Georgia forestry, Vol. 47, no. 4 (Winter 1994)

Georgia
Forestry
USPS No. 217120
Winter, 1994 No.4 Vol.47
STAFF Howard E. Bennett, Editor William S. Edwards, Assoc. Editor Jackie Bleemel, Graphic Artist Bob Lazenby, Technical Advisor
Zell Miller, Governor John W. Mixon, Director
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Jim Gillis, Jr., Chairman, Soperton
Felton Denney, Carrollton J. G Fendig, Savannah Dr. Gloria Shatto, Rome
Robert Simpson, Ill, Lakeland
DISTRICT OFFICES District One
3086 Martha Berry Hwy., NE/Rome, GA 30165
District Two 3005 Atlanta Hwy./Gainesville, GA 30507
District Three 1055 E. Whitehal Rd./Athens, GA 30605
District Four 187 Corinth Rd./Newnan, GA 30263
District Five 119 Hwy. 49/Milledgeville, GA 31061
District Six 1465 Tignall Rd.,/Washington, GA 30673
District Seven 243 U.S. Hwy. 19 N/Americus, GA 3 1709
District Eight Route 3 , Box 17mfton, GA 31794
District Nine P. 0 . Box 345/Camilla, GA 31730
District Ten Route 2, Box 28/Statesboro, GA 30458
District Eleven Route 1, Box 67/Helena, GA 31037
District Twelve 5003 Jacksonville Hwy./Waycross, GA 3 1503
Urban Project 6835 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain, GA 30083
Georgia Forestry is published quarterly by the Georgia Forestry Commission, Route 1, Box 181 , Dry Branch, GA 31020. Second class postage paid at Macon , GA POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Georgia Forestry Commission, Route 1, Box 181 , Dry Branch, GA 31020.

Georgia State Senator Waymond C. (Sonny) Huggins, representing the state's 53rd District, was ranger ofthe Commission's Walker County Forestry Unit when he posed in this unusual tree for a photographer sometime back in the 1970s. The white oak, which provides an excellent resting place for any weaJy woodsman, is on Lookout Mountain in Walker County. The senator, who was elected to the GeneralAssembly 12years ago after having served 32 years with the Commission and five years with the U. S. Forest Service, explains the odd growth of the tree as 'Just a freak of nature. "
On The Cover.. .A wintry sunrise gradually warms a rural forest tract in Georgia's Oconee County. Photo By Billy Godfrey

2/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

THE PENCIL

THE JIMPLEST: MOST CONVENJ[ENI: LE T EXPENJIVE? LEAST PPREC][AT ED P RODUCT OF
THE FOREST.

The computer invasion in Georgia has laid waste many conventional tools of communication, but it has failed to bring about the surrender of the common wooden pencil, a centuries-old writing instrument found even today in the desk drawer of every business executive and schoolbook satchel of every boy and girl.
Satellite signals span continents, facsimile machines send messages across great distances in a flash and other electronic marvels are on the horizon, but the lowly pencil remains the most versatile, portable, economical and convenient communications tool ever devised!
There was a time when this slim cylinder of wood came from the forests of Georgia; the red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) that grew to some extent throughout the state was an ideal species for the manufacture of pencils. The cedar, which was especially abundant on the limestone ridges of northwest Georgia, but rare in the coastal plain except near the sea, was favored for its light weight, close grain and significant fragrance.
DRAIN ON CEDAR
The demand for the choice wood was so great, however, that most of the suitable cedars were harvested in the early years of this century and before the second World War, pencil manufacturers were sending their timber buyers out to scour the Southern countryside for rail fences, posts, logs cabins, barns, shacks

and other rural structures made of red cedar.
Although manufacturers in other states turned to Georgia for its superior cedar, there was only one pencil manufacturing plant in this state. The National Pencil Company was located on Atlanta's Forsyth Street where Rich's Store for Homes stood since the 1950's and was recently demolished to make way for a federal building. The pencil company
GEORG][A' RED CED
W THE SUPERIOR PENCKLWOOD
UNTKL THE
TIMBER SUPPLY W USTED

existed from about 1908 to 1919. The short-lived Atlanta factory
engaged in an enterprise that had its beginning in 1761, the year Kasper Faber of Nuremberg, Germany developed the pencil in the form as it is known today.
The modern pencil is actually a descendant of primitive writing instruments that date back to ancient Rome; pointed metal rods were used to make dim lines and thin brushes dipped in ink were also used for writing. The word pencil comes from the Latin "pencillum," or thin brush.
EARLY PENCILS
Many early stylus used lead as a core and today's instrument continues to be called a "lead pencil ," although the material inside the wooden casing is actually graphite . An unusually pure deposit of graphite was unearthed by a fallen tree in Barrowdale, England in 1564 and it was soon learned the material could be used for making impressions. The graphite was shaped into stubs, wrapped with string and then unwound as needed. In 1793, Nicholas Conte , a French painter, perfected a process of treating graphite which is still used today in the manufacture of pencils.
Fine clay is mixed with graphite to act as a binder and to add strength. The proportion of graphite to clay in a particular formula depends on the hardness sought in the finished marking element. A greater proportion of clay will

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/3

harden the lead and provide a finer line. After the graphite and clay are blended, the batch is extruded from a press in a continuous spaghetti-like strand. The strands, or strings, are then laid out to air dry and later placed into crucibles and fired with extreme heat to harden them.
American manufacturers learned that a good pencil wood should be of an even texture; that is, the summer wood should

be of the approximate hardness as the spring wood. It should have an even, straight grain and be soft and slightly brittle. The red cedar of Georgia, Rorida and Virginia possessed these properties, but when manufacturers began realizing a growing scarcity of this favored species, the U.S. Forest Service in 1910 launched an investigation into the possible use of other species.

HOW PENCKL ARE MADE TODAY

Woods tested by manufacturers cooperating in the study included Rocky Mountain Red Cedar (Juniperus scopulorum), Port Orford Cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) , Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) , Western White Pine (Pinus monticola) , Incense Cedar (Liboccedrus decurrens) and six other species that grow mainly in the Western states. The results of the investigation, as reported in the January, 1912 issue of the American Lumberman, revealed that red cedar was well suited for pencil manufacture but did list four substitutes, although they "grow very scatteringly and their exploitation would be costly." The trees included Port Orford Cedar, the Incense Cedar, and the Redwood .

