U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
BUREAU OF FORESTRY—BULLETIN No. 60.

GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester.
REPORT
    of an  
EXAMINATION OF A FOREST TRACT IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.
FRANKLIN W. REED,

FOREST ASSISTANT, BUREAU  OF FORESTRY.

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT   PRINTING   OFFICE. 1905.

BUREAU OF FORESTRY.
GIFFORD pinchot, Forester.

FOREST MEASUREMENTS, overton W. price, in Charge.

FOREST MANAGEMENT, thomas H. sherrard, in Charge.

FOREST RESERVES,frederick E. olmsted,  in Charge.

 DENDROLOGY, George B. Sudworth  in Charge.

FOREST EXTENSION, EitXEtsT A. sterling, .in Charge.

FOREST PRODUCTS, william L. hall, in Charge.

RECORDS, james B. adams,   in Charge.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
U. S. department of agriculture,
bureau of forestry, Washington, D. C.,
February 14, 1905.

sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled "Report on an Examination of a Forest Tract in Western North Carolina," by Franklin W. Reed, Forest Assistant in the Bureau of Forestry, and to recommend its publication as Bulletin No. 60 of the Bureau of Forestry.

The map and six plates accompanying the bulletin are necessary for its proper illustration.

Very respectfully,  Gifford  Pinchot, Forester.
Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture.

CONTENTS

Introduction.......................................................         .....  7
The problem involved..............7
Outline of data collected ..........................8
General description of the tract ........................8
Area and location .........................      8
Topography, geologic formation, and soil .......................  8
Clearings and settlements.............................................      9
The forest.......................................     10
Area........................................................... 10
Types................................................10
Hemlock bottom.................................................             10
Chestnut slope ...................................................             12
Sugar maple slope ..............................................             14
Mountain........................................................                 16
Summary of types....................................................       17
Yield of timber ......................................................          17
Lumbering ..............................................................         20
Fires........................................21
Market and transportation facilities....................           21
Recommendations....:.............................          22
General................. ............. ...........             22
Roads........................................       23
Cutting..........  ...............  ...........         23
Hemlock bottom................................................              23
Chestnut slope...................................................              25
Sugar maple slope................................................            26
Rules applicable to all types ......................................     27
Other sources of revenue....................................             28
Fire and game protection ...................................             28
Conclusion...............................................                        29

ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATES

I. The forest surrounding Grandfather Mountain ..........". Frontispiece.
II.  Fig. 1.—Topography and forest from Linville Valley to West Fork Valley.
      Fig. 2.—A hemlock bottom .........................   12
III. Fig. 1.—Chestnut slope type in upper Grandmother Creek Valley.
      Fig. 2.—Group of cucumber poles in chestnut slope type ...  12
IV. Sugar maple slope on Elk Creek.   
      Fig. 1.—Large cucumber tree and hemlock.
      Fig. 2.—Group of white ash and bass wood ...24
V.  Fig. 1.—Hemlock bottomland converted to meadow.    Cranberry, N. C.
      Fig. 2.—Hemlock bottomland two years after logging..24
VI. Fig. 1.—Chestnut logs at the mill.   
      Fig. 2.—Chestnut slope type after careless logging .......................        24
Topography and forest types of the Linville tract. 6

REPORT ON AN EXAMINATION OF A FOREST TRACT IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.
INTRODUCTION.
THE   PROBLEM  INVOLVED.

The property with which this report deals belongs to the Linville Improvement Company, whose main purpose is to develop it as a summer resort. Although the forest is valued more for the indirect revenue to be derived from its beauty than for any immediate returns from the sale of timber, yet the owners propose to obtain some immediate revenue by selling timber or other forest products, if operations can be carried on in such a way that the aesthetic value of the forest will not be impaired and provision can be made for the production of future crops.

The problem is mainly a silvicultural one, but it involves also a consideration of market conditions and of the demand, both present and future, for the various kinds of wood growing upon the tract.

The conclusion drawn by the Bureau of Forestry from a study on the ground is that logging on a large scale, whether or not it would impair the productive capacity of the forest, would greatly impair its beauty. On the other hand, logging in a small way, with a portable sawmill, properly supervised by a trained forester, could be carried on so that the silvical condition of the forest would be improved, while the operations would be so concealed from the general view that the aesthetic features would not be harmed.

So long as facilities for the transportation of timber are as inade­quate as at present, and stumpage prices correspondingly low, the finan­cial results from conservative lumbering will not be high. There is a probability, however, that in the near future a railroad will be built across the tract. If this is done, stumpage values will rise and species hitherto considered worthless will become salable. In consequence, the opportunities for conservative lumbering at a profit will be greatly improved. The present report therefore takes into consideration all these possibilities.
7

A FOREST TRACT IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.
OUTLINE   OF   DATA   COLLECTED.

