of the forests. The number of hunt ers and a large hunting camp in one stand of timber showed the woods were being used extensively for recreation. Taylor noted that "the woods are every man's right," but predicted this may have to be changed. A few hunters destroy signs, shoot locks off gates and their vehicles tend to tear down non-gravelled access roads. The new lightweight motor cycles will carry more people farther into the woods and create a more extensive prob lem in fire hazards and de struction of private property, he said. John Gartman, Elk forester, told how the company will leave stands of timber along stream banks and near water holes. Raised culverts allow for water collection so pump ers can get their water from these watcrholes, Gartman explained. Taylor noted that some re production is not worth sav ing since such puny trees will never grow into merchantable timber. However, "punky trees" are left for possible fu ture timber harvest when pos sible. High stumps have been harvested for peeler cores, it was noted. Showing a clear-cut area with "pummy type" soil, Tay lor said the brush is left in this area so the second growth can be protected until it grows right through it. He told of a plant which sprouts in burned over areas and whose broad leaves protect forest seedlings. Research revealed this seed is impervious to water and requires 150 degree tempera ture as provided by the fringe of a forest fire to make it sprout. It will lay deep in the soil Just waiting for fire to germinate It, Taylor ex plained. Foresters showed piles of slash being burned alongside the road and commented it would be cheaper to bury it, considering all the manpower required for slash burning. How do you log larger trees in thick stands of sec ond grow)) mi 4 the. least dat ft tM 44 V, mm SECTION B Calvin Smith, chahtable tree crop? Elk carefully plotted the logging approacti with rib bon. Then it cut one main skid road with smaller roads joining it at right angles and trees were felled at an angle to the main road. The large tractors never left the main skid road and logs would be pulled to it through the branch roads with two logs using the same "slot." Loggers made more money this way since they didn't have to push the brush away in front of them continually as in the usual logging oper ation. The trees left were culls. But, if needed they could be logged later. The tour group, which in cluded educators, count; court members, and repre sentatives of the Boy Scouts, civil defense, Izaak Walton league and California and Oregon Recreation Develop ment association, watched one of Medco's heel-boom loaders pick up a 14-ton log in its giant pincers swing it over to a logging truck and carefully drop it in position. It piled other logs on top with the pincers carefully nudging each log into posi tion. Such a rig can load a truck in 10 to 15 minutes, it was explained. On the way back, the tour group stopped at a weighing station maintained by Medco. Here a stockpile of logs is kept in case a log truck weighs much lighter than the limit. This station insures a truck carries a maximum le gal load. Here, too, the weigh-station attendant can route and re route trucks to various log -jagST" fipgf j-yps, tHBKK' . mwwi'??- ! ate tSm The gin( aim it fee kflm loader rirflly slides a lop log inln place alnp one weighing 14 Ions as a logging truck pre pees la noto wH. tin pur;tr picked up Ihe logs as gently as jackstraws as Ihe Industrial Forestry association's 35-member tear iritriwd ftvnuUd, MEDFORD, OREGON, forester wilh Iho Inriuctrlal pn, . , v . "ioi.j oMuumiuii, f.jidiiis h iung sienner piece or core drilling from a Douglas fir tree to Congressman John Sayler, R-Pa., who was on th8 our with Ex-Congressman Edwin Durno, Medlord physician. Foresters can tell the growth of a tree by counting and measuring the rings on a piece of core wood. Tom Oliver (right, Timber Products official, listens lo Sam Taylor, woods operation boss wilh Elk Lumber company, tell a humorous incident. Taylor, as chief lorcster for his company, ex plained much of his company's conservation practices. He was assisted by John Gartman Elk forester. landings. Like a railroad switchman he steps out of his shack and flashes a large card with the number of the landing needing trucks. A radio network connects the weigh station with the log dump at Ihe mill and each landing to insure effic ient and swift Uuck-dispatch-ing. A tractor and radio arc now considered the two of the main logging tools now, a SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, lim.3 oi..,, , , forester said. Forestry agen cies seldom close the woods down during hot, dry wealh cr now because they realize the strategically located, radio- dispatched logging equipment can quickly reach the scene of a fire. They now realize such equipment is better fire insurance in the woods than out of it, it was pointed out. It was generally agreed that the forest "is every man's sssi ' Ji PAGES 1 to 10 1 , Forests right" only as long as ha protects that right, be he log gcr or recreationist. Tha local industry is striving to do its part with selective logging and other conserva tion practices. Slash areas need not be eye-sores now; al pointed out on the tour, they can be camp-sites. The tour made a good pre liminary event for American Forest Products Week which starts today. o o 0.3 O