A. 7-inch long slats are cut from Incense-Cedar
logs. Grooves are then cut into the slats.
B. 7-inch long pieces of lead (graphite) are
laid in the grooves.
C. A second, grooved slat is glued on top.
D. The sandwich is cut into individual pencils.
The pencils are then painted and fitted with
an eraser.

e survey of Western woods didn't nd the search for the superior red edar, however, and in 1908 New York businessman Phillip Berolzheimer thought he had discovered a good source on Little St. Simons Island, a tiny islet near the main resort of St. Simons Island on Georgia's coast. He bought the wilderness island for its red cedar, but soon learned it lacked suitable quality to supply his Eagle Pencil Company. The remote area eventually became a hunting retreat for Berolzheimer and his friends . Current owners now invite the public to the pristine island where couples pay $300 to $400 per day and companies and groups can rent the island for as much as $3 ,600 a day. Some red cedars continue to thrive on the little island.

WOOD DISPLAYED

The first mass produced pencils were left unpainted so the high quality wood could be seen, but by 1890 manufacturers were painting their pencils and stamping brand names on them. The painting is made after the pencils are carefully sanded and inspected. They pass through a bath of lacquer in a series of coating machines and each one is coated from three to twelve tim es, depending on the finish desired. The finish must be smooth , uniform and elastic to prevent flaking or chipping when the pencil is sharpened.
Yellow has been the standard color for

4/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

pencils, mainly because it is highly visible, and most modern pencils are hexagonal to prevent them from rolling off desks, tables and counters.
The nation's Civil War was a major turning point for the American pencil industry, as both Confederate and Union soldiers wanted a dry, portable writing instrument that could be carried in a knapsack or pocket. Companies began to mass produce pencils in the 1860's to meet the demand of the troops who had discovered something far superior to the old quill pen they had used back home. Pencils were soon selling for a few pennies each and soldiers used their bayonets to keep them sharp.
IDEAL TOOL
One writer commenting on the lowly pencil said its development as a writing tool represents "good engineering" because it blends into the environment and becomes a part of society and culture so naturally that a special effort is required to notice it. "The very commonness of the pencil, the characteristic of it that renders it all but invisible and seemingly valueless, is really the first feature of successful engineering," he said.
An editorial on the evolution of the pencil in the New York Times in 1938 expressed fear that the typewriter was eliminating "writing with one's own hand" and predicted libraries one day would be searching for the last reference to pencils. Now, 56 years later, the computer age has arrived and the pencil continues to be as available and useful as ever.
The Gem, an early mechanical pencil sharpener employing a rotating disk of sandpaper.

A ny reference to the National Pencil Company ~at existed in Atlanta in the early years of this century conjures up 1mages of one of the city's most sensational murder trials. Mary Phagan, 13, caught the English Avenue streetcar on Saturday morning, April26, 1913 to travel to the pencil company on Forsyth Street to pick up her pay for the week. Her employment consisted of working alongside other young girls in placing rubber eraser tips into metal ferrules on the pencils. She earned about 12 cents an hour, the average pay for young people in many factories in the South; it was a time before child labor laws were enacted and it was commonplace for industries to employ children at low wages.
Mary Phagan failed to return to her home that day and when the company's nightwatchman made his rounds in the early hours of the next morning, he found her body in the dark basement of the factory. Thousands attended the funeral of the girl in the Marietta cemetery and the brutal slaying set off a loud public outcry for the conviction of the murderer.
It was a period of racial and class tension in the city and circumstantial evidence quickly pointed to Leo Frank, 29, Jewish superintendent of the factory. He was convicted and sentenced to die, but Governor John Slaton, deeply troubled by persistent claims that the state's key witness might actually have been the killer, commuted Frank's sentence to life imprisonment just one day before the scheduled execution. Several men, said to be "antiSemitic rabble-rousers," barged their way into the state prison in Milledgeville, however, and took Frank to rural Cobb County and lynched him.
A witness, who was threatened to withhold evidence of the factory superintendent's innocence, finally broke his silence in the last years of his life ----and 73 years after the trial, on March 11, 1986, the State of Georgia pardoned Leo Frank.

Today the nearest wooden pencil factories to Georgia are in the Lewisburg and Shelbyville, Tennessee area, about 75 miles from the state line. Bob Austin of the Empire Pencil company in Shelbyville said his plant depends exclusively on incense cedar from the West Coast for its production. "It would be great if we had a source of wood in nearby Georgia," he said, but the supply of red cedar had been exhausted in Georgia and the South long before he came with the company.
COMMISSION SEEDLINGS
The cedar continues to thrive around the state, but not in the quantity and quality desired by the pencil manufacturers. In fact, Eastern red cedar is the most widely distributed conifer of tree size in the eastern United States. The tree is grown

in the Commission's nurseries at the rate of about 250,000 seedlings each season, according to Reforestation Chief Johnny Branan. The cedar grows as tall as 60 feet with a trunk diameter up to two feet, but Branan said most of the seedlings sold by the nurseries will never reach that maturity, as they are mainly utilized as Christmas trees, with some used as screens or in landscaping projects.
Branan said he doesn't foresee the day when the species would be grown in Georgia as a "pencil wood ." Manufacturers prefer aged cedars that have ample purplish-red heartwood, but Branan and other foresters say very few cedars in Georgia are being grown as a commercial crop, with the exception of the short-term Christmas trees. A few companies continue to manufacture lumber, furniture , wardrobes, chests and small novelty items from scattered cedars

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/5

FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA, Edited by Flora of North America Editorial Committee, Oxford University Press, New York, New York. Hardback $75 per volume.
With only two of 13 volumes complete, Flora of North America is already stirring controversy among the hiearchy and low-archy of botany.
Impending influence spreads even further since plant identification is essential to such specializations as forestry, horticulture, and plant conservation. The second volume (Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms- 475 pages) is particularly relevant to forestry because needle-leaf cone bearing trees are included, the families of which have been reduced from four to three; similar conversions seem preordained for future volumes. Although some observers consider such alterations revolutionary in the positive, others regard them as academic whims in the negative.
It should be considered by all that botany is rooted in transmutations of nomenclature that may provide several names for one plant according to prestige of the taxonomist. Liberal name calling may seem supernatural in other scientific classifications, but botany has been sprouting with such diversified abandon since the 1600s.
Since the 372-page introductory volume is basically an explanation of future volumes and how to use them, the futility of attempting to accurately critique the finished product is obvious. Some exponents of botany will approve of alterations within a science characterized by minute detail, while others will consider changes confusing and prefer not rocking the boat. Some will praise the vast range of contributors; others will feel the roster is incomplete. A maze of potential for criticism and accolades exist; complaints of too few drawings have already sur(continued on page 23)
6/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

