The first step in managing a forest is to gain an overview of its condition and potential--scoping. For this project the following attributes will be examined:

• Physiographic layout
• Site Productivity
• Age Distribution
• Tree Species Distribution
• Road Systems

PHYSIOGRAPHIC LAYOUT
The Satsop Forest consists of approximately 1400 acres just south of the Chehalis River in southwest Washington in Sections 7,8,17 and 18 of Township 17 North Range 6 East. 840-ac are forested, and approximately 220-ac are in grass (photo 1), shrubs (photo 2) or riparian (photo 3) areas. The remaining 300-ac is developed as part of the infrastructure of the Satsop nuclear power plant. Aerial views from the north and south can be seen in figure 1 and figure 2.

Topographically the Satsop Forest is all low elevation with no areas over 500 feet with forested lands well distributed through all aspects and flats (fig. 14). "Flat" units are ones with an average slope of less than 8% and comprise approximately 200-ac of the Forest.

Units can be classified by their slope as well. 30% is the accepted maximum slope for harvesting with ground-based systems (i.e. skidders, dozers, shovels). Units with a slope of less than 30% are classified as "tractor" ground while those with a slope greater than 30% are classified as "cable" ground. On the Satsop Forest the split of the forested acreages is 40% tractor, 60% cable.

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SITE PRODUCTIVITY
Site productivity can be classified in many ways. One standard method is based on tree growth on the particular site. Based on tree height and age a base site productivity value is generated known as Site Index. Industry standard is the 50-year base age Site Index curves developed by King in 1966. Using this method tree size at any age can be correlated to a Site Index at 50 years of age so that productivity of sites can be compared on a level field.

Site Index values can further be classified into Site Classes as follows in table 1:

The majority (92%) of the Satsop Forest consists of highly productive soils, Site Class 1 and 2, (photo 4) with the remaining 8% less Site Class 3 and 4 (fig. 4). Geographically these sites are evenly distributed throughout the Site (fig. 3). Topographically these sights are evenly distributed among all aspects as well are flat ground (fig. 6).

When looking at age class and dominant species the classes are not as evenly distributed. The highest productivity sight class, Site Class 1, is dominated by stands less 20 years old while Sites Class 2 is dominated by stands over 40 years old (fig. 5). Site Class 1 and Site Class 2 ground has a primary component of Douglas-fir and red alder (fig. 7). This is due to the large component of these species on the Satsop Forest, which will be discussed later.

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FOREST AGE DISTRIBUTION
Satsop Forest has stands ranging in age from 2 - 190 years. For classification purposes ages will be broken out into 10-year age classes with the mid-point of the class being reported. Hence the 55-yr age class would contain trees ranging in age from 50 - 59 years.

Many of the stands are in the 15-yr and younger classes (photo 5)and the 65-yr and older age classes (fig 9, photo 6). The <20-year age classes are a result of development and logging on the Site since its acquisition in the mid-1970's. Much of this area is in the southern portion of the area (fig 8). Poor regeneration in this area has resulted in some extremely variable species composition in the stands. Compare photo 7, photo 8, and photo 9, all from Stand 147. The 60 - 100-yr age classes are the result of the first round of logging in this area. Many of these stands are in the northern portion of the Site and contain many large, high value trees.

Topographically younger age classes, 15-yr and younger, are evenly distributed among all aspects and the flats. Older stands, on the other hand, are dominantly on north facing slopes and the flats (fig. 11).

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TREE SPECIES DISTRIBUTION
Satsop Forest contains seven primary tree species: Red alder (Alnus rubra), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), black cottonwood (Populus tricocarpa), western redcedar (Thuja plicata), and bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata). For use in LMS these have been coded as follows in table 2:

On the ground these species exist in a number of mixes of one or many species. Stands are classified by their mix of species based on basal area for each of the species. The classification code is based on the specie, or pair of species, with the majority of the basal area. Codes are summarized in table 3 along with the acreage for each species mix.

Approximately one half of the Satsop Forest is dominated by "pure" stands of red alder, Douglas-fir, bigleaf maple, or western hemlock. These stands have at least 75% of their basal area in that specie. The remainder is in one of a variety of mixes. Distribution of the acreages in each specie type is shown in figure 13. Species types in this chart have been broken out by species type, conifer, hardwood, or mixed, respectively, from left to right. By breaking the types out this way it is easier to see where the stands lay on the landscape. In figure 15 species composition of each unit has been classified as conifer (C), hardwood (H), mixed conifer dominant (MCH), and mixed hardwood dominant (MHC).

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ROAD SYSTEM
Currently the Satsop Forest has an extensive existing road system, much of it well maintained road system (fig. 16). The system accesses a majority of the Forest but only portion of the timbered areas.

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Updated 13/09/2000 by Kevin "thujaman" Ceder