THE USE OF LOGGED-OFF LAND

H. B. Howell

MILLIONS of acres in the Pacific Coast States are timberlands which man and fire stripped of trees and left desolate. How to use this land well has been a challenge and a problem for a long time a problem that the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station and three other agencies started to solve in 1936. To study the seeding, grazing, and management of logged-off and burned-over lands, the station leased a fairly typical area in northwestern Oregon. The methods of procedure and the first findings are of wide application and value.

But before considering them one should know something about logged-off lands and the coastal counties of Oregon and Washington.

Timber once occupied most of this area. In the past 75 years the agricultural land now in production has been cleared of the forest growth with heavy expenditures of time and money. These agricultural lands now consist largely of the valley floors and more accessible low-lying foothills. The prom portion of lands cleared of native growth is still low; the rest is in timber or logged-off or burned over.

Along the coast of Oregon and Washington most of the virgin stands of timber have already been logged. The original stands of timber consisted mostly of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, spruce, western red cedar, with smaller amounts of other species. These trees were mostly large, ranging from 3 to 8 feet or more in diameter. The logging methods used on most of the area, until recently, were of the high-lead type, quite destructive of the smaller trees. After the logging of an area was completed, generally the slashing everything that was left was burned.

About 95 percent of the agriculture of the coastal area is of the grassland type and is utilized largely by dairy cattle and to a lesser extent by beef cattle and sheep. Some grain, principally oats, is grown for hay but very little for threshing. Farmers are increasing permanent grass seedings for pasture, silage, and hay.

The production of grass and legume seed has been a regular crop for the past 15 years and is increasing in importance. The principal grass seeds grown include Astoria bent, Seaside bent, Chewings fescue, and Lotus Major or big trefoil.

Other agricultural activities in the coastal area include poultry raising, bulb growing, cranberry growing, and fur farming.

Practically all of the soils of the coastal area are acid in reaction and of fairly open texture. In their native state they are rather high in organic matter, although on the logged-off lands this organic matter is destroyed many times in the "slashing" burn or subsequent fires. Surface erosion is slight on these open soils but leaching due to the heavy rainfall is serious and maintenance of soil fertility is a major problem. Acidity varies from pH 4.7 to pH 5.5. The principal soil type is Melbourne silt loam, with some Olympic silt loam.

The topography generally is rough and broken, except for the valley floors. In many places the Coast Range reaches almost to the ocean.

The altitude ranges from sea level to about 2,000 feet; a few peaks rise to 3,500 feet. The values for other than grassland agriculture are chiefly for timber production.

The climate favors grassland agriculture. Rainfall on the 800-mile coast line of Oregon and Washington ranges from about 50 inches to 130 inches annually and would average about 75 inches. Most of this comes in winter months; in most areas the average precipitation in July, August, and early September is less than an inch a month not enough to support maximum production. Temperatures are never extremely high or low. Temperatures seldom exceed 90 F. and generally do not go much below 20 . The frost-free period varies from 200 to 250 days.

The possible use of logged-off or burned-over lands has attracted farmers from the time of the earliest settlers, who ranged a few head of dairy cows on the native feeds on these lands as they slowly broke or cleared a farm out of the forest and stumps. This was followed in later years by seeding chaff from the haymow, then by various burn mixtures prepared by seedsmen and made up too often mostly of light seeds, weeds, and short-lived grasses. Later, seedings were made of timothy, rye-grasses, and white clover. On the newly burned areas such seedings produced very well for a few years but then fell off, and weeds and brush became the dominant cover.

The real problem of these logged-off lands emerged about 1935, when assessed valuations fell rapidly in many coastal counties in the face of increasing demands for roads, schools, relief, and other purposes. Much of the land paid taxes on an assessed value of $200 to $300 an acre before logging; after logging, it was allowed to become tax-delinquent, and thousands of acres came into the ownership of the counties through tax foreclosures.

These lands for the most part grow another crop of timber in 75 or 100 years if fire is controlled. Fire is the greatest enemy of the reproduction of trees. It is feared alike by the forester, farmer, soil conservationist, and city dweller. Fire under normal weather conditions is usually stopped by the efficient protection service provided by National, State, and local agencies. But fire under abnormal conditions of low humidity and high wind can be stopped only by changes in weather conditions. The Tillamook fire of 1933, which burned billions of feet of timber, was such a fire. Much of the Tillamook area burned again in 1939, and again in 1945. Very little natural reproduction occurs in areas of repeated burns.