around the state. James Shirley, a Lamar County
beekeeper who went out of the honey production business in 1989 to buy an ancient sawmill and turn out cedar products, was well aware of the scarcity of the species, but was willing to scout the countryside to find sufficient trees to keep his saws humming.
On rainy days or when the mill is down for some reason , Shirley and his son often go out searching for suitable trees along hedge rows and back roads. Old home sites where cedars were planted generations ago are good sources and Shirley tries to make a deal with the owner when he comes upon trees he wants. Some of the old growth trees would probably be the envy of pencil makers.
Although a prominent mechanical pencil manufacturing company existed for many years in Atlanta, there are no pencils of any type now being produced in the state. Pencil components, including cores and erasers, however, are produced by Asbury Ferst, Inc. of Atlanta and supplied to the pencil industry in Tennessee .
Pioneering pencil makers in Germany realized the red cedar of the Southern United States was a pencil wood superior to any other tree and had some of the

timber exported to that country. When it was predicted that the American supply would one day be exhausted, the Germans took steps to grow their own pencil wood.
Cedar seed was taken from Florida and planted on a 400-acre plot in Bavaria in 1860 by Baron Lather von Faber. The trees grew very slowly and after 40 to 45 years, when they had attained a size necessary for experimentation, it was found the wood was of an entirely different character than shown in the trees grown in the sunny, semi-tropical climate and soils of Aorida. The cedar was totally unsuited for the manufacture of pencils and the search continued in other sections of the world for a suitable wood.
The U. S . Forest Service conducted its search for a substitute for the dwindling supply of the world's best pencil wood 52 years after the failed German experiment and concluded its exhaustive study with the statement that "There is no other wood as well suited for pencil manufacture as the red cedar." California incense cedar had to suffice.
Atrue substitute has never been found for the fine-textured and even-grained red cedar of Georgia and neighboringstates that helped launch the manufacture of the indispensable wooden pencil.

CORRECTION In the Fall, 1994 issue of Georgia Forestry, an erroneous caption was published with this photograph showing William A. (Bill) Binns, left, retired corporate public relations officer ofUnion Camp Corporation, Savannah, receiving the coveted Wise Owl Award from the Georgia Forestry Association. The correct identification ofthe person presenting the awardis Ed Hutcheson, presidentofGeorgia Timberlands and former president ofthe association.

LOST

IN THE WOODS
By Lynn McElroy

Hunters look forward to hunting season all year. None of them expect to get lost in the woods, but it happens every year. However, it is very easy to get lost in unfamiliar wooded terrain . Even the most experienced woodsmen have had this unpleasant experience at one time or another.
When lost in the woods, disorientation can be complete. It is not uncommon for things to look reversed - such as coming to a river that seems to be running the wrong way. In the distorted perception of the lost, nothing looks right until a recognized clearing, or tree, or anything shifts the pieces of the puzzle back to logical reality. Even when following a compass, or directions related to the sun, the feeling of reversal can persist until familiar terrain is reached.
The best advice to anyone traveling in wooded terrain is to do what is necessary not to get lost. But if you do happen to get lost, the best thing you can do is not to panic and maintain a clear state of mind; a clear head will find itself. If everyone did just that one thing, there would be fewer reports of persons lost in the woods.
But for most woodland travelers, out of sight of familiar surroundings literally evolves into - out of sight out of mind. Merely being out of sight of others in a strange forest makes most people uneasy - a natural feeling but a dangerous one. Never yield to it.
Loss of mental control is more serious than lack of food, water, proper clothing, or proximity to wild animals. The bottom line is the person who keeps his head

has the best chance of emerging from the situation safely.
RULES OF THUMB
The following rules are worth remembering: (1) Stop, sit down and try to figure out where you are . (2) If confronted by night, fog, or storm, make camp at a sheltered spot. Then find or make a safe place to build a fire (where there is no danger of starting a wildfire and burning yourself up with the forest) and gather plenty of dry fuel for future use. (3) Do not wander aimlessly. (4) If injured, try to find a clear and conspicuous spot (like a mountain spur) and send smoke signals. (5) Do not unnecessarily expend energy. Don't yell, don't run , don't worry,. and above all, don't quit.
NIGHT PROBLEMS
The lost woodland traveler forced to stay overnight can face special problems. Before night falls, a shelter should be built - preferably under a ledge, large boulder, or fallen tree. Then a safe space should be determined to build a fire . If it is cold enough and there is no blanket, the fire can be built in a hole; when the fire has burned down , hot coals can be covered with six inches of earth to serve as a warm sleeping area. If no fire can be started, leaves and branches can be used for shelter and warmth.
For a day fire to attract attention, green branches and wet wood should be added to the blaze to create smoke. There is a very good chance in Georgia that

billowing smoke of this sort will be spotted by Commission lookout observers and/or forest patrol planes.
SAFE OR SORRY
Whether a novice or experienced woodsmen, the motto remains the same - Better to carry a clear head on your shoulders than a big pack on your back.
Airl ines reportedly do not carry parachutes on board because it would be bad public relations - makes the passengers think the operators anticipate a crash. You don't have to worry about a public relations impression in the woods; and although you don't want to be weighted down with unnecessary gear, it's better to carry a few essentials and be safe rather than sorry.
Whether you're going into the woods for the first time or have a lifetime of experience - a fishline with a few hooks, matches in a waterproof box, a compass, map, a little concentrated food , and a sturdy hunting knife may save you a lot of grief.
NO LOST THINKERS
A thinking woodsman is never really lost for long; but non-thinking panic can evolve into anything from mild frustration to death . The thinking woodsman anticipates that after a night in the forest, he may well wake up to a clear dawn and regain correct perspectives on his location. Although his compass may be useless due to local magnetic attraction and the sun hidden
(continued on page 23)