An important part of the field study consisted in the running of valuation surveys, in order to collect data as a basis for the forest map, for the computation of the stand of merchantable timber, and to serve as guides in the study of the silvical conditions of the forest. Lines were run on compass courses east and west across the tract, at intervals of half a mile. As a line was chained off, all trees 5 inches in diameter and upward breast-high, within a distance of half a chain (2 rods) on each side of the line, were measured and tallied, each species being kept separate. Thus for every 10 chains in length the stand of trees on 1 acre was determined. Separate tally sheets were used for each acre. During the progress of this work the forest was divided into four types, described later, and the measurements taken on each were kept separate. A total of 604 acres, or 3.8 per cent of the whole tract, was thus surveyed.

The forest map opposite is a combination of the topographical map of the United States Geological Survey and of the boundary sur­vey map of Linville Park. The forest types were plotted from the data obtained from the valuation surveys. The area of each type was measured on the map with a planimeter.

The tables to be found at the end of the description of each forest type, which give the average number of trees per acre of each species, classified according to diameter breast-high, were computed from the valuation surveys.

The yield of merchantable timber (Table VI) was computed from the stand on each type and the volume tables for each species. The volume tables were obtained from the measurements of felled trees.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TRACT AREA   AND  LOCATION.

The tract, with an area of about 16,000 acres, lies in the mountains of western North Carolina, in the counties of Mitchell, Caldwell, and Watauga, all three of which corner on the northern peak of Grand­father Mountain, near the north boundary of the tract (see map).

TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGIC  FORMATION, AND  SOIL.

The Elk, Watauga, and Linville rivers, and Wilson Creek, a tribu­tary of the Johns River, rise within the boundaries of the tract, the main body of which lies on the waters of the Linville River and its two tributaries, the West Fork and Grandmother Creek.

The topography is rough and the general altitude high. The lowest point on the tract, in the valley of the Linville River at Linville, is 3,800 feet above sea level; the highest point, the northern peak of

GENERAL DESCRIPTION   OF   THE   TRACT.

Grandfather Mountain, reaches an altitude of 5,964 feet. One other point, Sugar Mountain, in the northwest corner of the tract, is over 5,000 feet high. The upper slopes of these mountains are precipitous and bowlder-strewn, but become gradually gentler and smoother toward the bottoms of the valleys. Some of the ridges are broad and level, notably Flat Top Mountain, between the Linville River and West Fork valleys. The whole length of the valley of Linville River, above Linville, and the lower parts of the West Fork and Grand­mother Creek valleys, are broad and nearly level. (See PL II, fig. 1.)

The important rocks are quartzite, sandstone, conglomerate, and shale of Lower Cambrian formation. The quartzite and sandstone form the rugged peaks of Grandfather, Pinnacle, and Sugar mountains. The shale is most in evidence in the bed of Linville River and on the headwaters of Elk Creek and Watauga River.

The soil is very thin or entirely wanting on the upper slopes and tops of the higher mountains, occurring only in patches in crevices between the rocks. Lower down it gradually becomes deeper and covers the whole surface. In general it may be described as a fine­grained loam. On the shale formation it contains a small amount of clay in mixture with small fragments of shale. On the sandstone, quartzite, and conglomerate the soil is apt to be sandy, mixed with small quartz pebbles. On the bottomlands of the valleys it is largely alluvial, and varies from a fine-grained clay loam to a heavy loamy clay, underlaid at a depth of 2 to 3 feet with a pure, brownish-red clay, very plastic and almost impervious to water.

CLEARINGS  AND   SETTLEMENTS.

About 1,100 acres, or 7 per cent of the tract, is cleared. The most of this area was cleared before the present owners came into posses­sion; the greater part of the clearing has since been abandoned, or is used only for pasture.

On the 120 acres of bottomland lying in a bend of the river about 2 miles below Linville are situated large commercial nurseries, which make a business of raising all the rare and valuable trees and shrubs indigenous to this region. Much of the stock for these nurseries is obtained, without payment, from the land of the company.

The population living on the company's land is small. There are several families on the West Fork, one family living at Linville Gap, one on the side of Grandfather Mountain at the forks of the Yonahlossee and Grandfather Mountain roads, and a few in and around Linville. The town of Linville is a summer resort only.

10              

THE FOREST AREA.

A total of 14,900 acres, or about 93 per cent of the tract, is still under forest, which, except for the small cuttings hereafter described, is practically virgin.

types.

Four types of forest have been distinguished—hemlock bottom, chestnut slope, sugar maple slope, and mountain.

HEMLOCK BOTTOM.

The hemlock bottom type (PL II, fig. 2) covers the broad, nearly level bottomlands of the main valleys, on the deep, fresh loamy clay and clay-loam soils, and follows the narrow valleys of the smaller streams for some distance up the slopes of the mountains. It extends over the northwest slope of Grandmother Mountain nearly to the top. Hemlock bottom type occupies in all about 3,900 acres, or 24 per cent of the tract.

