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Big Solvoge Job Underwoy

The hurricane that struck the Pacific Northwest in mid-October downed an estimated 3 billion board feet of timber in Oregon and Washington alone, West Coast timber companies report. Many firms are now working frantically to save as much of the downed tiimber as possible before insects take over.

The Big Wind marched up the coast, striking at northern California, Oregon and Washington, maiming large sections of forest along the way, finally blowing itself out as it reached Canada. It 'broke windows, uprooted and shattered trees, ripped roofs from houses and created a snarl of downed power and telephone wire that took more than two weeks to restore completely. Whipping fire from mill waste burners, it destroyed forest industry plants in several lumber communities.

It took foresters days of flying to evaluate the mess on the ground throughout the region's commercial timberlands.

Of the total downed timber, some 850 million board feet is on private lands, 803 million on national forests and 1,023 million on BLM holdings.

Forest land managers are reported regearing their timber harvests schedules and shifting logging crews into stricken ar€as to get the big salvage job underway. Clearing access roads to get equipment onto the ground is the first step in the task.

Foresters hailed the Pacific Northwest's growing network of forest access roads as a vital aid in the job ahead. Roads, they pointed out, are the key to getting at the scattered, downed timber before the bugs get it.

Forest industries are pushing salvage work to get at the fallen trees before the fir bark beetles arrive at the scene. Entomologists predict that additional billions of board feet of timber may be lost if the great volume of downed timber becomes host material for epidemic proportions of insects. Foresters also observed that weak- ened roots and open scars from limb breakt age caused by the storrn to timber still. standing will take an additional toll of treeg.l during the winter months ahead.

One major company that experienced heavy damage on iis Tree Farmlands re. i ported it hoped to recover about 75 percent of its downed timber. A company spokes. man said the downed timber would be absorbed in the normal production schedule of its numerous mills.

. A leading chain saw manufacturer rushed Il00 powered chain saws to com...,_ mercial outlets in the stricken areas to help i meet equipment needs,

In a home of wood frame construction,.': lumber has been used to build the struc. tural framework which supports the roof and holds the finish materials inside and outside. Nine out of ten U. S. homes are frame construction.