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/7

David McCluney on his millyard in Baxley
CYPRESS SPECIALIST

D avid McCluney's sawmill is in the heart of Georgia's great pine belt, but he tends to ignore that popular species and concentrates almost exclusively on bald cypress.
People restoring old classic homes, builders seeking novelty siding, sportsmen looking for the ideal canoe, and others demanding wood that is resistant to insects and is warm and luxuriant, consider it fortunate the Morris Farms Sawmill on the outskirts of Baxley specializes in cypress.
The mill manufactures several siding patterns, wainscoting, paneling, fencing , decking, dock timbers and lumber for other special purposes. "Most of our products are custom made for customers who send in orders," said McCluney "and we often are called upon to do special cuts that are not available elsewhere." The mill owner, who has been in the business since 1983, said "we sell all over the country and we even export to Japan, but our best market is in North Georgia ."
McCluney's attractive cypress is found today in many urban homes in Georgia and a dozen other states, but it is mainly

utilized in lakeside lodges and retreats because of its resistance to decay and its rustic appearance. The mill owner said it is a favorite wood for construction of log cabins and gazebos.
Although the mill manufactures novelty, beveled, rabbited, and shiplap siding, tongue and groove planking, Vjoint, double shiplap and channel rustic paneling - dimensions and designs one would be hard pressed to find at an

average lumberyard - many requested speciality items are not processed on the site, but McCluney has contacts with craftsmen who can fill the orders. When a customer is interested in a fine canoe, for instance , the mill provides select cypress and an experienced boat builder is contracted to do the work; when a buyer wants a genuine log cabin , the mill furnishes the logs and refers the customer to a competent builder.
The durable cypress is also favored for stadium seats, greenhouses, cooling towers and other commercial installations where high humidity is a problem . Cypress also ends up in caskets, fireplace mantels, landscape timbers and vats, tanks, and tubs.
The mill consisted of well-wo rn machinery that left much of the manufacturing process to manual labor when McCluney bought it 11 years ago, but in recent years he has converted it to an electric-powered plant and an old tobacco barn on the property is now a highly efficient dry kiln . Although many orders call for rough lumber, the mill maintains a planer for those wanting dressed material. Only five employees working a 40-hour week are required to operate the mill now that it is automated to a great extent and orders keep it humming throughout the year.
One of the by-products of the operation is mulching material consisting ofbalk, shavings and other residue. Customers prefer it over pine because of its resistance to termites and other insects and its ability to far outlast the other species.

8/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

Bald cypress {Taxodium distichum) , usually referred to as just cypress,

often thrives in stands of

water several months

.

of the year. It is easily

identified by the trunk,

which flares out at the

base into a swollen,

buttress-like structure.

The roots send up

woody growths that

protrude above the

water, often several feet,

and are called "knees."

The branches are often

draped with Spanish moss

and the tree is known for its

long life and the huge sizes it

attains. Its seeds are a food source

for gray squirrels and wood ducks. At

one time it was one of the most

dominant trees along drainages of the

Southeast, but its value as a source of

rot-resistant wood has caused

depletion of many merchantable

stands. The wood is light, soft,

easily worked and straight-

grained. The color varies

from pale brown to nearly

black and it has a

somewhat pungent odor. In

Georgia, the bald cyrpess grows

principally in swamps and ponds throughout most of the coastal plain. It is

often replaced by smaller species, pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens).

McCluney, who said one of his major customers is a building supply store chain, explained that cypress continues to grow in popularity as more builders come to recognize the unique properties of the wood are not only appearance, but it also holds sealers and stains better than other species.
When asked if he fears the supply of cypress, which thrives in swamps and other low lying areas, will soon be exhausted, the mill owner replies that cypress "grows as fast as pine" and he expects no shortage of the resource within the foreseeable future. "I buy from

about a 75-mile radius of Baxley," he said, "and I don't buy timber, I buy individual logs." Whenever a tract of

Timber is harvested, a limited number of cypress trees are usually involved and loggers sell them to McCluney.
RESTORATION MATERIALS
Restoration of old homes, historic buildings and other landmark structures often call for the replacement of ornate wainscoting, intricate moulding and many other architectural details that could be fashioned from cypress. Now that there is a growing trend to renovate older buildings, the mill is receiving an increased number of inquiries and orders regrading cypress.
Pecky cypress, a grade of lumber that comes from old growth timber and was once popular as a decorative wall material for dens, playrooms and offices, is also cut at the mill; orders are rarely received, however, for the hard-to-find trees that have the fungus which gives the wood its unique appearance.
A farmer or builder will often bring in a cypress log and ask the mill to custom trim it to a certain size or design for a special purpose and the crew will gladly accommodate him. There are large lumber mills along Highway 341 which sell lumber by the truck load or the train load, but those interested in rich , mellow wood for special projects find their way to the Morris Farms Cypress Sawmill for a very special kind of lumber.

At left, a planing mill is operated for customers who want dressed lumber. At right: a modem electric mill converts cyrpess logs into durable lumber for a wide range ofspecial uses.

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/9

TIMBER IMPORTANT CROP ON CENTENNIAL FARMS IN GEORGIA

M ore than half of the newly certified 1994 Georgia Centennial Farms listed timber as a crop - indicating an impressive connection between good land stewardship and proper forestry management.
Sixteen of the 31 farms receiving awards from the Georgia Centennial Farm Program are still generating income from timber after a century of operation. This timber production reflects the compatibility of timber production with preservation of environmental benefits

and cultivation of other land use benefits such as recreation, hunting and fishing. Well balanced use of these characteristics are the basis of the Commission's Land Stewardship Program.
The Georgia Centennial Farm Program honors farmers throughout the state for their contribution to agricultural heritage. The program also encourages preservation of agricultural resources for future generations.
Participants qualifying for a Centennial Award are honored each year at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. During a a special recognition program, farm owners receive a Georgia Centennial Farm Certificate of Honor signed by the

Governor. A bronze Georgia Centennial Farm plaque is also presented to those farms listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Awards are divided into the three categories. Centennial Heritage Farm Award - honors farms owned by members of he same family for 100 years or more and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Centennial Farm Award - does not require continual family ownership, but must be at least 100 years old and listed on National Register of Historic Places. Centennial Farm Family Award - honors farms owned by the same family for more than 100 years.