Those who work on the problem of grasses on these logged-off lands feel that one of the major things that can be done to prevent such fires is to have grassland strips or firebreaks 1 to 2 miles wide, fenced, and closely grazed. These grassed areas should run north and south, because the bad fires occur during periods of east winds and low humidities. Such seedings of grass should be made on the lands of better topography and spaced from 10 to 25 miles apart. Besides assisting in fire control, these strips would furnish forage for livestock and develop taxable income. The seedings if properly made would also help control bracken fern, which frequently invades areas repeatedly burned.

Northrup Creek

For its study of these problems, the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station leased 1,280 acres which had come into the ownership of the Clatsop County Court after it had been logged. The land is in the eastern part of Clatsop County on Northrup Creek in the Nehalem River watershed. The soil, mostly Melbourne silt loam, resembles most of the forest soils. The acidity varies from pH 4.8 to pH 5.4. The contour is rough and broken; two-thirds of the seeded area has a slope of 30 percent or more. The annual precipitation averages about 75 inches, but from June to mid-September rainfall is less than 1 inch a month.

The timber crop, harvested at various times between 1923 and 1936, consisted largely of Douglas-fir and western redcedar 2 to 8 feet in diameter. At the time of seeding to grass, approximately 14 percent of the ground area was covered by logs and stumps, so that mechanical methods of seeding and applications of commercial fertilizers and lime were impractical.

In the fall of 1936 about 500 acres was seeded to various mixtures; some 40 acres was seeded in 1-acre tracts with separate species and mixtures. The Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, Clatsop County Court, the Oregon State Board of Forestry, and the Soil Conservation Service entered into cooperative arrangements for the experiments. The management of the project is under the experiment station.

The entire area was burned over on September 24, 1936. On approximately two-thirds of the area this was the first fire. The rest had been burned in 1928.

A heavy ash on the ground made the seedbed light and fluffy. Seedings were made from October 20 to November 11, 1936 about a month too late, according to later experience. At the time of seeding it was felt that the principal problem would be to get and maintain a sod cover as rapidly as possible, so four main mixtures were seeded; the sod formers were the only variable. These sod formers were Astoria bent-grass, Highland bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and a mixture of these three.

The general mixture was made up of : Common ryegrass, 4 pounds; perennial ryegrass, 3 pounds; orchard-grass, 2 1/2 pounds; Chewings fescue, 2 pounds; timothy, 2 pounds; white clover, 2 pounds; alsike clover, 1 pound; Highland bent or Astoria bent, 1 pound, or the Kentucky bluegrass, 2 pounds.

This mixture was seeded at the rate of 10 to 12 pounds an acre by hand. The seed cost $1.60 an acre; labor for seeding cost 40 cents an acre. A man seeded 10 acres in 8 hours.

All grasses and legumes in the mixtures were seeded in individual acre plots in the nursery; in addition, acre plantings were made of winter bluegrass, Alta fescue, meadow foxtail, superior reed canarygrass, Akaroa strain New Zealand orchardgrass, creeping red fescue, hop clover, and hairy vetch.

Good stands of all the grasses were obtained, but most of the legumes seeded were killed by frosts.

In 1938 plot seedings were made of broadleaf birdsfoot trefoil, big trefoil, sub clover, and burnet. Many plantings of the legumes have been made since.

About 700 acres were put under fence in 1937, and later divided into fenced pastures of 40 to 80 acres. In 1937 the pastures were grazed by cattle, and since 1938 by cattle, sheep, and goats. Some pastures are grazed exclusively by sheep, others exclusively by cattle, and others by both cattle and sheep at various times. Rotation and deferred grazing is practiced. Goats are used for brush control as needed.

The annual grazing season is about 8 months for cattle and 9 months for sheep; supplemental feeding is necessary the rest of the year. The cattle operation, with grade Herefords, is on the basis of the sale of weaner calves in the fall, with replacement heifer calves retained to maintain the herd. The sheep operation, with grade Romneys, is largely on the basis of the sale of wool and yearlings. We try to utilize most of the forage without overgrazing.

Some pastures are allowed to reseed each year. The number of cattle carried on the 700 fenced acres has averaged 50 to 60 cows and their calves, 20 to 25 yearling heifers, and the necessary bulls. Calf crops have averaged 85 percent weaner calves in the fall. An average of 150 to 175 ewes with lambs are carried, about 100 yearlings, and the necessary rams. Lamb crops average about 90 percent. About 50 head of Angora goats keep brush down.

During the 10 years that have passed since seeding, a number of observations have been made on the ability of the various species to survive under the prevailing high rainfall and the acid soil conditions.

In general, the yield of forage has gradually decreased because of a reduction in soil fertility, due partly to the dying out of some of the shorter lived grasses that originally produced higher yields and partly to failure of the original legume seedings. The legume seeding failed because of the original loose-ash seedbed, fall instead of spring seeding, and lack of adaptability of white and alsike clover.