The hemlock (locally known as spruce pine) is its characteristic tree. The most important trees growing in mixture with it are yellow birch, beech, red maple, and chestnut. In the Grandmother Creek Valley, especially toward the upper end, some red spruce occurs. Other species are comparatively rare, and, as a rule, grow only along the edges of the type areas.

The undergrowth consists exclusively of rhododendron, which forms dense, almost impenetrable, thickets, and shades the ground so com­pletely that nothing can grow beneath it.

The ground is covered with a thick layer of half-decayed leaf litter about 6 inches deep. This and the shade of the rhododendron keep the soil moist—in places wet—throughout the year, so that fire can not run.

Reproduction under the rhododendron is entirely wanting. On old logs and in occasional small openings, where some light enters, seed­lings of hemlock, yellow birch, and red maple are fairly common.

The hemlock is of good size, but has little clear length. Many of the largest specimens are wind-shaken and unsound in the heart. The yellow birch also is short-boled and heavy-crowned.

Fig. 1.—Topography and forest from Linville Valley to West Fork Valley.     
 

12              

CHESTNUT SLOPE.

The chestnut slope type (PI. Ill, fig. 1) covers the southeast, south, southwest, and west exposures above the hemlock bottom, and the tops of the lower mountains. It also occurs on some of the high, dry ridges with a northerly exposure. It extends nearly to the top of Sugar Mountain and the Pinnacle; on the Grandfather and Grand­mother it gradually gives way, at an elevation of about 4,600 feet, to the mountain type. Chestnut slope occupies about 6,600 acres, or 11 per cent of the tract.

The chestnut is its characteristic tree, and comprises over 15 per cent of the stand. Other trees which occur in the type are, in the order of their numerical importance, red maple, chestnut oak, red oak, cucumber, and white oak. Locust, yellow poplar, pignut and mockernut hickories, scarlet oak, and black oak are rare. Yellow birch, beech, and hemlock also occur in considerable quantities, but usually on the edges of the type areas, where they merge into the hemlock bottoms or sugar maple slopes.

In some places the undergrowth consists of thickets of mountain laurel; in others, rhododendron occupies the ground; but as a rule it is quite open and composed of a mixture of mountain laurel, huckle­berry bushes, and azaleas.

The ground cover is made up of a light layer of leaf litter and a scattering of goldenrod, asters, Solomon's seal, grasses, and other herbaceous plants.

Reproduction in the laurel and rhododendron thickets is entirely lacking. Elsewhere it occurs more or less scatteringly. Chestnut seedlings are rare. Occasionally small, dense groups of beech seed­lings and small saplings are found. Red oak seedlings are fairly com­mon. Cucumber-tree seedlings are rare, and white oak seedlings are even scarcer than those of the chestnut.

Occupying all the drier situations, this type has suffered from fire more than any of the others. The large timber is all badly fire-scarred. On the Wilson Creek side of Grandmother Ridge much of the old tim­ber is entirely destroyed. The burned-over area is in some cases growing up to sprouts from the old stumps, and in others to huckle­berry bushes only.

The timber is generally poor. On the upper slopes arid the crests of the ridges it is short and stunted, and nearly all of it is defective. Even on the lower slopes, where the trees are tall and straight, sound chestnut is very rare, although there are sometimes a few good red oaks, and occasionally a yellow poplar or white oak of good quality. On the western slope of Grandmother Ridge, some distance south of Kanawa Lake, there is a fine stand of chestnut from 10 to 15 inches in diameter breast high, which in some parts of the country would bring a good price for telephone poles, but which in this region can not profitably be marketed. On the same slope, a little to the north,

14               

SUGAR MAPLE SLOPE.

The sugar maple slope type (PL IV) extends over about 1,500 acres, or 10 per cent of the tract. It is confined chiefly to the northwestern slope of Grandfather Mountain, on the watersheds of the Linville and Watauga rivers, and to the Elk Creek watershed. Elsewhere it occurs only in occasional patches along the small water courses on the chestnut slopes.

The characteristic trees are beech, sugar maple, basswood, yellow birch, hemlock, yellow buckeye, white ash, and cucumber. Numeri­cally the beech preponderates, but the sugar maples are larger and more uniformly distributed, and in general give character to the type. The undergrowth consists mostly of witch hobble and striped maple. The ground cover is chiefly partridge berry, club moss, wood sorrel, ferns, and mosses. The soil is often very rocky, but is always moist and rich.

The hemlock here, through its association with the hardwoods, is slightly taller and clearer boled than on the hemlock bottom. The white ash, basswood, and cucumber, although not plentiful, reach a large size, and commercially are the most valuable species. It is from this type that the finest black cherry was culled years ago.

Reproduction of sugar maple by seed is abundant everywhere. White ash seedlings are common in small openings where sufficient light reaches the ground. Hemlock and beech seedlings are also plentiful. Basswood seedlings are extremely scarce, but reproduction by sprouts is excellent.

Table V, the figures for hemlock representing the averages of the trees on the three types according to the number in each.

table V.—Average height, clear length, and volume (Doyle) of the four principal species.