10/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

The Georgia Centennial Farm Program is administered by the Historic Preservation Division , Georgia Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation, Georgia Department of Agriculture; University of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; and the Georgia Forestry Commission. The Centennial Farm Committee is comprised of representatives from each of these organizations.
QUALIFICATION/APPLICATION
To qualify for certification by the Georgia Centennial Farm Program , a farm must meet the stipulations of the three designated categories. The farm must also qualify as a working farm with a minimum of 10 acres actively involved in agricultural production of $1 ,000 annual farm generated income.
Farm land used for tree farming can qualify as a working farm onlyif the farm operates from a forest management program written by a registered forester - and has at least 10 acres of forestland and will have forest products harvested at some scheduled time in the future .
Only one certificate will be issued for each family farm unless the original farm has been subdivided for more than 100 years and the subdivided farm has also achieved 100 years of significance as separate family farms. The line of ownership from the first family member owning the land may be through wives, and husbands, children (adopted included) , brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces.
In all three categories, listing on the National Register of Historic Places is required. If a farm is more than 50 years old, and if the farmhouse and at least some of the outbuildings remain relatively intact - the farm may qualify for National Register listing. For complete information on the National Register and Centennial Farm Program application contact: Historic Preservation Division, Department of Natural Resources, 205 Butler Street, Suite 1462, Atlanta, Georgia 30334 (Phone: 404-656-2840) .

AWARD RECIPIENTS LEAH AND RIDLEY MONK

Ridley Monk, one of the Centennial Farm Award recipients, is surrounded by reminders of the pioneer days of his native Worth County and the ancestors who settled the land on which he and his wife now live.
They occupy a charming old farm place built about 1848 by Monk's great grandfather. Although enlarged and extensively renovated, most of the flooring, ceiling and walls are the wide planks of the original structure. Roar joists and other heavy timbers are fastened by wooden pegs and handmade nails. When reroofing the dwelling, workmen found it decked with planks 14 to 16 inches wide and covered with thick, hand-hewed shingles.
Several handwritten land deeds, complete with beeswax seals and dating as early as 1836, have been framed and placed on the walls in the home. They pertain to acreage deeded by the State of Georgia to Monk's forebears.
Although apparently heavily wooded in the past, there is a current

resurgence of cotton cultivation in South Georgia and much of Monk's farm is now in that crop. He has sold some timber and takes great pride in several ancient oaks which enhance their front lawn .
An old cane mill and syrup kettles were essential to the farm and Monk tells how his ancestors took the large kettles down to the Gulf of Mexico by wagon each year to boil and evaporate sea water to obtain precious salt for meat curing and family cooking. He said his grandmother was known across the countryside for entering prize-winning farm produce in area fairs and later in expositions as far away as Philadelphia and Chicago.
Monk and his wife, the former Miss Leah Yarborough of Albany, have four children : Sue Monk Kidd , a writer for Guidepost Magazine and author of several books; Wade, an attorney; Bob, an insurance executive; and Don, a bank president. The Centennial Farm honorees have eight grandchildren.

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/11

FEBRUARY DEADLINE
All applications with supporting evaluation must be submitted postmarked by February 1, 1995.
AWARD RECIPIENTS
Centennial Heritage Farms honored included: Hudson River Farms, Banks County, Turk Family; Coulter Farm, Walker County, James J. Coulter, Jr.. and Vera Coulter.
Centennial Farms honored included: Eudora Plantation, Brooks County, Ms. Veria Worn; Woodville, Columbia County, Eugene and Edith Collins.
Centennial Family Farms honored included: V B. Paul and Sons Farm, Atkinson County, V B. Paulk; HarrellDaniels Farm, Atkinson County, James R. Daniel and lone Wright; Carter Farm, Bacon County, Jimmy and Emily Carter; Eli W. Warnock, Jr. Farm, Bacon County, Mrs. Eli W. Warnock, Jr. ; John Rountree & Emma Jane Rountree Farm, Brooks County, Clyde, Richard, Mable Hall and L. Rountree; W. Horace Bird Farm, Bulloch County, W. Horace Bird ; Clarence Cheney Farm, Calhoun County, Clarence Cheney; Brinson Home Place, Emanuel County, Mary G. Brinson and Martha B. Wells; Nathan Foskey Farm, Emanuel County, Ann Hammock Peebles; The Reid Farm, Forsyth County, E. H. Reid; Thomas Y. Whitley Farm, Irwin County, Thomas Y. Whitley; Johnson Farm, Jackson County, James Sherwood Johnson; Lane Woodlands, Jenkins County, Camille M. Lane; William Mack Reynolds Home Place, Jenkins County, Newton Tryon Reynolds; Greystone Farm, Laurens County, AlbertS. Mercer (Sr. and Jr.) and Patricia; Pine Top Farm , McDuffie County, James E. Wilson, Jr. and Robert N. Wilson , Sr. ; Bulloch Farms, Inc. , Meriwether County, Sam Bulloch; Oscar Cyprian Bulloch Farm, Meriwether County, Paul M. Bulloch; Pierson Farms, Monroe County, James J . Pierson, Jr. and Roberta S. Pierson ; Lindsey Fambrough Farm, Oconee County, Lindsey L. Fambrough; Bembry Farms, Pulaski County, R. Thomas Bembry; Lane Farm, Screven County, William J . Lane , Jr. and Robert E. Lane; Joel Thomas Farm, Sumter County, Joel Fox Thomas;John M. Brewton Farm, Tattnall County, Zelma Brewton Keels; Dallas Farm, Troup County, Mary Jane Hill Crayton ; Granade Farms, Wilkes County, Dr. James A. Granade, Jr. and Elizabeth Granade; Monk's Farm, Worth County, W. Ridley Monk.
12/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

SOAKED SOILS BAD NEWS FOR FORESTS

By Kim Coder

Saturated and flooded soils are wicked news for tree roots, because the water keeps oxygen from getting to them. The soil organisms and roots then quickly use up all the oxygen available, and the tree is quickly headed for trouble.
Trees - and people, too - have to have oxygen.
Why? Oxygen acts as an electron acceptor. The tree hands off electrons to oxygen, and as the electrons are allowed to slowly escape into the environment, the tree is able to use the energy generated by the process. The flow of electrons from high concentrations inside the tree to low concentrations in an oxygen atmosphere allows oxygen-using life forms to survive. This biological process is called respiration, something all living cells in a tree do constantly. A tree needs to lose electrons easily to the environment. Normal atmosphere around a tree is filled with about 21 percent oxygen, an element that behaves as if it's running low on electrons, quickly taking the electrons the tree offers. As long as there is plenty of oxygen, food produced by a tree can be quickly and efficiently converted into workproducing energy. If oxygen concentrations are limited, though, as they are when the soil is saturated or flooded, respiration in the roots becomes more difficult. What happens then is not a pretty picture. When oxygen is missing in saturated soils, other elements or materials must be used as electron acceptors in the respiration process. Nitrogen is the first major element used by soil microorganisms when oxygen is depleted. Electrons are transferred to nitrogen. Nitrogen respiration in

