Part 2

_Sugar Maple_, the most abundant and versatile of all the maples, the showy beauty of the autumn landscape, is notable as the source of fine hardwood lumber and maple sirup. It is found in nearly every State east of the Great Plains, with its largest stands, usually mixed with other hardwoods, in the Lake States and New England. Sugar maple grows slowly but lives 300 to 400 years, reaching heights of 80 to 120 feet. It is the State tree of New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The apt scientific name, _Acer saccharum_, refers to the sweetness of the sap, from which maple sirup and sugar are boiled when winter is on the wane. Like the sugarcane and sugarbeet, this maple is characterized by an unusually high concentration of sugar, produced the year before and stored in roots and trunk during the dormancy of winter. With leaf buds swelling and the imminence of spring, the sap rises and is tapped just inside the bark by driving in a spout and attaching a tube or hanging a bucket beneath it. In this sturdy, stately tree, tapping may go on for years without seriously affecting the life of the tree or the quality of its wood. In spring, after the sugaring-off season, the maple sends forth myriads of greenish-yellow clustered flowers from which bees obtain pollen and nectar. In early summer seeds mature and fall to the ground on papery wings. Later, in autumn, sugar residue in heart-shaped thin leaves combines chemically with other substances to produce the most striking orange-yellows and reds of the hardwood landscape.

Maple has been a choice wood since the time of the Romans, who used it for their pikes and lances as well as furniture. Known to the lumber trade as hard maple, the strong, close-grained wood makes firm flooring, lustrous furniture, bowling alleys and pins, and musical instruments. Accidental forms known as curly maple and birdseye maple are prized for fancy-figured furniture and cabinets.

_White Oak_ has been known and loved since the earliest days of settlement in the New World. It reminded the colonists of the English oak—and the Indians showed how to boil and eat its large acorns. White oak grows from New England south to Florida, through the Middle West to the Lake States, and as far west as Oklahoma and Texas. It is the State tree of Connecticut and Maryland, while “native oak” is the State tree of Illinois.

This tall, broad-crowned tree reaches heights of 80 to 100 feet (maximum, 150 feet), with diameters of 3 to 6 feet. Its whitish or pale gray bark is decidedly lighter in color than that of the black (or red) oak group. Its scientific name _Quercus alba_ includes the classic Latin generic name for all oaks, _Quercus_, and _alba_ (white), applied by the famous botanist Linnaeus.

The large leaves are formed with five to nine rounded lobes and, unlike the black oaks, have no bristles. The deep somber brown, or russet, of the oak leaf is a familiar feature of the autumn landscape, and on young trees many dead leaves remain attached throughout the winter. Acorns, the seed of the oak, mature in early autumn. These shiny brown, sweet-flavored nuts, known as mast, have become an important food for bears, squirrels, and birds, particularly with the passing of the chestnut.

The oak grows slowly but lives long, sometimes 500 to 600 years. In open fields or lawns the trunk is shorter and the branches spread outward 80 feet or more. In the forest, white oak grows best in deep humus soil and is found in a mixture with other oaks, hickory, and maple.

Of the more than 20 species of commercially important Eastern oak, white oak is truly outstanding. From the earliest days it provided a valuable source of timber for houses, ships, and furniture. Strength, durability, and beauty are the words for white oak. Its uses range from barrels and bridges to flooring and fine cabinets.

_Exploring the World of Trees_

In every National Forest there are places where visitors can see and learn more about America’s trees—the firs, pines, poplars, maples, and oaks already briefly described, and others of the forest’s 175 commercially important species. These areas of outstanding interest, demonstrating various phases of tree growth, management, and use, are located in every section of the country. Among these are the following 10:

1 _The Big Acre, near Lake Quinault, Wash., Olympic National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region._

This plot encompasses giant Douglas-fir and other species growing in favorable conditions of the rain forest. A replica is shown in diorama in the Hall of North American Forests in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. On the east side of the Olympic Peninsula, Mount Walker Summit (elevation 2,769 feet) looks deep into ridges and valleys with examples of block cuttings where Douglas-fir is growing anew.

2 _Wind River Experimental Forest, where forest research began in the Pacific Northwest, near Carson, Wash., Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region._

The arboretum is a proving ground for conifers of the world and now has groups of more than 135 species. Separate areas are devoted to shade tolerance, seed dissemination, rodent control, and other studies. And nearby at the Wind River Nursery, about 5.5 million new trees are produced yearly for reforestation in the Northwest.

3 _Institute of Forest Genetics near Placerville, Calif., Eldorado National Forest, California Region._

The Eddy Arboretum, named for its founder James G. Eddy, contains species of pines from all over the world: 70 species, 35 additional varieties, and 90 different hybrids. It was established in 1925 for breeding and improving this group of timber trees. The Institute, working to propagate faster growing, disease-resistant trees, is successfully crossbreeding species such as Jeffrey and Coulter pines into superior strains.

