The Montezuma National Forest has a stand of about 2,072,000,000 board
feet of timber. About 57 percent of this is Engelmann spruce, 23 percent
is ponderosa pine, and 19 percent is a mixture of alpine and cork-bark
fir. There are also small quantities of Douglas fir and piñon pine.
During the last 5-year period there has been an average yearly cut of
12,000,000 board feet of lumber on the forest. Most of this was sawed at
McPhee, where the largest sawmill in Colorado is located. It has a
capacity of 80,000 board feet each working day. In previous years, it
has sawed considerable timber cut from privately-owned land, but is now
dependent largely upon timber from the forest. The spruce timber, of
which there is a large amount on the Montezuma, is especially well
suited for pulpwood.
Timber is grown and cut in accordance with approved forestry methods.
Mature trees to be removed are marked in advance of cutting by trained
foresters. Trees which are not mature are left to be cut in later years.
They respond to the influence of more light, soil moisture, and
nutriment with greatly increased growth and also seed the open places.