saturated soils causes available nitrogen from fertilizers to be turned into gas within a few days.
With no oxygen, and nitrogen respiration getting started in the soil, the next element to be used is manganese, which is normally insoluble in a soil.
That's bad news, because when manganese is reduced with electrons from respiration, it becomes very soluble and mobile. This changed manganese is toxic to roots and may be taken up

into the tree, poisoning the top. As the soil stays saturated, with no
oxygen present, and nitrogen and manganese is being used up as electron acceptors, iron also becomes a respiration element.
Iron respiration allows insoluble forms of iron to be changed by the addition of electrons into soluble types of iron. Like manganese, soluble iron can produce many toxicity problems.
After a time, cells have trouble transferring electrons to the environment because the concentration of electrons inside and outside are about the same.
Sulphur becomes the next element to be used as an electron acceptor. But sulphur respiration can produce hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic to roots. It causes many compounds to bond with sulfides, too, making them insoluble and unusable.
At the end of this no-oxygen respiration process comes fermentation : the transfer of electrons to carbon.
The root cells themselves are made of carbon compounds. Fermentation consumes 20 times the amount of food fo r the same amount of energy produced, compared with normal respiration .
Alcohols, ethylene, volatile fatty acids and a host of other products are made by fermentation .
The result is an electron-rich solution where there is no place to transfer electrons to generate energy. Sulphur and fermentation respiration produce a stinking, slimy soup of materials.
ROOTS STRESSED
Through these stages of respiration without oxygen, roots have been badly stressed. Root death is a combination of suffocation , starvation and toxic chemical buildup.
Organisms in the environment that can perform anaerobic (without oxygen) respiration will continue to consume the carbon materials of the roots.
A saturated or flooded soil can be a dungeon anytime for tree roots. During the warm growing season, soil saturation can be especially deadly.
(Dr. Kim Coder is a forester with the University of Georgia Extension Service.)

Rampaging river spills over into foresUands.
FLOOD DAMAGE SURVEY
A Aood Damage Assessment Team, composed of two foresters and two aircraft pilots of the Forestry Commission, surveyed the woodlands along the Ocmulgee and Aint Rivers during the record flood this summer and determined that the short term effects of standing water in the forests was minimal.
In the long term, however, the recent flooding could cause a host of insects to invade trees now that the water has receded, according to the team report.
The assignment "Yas to evaluate the extent of timber losses from the flood along the Ocmulgee River from Lake Jackson to Hawkinsville and along the Aint River from Montezuma to the south side of Lake Blackshear. The flight covered approximately 105 miles at an average altitude of 1,000 feet.
The Assessment Team included Foresters Ken Dunn, Bibb County Unit, Keith Moss, Peach-Crawford Unit, and Pilots Brad Turner and AI Newman.
OCMULGEE RIVER
On the Ocmulgee River, no significant timber damage was reported from Lake Jackson south to Highway 83 in Monroe County and slight damage was noted from that highway to North Macon. Timber losses were slightly higher through the city and some areas could not be recovered, since water widened the river channel approximately 50 feet. No upland forests were seen underwater from Macon to Hawkinsville.
FLINf RIVER
The timber loss along the Aint River was even less than on the Ocmulgee in the area inspected, but approximately five acres were lost in the area where the levee broke at Lake Blackshear.
Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/13

Environmental education class from southeast Atlanta is shown with U. S. Forest Service intern instructors (back row) working with Atlanta Project. Gerald Helton, on loan to the Commission from the Forest Service, coordinates the urban forestry segment ofthe program established by former President Jimmy Carter to improve inner city neighborhoods.

CITY CHILDREN LEARNING MORE THAN

PLANTING SKILLS IN TREE PROJECTS

Gerald Helton's job concentrates on planting trees and conducting environmental education efforts in Atlanta's most economically disadvantaged inner city neighborhoods. After a year on the job, he says some definite collective - positive changes in neighborhood attitudes have resulted from the program.
"I don't have any formal statistics to support it," Helton said, "but just working with this on a day-by-day basis, I can see a gradual unity developing in neighborhoods. People are beginning to pull together for protection of their environment, their children, and to develop a safe and more prosperous lifestyle."
Helton , who is "on loan " to the Commission from the U. S . Forest Service under a two-year agreement,

works out of the Commission's Stone Mountain Urban Forestry Unit. The purpose of the position is to coordinate

Gerald Helton Atlanta Proj ect Coordinator

urban forestry and environmental education programs under the guidelines of the Atlanta Project, established by former President Carter to improve living conditions in inner city neighborhoods.
The Atlanta Project is involved with inner city programs ranging from crime prevention to drug abuse to health care. Helton 's urban forestry a nd environmental efforts are included in these outreach programs - a nd Helton believes this segment to be one ot the most effective in unify ing neighborhoods because it offers a psychological opportunity for drawing people together on a simple basis for a common cause . This psychology then spreads to other areas of their lives .
The technique of offering a simple, easily accepted basis to unify a group

14/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

for common causes is not new. In John Steinbeck's famous 1936 novel, In Dubious Battle, a labor organizer unifies a previously apathetic, disorganized group by having every man in camp give a strip of white cloth to be boiled and used in the emergency delivery of a baby. Only a few strips of cloth were actually used, but the donors never knew. After the baby's birth, the organizer tells a follower that there is no better way to make people part of a movement than to have them give something to it. The request for cloth strips was to promote a simple, collective gesture that would bond the group together for future actions.
EFFECTIVE CONCEPT
This concept is simple but effective. Helton can relate similar reactions from many of his current projects, with the basic difference being that individuals giving their time is vital to the success efforts of urban forestry and environmental efforts that can extend benefits for generations to come. Following such projects, neighborhoods - ranging from small children to senior citizens - often band together to solve other problems. The common denominator in this new atmosphere of cooperation and community spirit is the knowledge that they have worked together successfully on one project and can do the same on another.
"For instance ," Helton said , "we coordinated a tree planting at a Westside
housing project where 50 willow oaks
were planted. There were 15 adults and 25 kids working together. After the planting, the kids, who ranged from 8 to 12 years old, adopted a tree. Each kid received a certificate of adoption and agreed to do what ever was necessary to take care of the tree and maintain it in good health."
Helton followed up on the project and returned to the Westside neighborhood a number of times to check on the trees. On every visit, he found each adopted tree had been well cared for and was in excellent health. "All the kids apparently identified with their tree and took pride in caring for it," he said. ''This could be an important step in making them capable of transferring such responsibility to