4 _Town Creek Plantations, Centerville, Idaho, north of Idaho City Ranger Station, Boise National Forest, Intermountain Region._

This 200 acres of new forest was dedicated to the youth of Idaho in 1955, on the 50th anniversary of the Forest Service. Ponderosa pine plantings were made with different techniques every year for 5 years and are being studied in order to develop best methods for regeneration.

5 _Kaibab Plateau, managed timber areas near Jacob Lake, Ariz., Kaibab National Forest, Southwestern Region._

The Kaibab Plateau, 60 miles long and 40 miles wide, is rich in scenery, water, wildlife, and timber (ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir). Once the population of the great Kaibab deer herd reached 100,000, far beyond the capacity of the range. Trees were destroyed by wildlife, and thousands of deer died of starvation. Public hunting now keeps the herd in balance.

6 _Trees for Tomorrow Camp, Eagle River, Wis., Nicolet National Forest, North Central Region._

The marked nature trail demonstrates how the forest lives and grows, its relationship with other natural resources, and how man supplements Nature’s management. This camp is operated by Wisconsin wood industries in cooperation with the Forest Service as a school primarily for high school and college students and teachers in conservation.

7 _Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, near Robbinsville, N.C., Nantahala National Forest, Southern Region._

This 3,800-acre tract of primeval wilderness was dedicated in 1936 after the Veterans of Foreign Wars suggested a fitting shrine be created to the memory of the author of “Trees.” Within the national shrine are 100 species of hardwood trees, including giant yellow-poplars, oaks, birch, basswood, maple, buckeye, and cherry, with shrubs, vines, and flowers carpeting the forest floor.

8 _Longleaf Trail Vista, near Alexandria, La., Kisatchie National Forest, Southern Region._

This general area includes some of the highest land in the State, ranging up to 350 feet above sea level. It lies within the Red Dirt Game Management Area, where demonstration woodlands are thinned by commercial logging in order to provide food and improved conditions for wildlife.

9 _Hearts Content Scenic Area, near Warren, Pa., Allegheny National Forest, Eastern Region._

This is a 120-acre primeval forest of towering eastern white pine. Parts of the land were presented to the Government by a lumber company and women’s clubs. About 15 miles east of Hearts Content is the Tionesta Scenic Area, nearly 2,000 acres of magnificent virgin hardwoods and eastern hemlock.

10 _Federation Forest, on the road between Danby and Peru, Vt., in Ten Kiln Meadows, Green Mountain National Forest, Eastern Region._

This drive through the heart of the Green Mountains will show managed northern hardwood forest types, including sugar maple.

In addition to these areas, many of the 800 National Forest ranger stations contain displays on local trees. All are designed to show the American people how the resources of the National Forests are cultivated and used to serve the country now and in the future.

The Multiple Use Tree, based on an ancient symbol for wood and used as an element of design in this booklet, is the central figure of the symbol for the National Forests.

Each of the tree’s oval branches stands for a renewable resource of the forest—water, timber, forage, wildlife, recreation—and the products and services flowing from them. The trunk represents the Nation and its people who benefit from forest resources.

The line inscribing the tree establishes the interrelationship and interdependence of resources and their users. Its continuity symbolizes multiple use management by indicating that each resource is developed and managed in coordination with each of the other resources, and that all are developed and managed for optimum benefits to the Nation.

The National Forest symbol, created by enclosing the tree with a ring bearing the legend, _National Forests—Lands of Many Uses_, is a hallmark of service to a growing America.

Information

For detailed information on visiting the National Forests, see the map for the headquarters of the Forest Service Region administering the areas you are interested in and write to the appropriate Regional Forester, Forest Service:

Federal Building Missoula, Mont. 59801

Federal Center 1720 Building 85 Denver, Colo. 80225

517 Gold Ave. SW. Albuquerque, N. Mex. 87101

324 25th St. Ogden, Utah 84401

630 Sansome St. San Francisco, Calif. 94111

Post Office Box 3623 Portland, Oreg. 97208

Peachtree Rd. NW. Atlanta, Ga. 30309

633 West Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wis. 53203

Federal Office Building Post Office Box 1628 Juneau, Alaska 99801

STATE AND PRIVATE FORESTRY AREAS

Northeastern Area—S&PF 6816 Market St. Upper Darby, Pa. 19082

Southeastern Area—S&PF 1720 Peachtree Rd. NW. Atlanta, Ga. 30309

This booklet is one of a series on the many uses and benefits of the water, timber, wildlife, forage, and recreation resources of the National Forest System. Others include _Backpacking in the National Forest Wilderness_, _Skiing_, and _Camping_.

Issued April 1964 Slightly revised December 1971

★ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1971 0—446-376

The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and National Grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service to a growing Nation.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.