other efforts and working together to solve problems."
The Atlanta Project divides the city into 20 "dusters." Each duster is ba<;ed on an area from which a particular high school enrolls students. Although the dusters are identified by high schools, Helton also works with kindergarten and grammar school children; the faculties of all schools are involved as participants and initiate efforts through requests.
Helton's work is generated by "cluster coordinators." These may or may not be educators - but all are residents of the communities for which they request projects. Helton said a typical situation is for an inner city neighborhood to have a community meeting and determine that they would like to have a dean-up,beautification project, trne planting, or whatever; then they contact Helton through his Commission office.
Most of Helton's projects involve tree
~coadinatioo. ~environmental
education has increased to a point that he estimates it nO\-V requires 25 percent of his time. Two approaches are used for environmental education projects. One is to conduct classroom sessions at the request of a teacher or school principal; The other is train teachers in Project Learning Tree (PIT) techniques and materials so they can use the program in classrooms; PLT is an award winning environmental education program for educators working with students Pre K12.
WHOLE NEW WORlD
"But even on a tree planting project," Helton said, "while the project is in process, we always try to get in some environmental education. The younger we can reach the kids, the better. This environmental awareness has opened a whole new world for a lot of inner city kids."
Helton explained the trees on these projects are furnished by the Commission, Georgia Trees Coalition, and City of Atlanta Parks Department Prior to planting,a Commission urban forester will go on site and determine the best planting areas; more technical expertise is often provided by Atlanta City foresters. On planting day, Commission urban foresters deliver trees and Helton divides community residents into teams for various duties. Teams usually consist of five or six residents to work with each urban forester, and there is always an

effort to get as many children involved as possible.
"This involvement creates the rapport with the community, each other, and the environment," Helton said . He emphasized that another key factor in successful projects is the partnership that has developed between the Commission, Forest Service, and various communities.
Helton estimates that within the past year, he has coordinated the planting of
approximately 350 urban trees. Species
most commonly planted include: willow oak, red maple, sugar maple, and crepe myrtle.
Although Helton receives considerable assistance in forestry expertise from urban foresters, when it comes down to coordinating the people-efforts of a project, the job is left to him. Helton is well prepared for this task. He has an undergraduate degree in sociology from Atlanta's Morehouse College, and a Master's degree from the University of Chicago in social service administration. In addition , he managed to attend Auburn and complete forestry courses in forest management, silviculture, forest survey, and dendrology.
Employedby the U.S.ForestServicesince 1977, Helton has worked in personnel, planning, human resource programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) projects, aFid Young Adult Conservation Corps (YCC) efforts. Immediately prior to his current Commission job as Atlanta Project Coordinator, Helton was a Rural Development Specialist for the Forest Service; this job involved establishing grants in rural development to create jobs within the 13 states of the Southern Region.
Helton has always believed in the potential of the Atlanta Project. When the project started and called for volunteers, he was one of the first in line to volunteer personal time. Six months later, he heard about the possibility of a Commission and Forest Service partnership position. When the position was established, he made application and got the job.
POSSIBLE FUTURE
Helton believes the position has made a lot of promising things begin to happen and hopes this will continue. "We've got
(continued page 19)

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/15

UNI[QUE OBSERVATION TOWER 2?000 FEET ABOVE SE~\ LEVEL

Br Bill EJwarJs

Increasing Georgia population and aircraft observation could result in the Commission phasing out and dismantling all but one of the state's firetowers - a lonely, windswept tower on a Forsyth County mountaintop that is the highest point facing south to South America.
The tower, perched on top of 1,967foot Sawnee Mountain near Cumming, bears a strange futuristic design resembling an adjacent flying-saucershaped house; all other Commission firetowers in the state are standard design, ranging up to 125 feet. Both the tower and mountaintop house are 40 feet tall from ground level, bringing their height to slightly over 2,000 feet above sealevel.
"No matter what happens with phasing out the other towers statewide, this tower will always be here," predicted Ranger Greg Wallace, who supervises a Forsyth County Commission Unit at the foot of Sawnee Mountain. "It's a very unusual structure and the situation that brought it about was just as unusual." A native of the Forsyth County area, Wallace remembers the evolution of the tower in detail.
TOWER CHANGES
For decades, the Commission had permission to operate a standard design tower on the barren top of Sawnee Mountain. Then , in 1961, the mountain

SIPIECT CULAR FOREST F1IRE
TOWlER 0 MOUNTAINfOIP
RESULT OF RC KTIECT'
VJ[KO
was advertised for sale. James Barker, and Atlanta architect, bought the mountaintop. He and his wife, Arletta, planned to custom build a house and retire there. The only problem was a Commission tower located in the middle of the site where the house was to be built.
Barker, who believed in and supported good forestry concepts, offered to donate an alternate 50 X 50-foot plot next to the house for another Commission tower. The only stipulation Barker made was that the tower must be built according to his design specifications so the structure would blend harmoniously with the circular design of the house.
The Commission readily agreed to this generous offer, but when construction bids came in, all bids exceeded the state

budget limit. Barker, however, with an even more generous offer, volunteered to pay the difference. As it turned out, though , the budget difference was compensated for by using Commission personnel to erect the tower.
The old Commission tower was allowed to remain in place until 1974 when Barker blasted a hole in the solid rock mountaintop for the lower house section, providing an underground protective area from high winds and storms; walls of the underground section were to be solid rock of the mountain on all sides. The opening for construction was blasted out on the north side. It is virtually unheard of to build on the north side of such a mountain, but Barker was a creative architect who knew how to make his ideas work. This underground section not only would provide security during storms, but proved easy to keep cool in summer and warm in winter.
FOLLOWING A VISION
As the building of the house progressed, there were those who wondered how a Commission firetower could be designed to blend and compare with this unique structure - especially since Barker was following to the letter a "vision" he received during a dream that concerned the design of the house.

16/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

Barker recalled the vision and wrote it down as follows: "It shall be like a tree planted in a mountain with its roots in the earth andits branches in the sky, and my family shall be able to walk underground and dance above the clouds, and sleep in the air as eagles in their nests, or in dens underground on mattresses offur like foxes, as the storm rages past
This shall be my home to share with my wife, children, and grandchildren, andloved ones in awe ofthe wonder, to look in all directions as far as the eye can see and behold the greatness of God."
True to Barker's vision, the house was finished with a 360 degree view of onefifth of the state of Georgia. On a clear day, the Atlanta skyline can be seen some 40 miles away as the crow flies. As the crow turns north, Brasstown Bald, Georgia's highest mountain , can be picked out of a cluster of peaks approximately 50 miles away. Below the circular deck, flocks of birds pass and buzzards circle lazily on thermals. From time to time, planes pass below over the distant view of Lake Lanier.
The view from the adjacent tower would be the same, but there were still doubts about how such a structure could blend with the house.

The underground section proved to be a safe haven, but there would be no such haven for the new tower. Oldtimers in the area remember lightning flashing down on the mountaintop even before the old Commission tower was built - when a "lookout" would walk along the mountain ridge to spot distant fires .
TOWER LEGEND
Eugene Bennett, a local legend of sorts who spent 27 years working as a Commission firetower operator on Sawnee Mountain, told Barker some harrowing tales before construction started on the house. Stories included accounts of 20 below zero readings on the mountaintop, winds of 75 miles per

hour, and Bennett being forced to stand in the middle of the tower cab and avoid touching anything metal as lightning arced at the tower from all directions and bursts of thunder vibrated the entire structure. Bennett also said he "prayed a lot."
Bennett's past experience supported Barker's vision to build the underground section of the house, and to include new safety features on the tower to come. Bennett, who had lost his arm in 1943 cotton gin accident, lectured Barker on the dangerous realities of weather conditions on this mountaintop. The two became good friends and Bennett operated the new tower for a number of years after it was built. Barker even constructed a special gate and tower door for Bennett, so he could easily enter the areas with one hand. Bennett has now retired, but he remains a

SPECTACULAR DESIGN

The spectacular upper design of the house resembled two horizontal bicycle wheels braced with circular bar trusses. The entire construction hung from a central stem which runs from the "Star Room" glass observatory to the underground section walled in by mountain stone. A spiral staircase (on the exact spot where the old Commission firetower was located) runs from top to bottom of the house, with a circular, open elevator running through the center of the staircase. The elevator gives the illusion that the passenger is spinning inside a top as it ascends through the spiral.

Construction crew works on structure thatreplaced the Commissions standard forest fire lookout tower on Sawnee Mountain.

local legend and his stories of the mountaintop are often repeated.

THE FINAL TOUCH

When the time came, the new tower took six months to build. Carefully following Barker's design , the Commission headquarters shop in Macon prefabricated the structure piece by piece and transported it by truck to Sawnee Mountain. Barker inspected the various segments and gave his okay for a specially selected Commission crew to erect the tower. Like a ship being christened for sea duty, the final touch was applied when the tower cab was set in place by a crane.
Ironically, necessity for the tower - as well as other Commission firetowers throughout the state - gradually diminished after the Sawnee Mountain construction . The Barkers could see the handwriting on the wall as the viewed population growth spreading into the distance beneath them, and the Atlanta skyline expanding upward and outward as one building after another appeared.
Ranger Greg Wallace said the tower is now used only for emergencies, but the cab remains fully equipped with alidade and radio equipment to cope with any type of emergency that might occur.
Architect James Barker died on May 30, 1993. Ranger Wallace reflects the view of many other Commission employees when he said, "Forestry lost a very good friend ."

IMPRESSING LEGACY

Barker's architectural firm of Barker and Cunningham left an impressive legacy by designing more than 400 churches throughout the Southeast. But no accomplishment in his career has left a more original and artistic legacy than the sculpturally blended design of the house and firetower on Sawnee Mountain .
Considering her husband's lifetime of creative work, Arletta Barker, said, "I hope the house and tower remain on this mountaintop forever. I think Jim would have wanted it that way."

Upon completion ofthe spiralstairway- the lastphase ofconstruction - tower operators
had access to a vantage point 2, 000 feet above sea level Ranger Greg Wallace and
Arletta Barker look out from stairway.

18/Georgia Foresgtry/Winter, 1994

CI1Y CHILDREN LEARN
(continued from page 15) a lot of good sponsors for clusters," Helton said, "such as Delta Airlines, Coca Cola, and United Parcel Service - and we hope to get many more. This is the way the Atlanta Project works, it brings together private businesses, industry, non-profit groups, and governmental agencies- all for a common cause."
Helton describes the growth of the Atlanta Project as "phenomenal." He said requests for his assistance have now increased to such an extent that there is no way he can offer services to all of them. He sees this as the result of inner city needs and the mushrooming interest in urban forestry as it relates to environmental concerns.
"Urban sprawl is creating new problems, new challenges, and new opportunities." Helton said. A native of Carrollton, Georgia, some 50 miles from Atlanta, Helton can recall during his 45 years when the area was a relatively isolated rural community. Carrollton is now considered part of the Atlanta metroplex.
"This is happening all over," Helton said. "Many of Georgia's currently defined rural forests will soon become urban forests of sorts. Urban forestry programs, like those in Atlanta, can help lead the way into the future ; and when the Olympics arrive, the whole world will be watching Atlanta."
MORE THAN TREES
After another year, the Atlanta Project Coordinator position will be evaluated and a decision will be made on whether or not it will be continued. Helton hopes it will be continued. "Planting trees is important," he said, "but this job is about more than planting trees. In the final analysis, it has to do with better health, lifestyles, and instilling an overall sense among people to improve their communities."

LOOKING BACK
Hauling logs by rail in Georgia in 1903. (Courtesy U. 5. Forest Service)
1901
A report of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, concerned mainly with the longleaf pine belt, took cognizant of the importance of the lumber industry, stating that "wealth brought into Georgia by the immense pine forests is of great benefit to the state." The report pointed out that pine timberland which could be bought for 50 cents to $1.50 an acre only a few shorts years ago, is now going for $4.00 to $8.00 an acre.
1902
The catalog price of Seprs Roebuck and Company's regular width, champion tooth two-man , five-foot crosscut saw is $1.40; log rule with Scribner's scale,
$.72; the Acme Oak wood-burning stove, with all the advanced improvements,
including a large ash pan, large feed door, highly polished, heavy nickelplated foot rails, is on sale at $4.29.
1930
Problems continue to multiply for the lumber industry in Georgia as a result of increased competition with foreign producers, especially Japan, Russia and the Scandanavian countries, which have abandoned the gold standard and sought actively to "dump" lumber in other markets. Domestic prices for Georgia lumber have dropped as much as 35 percent.
1948
District foresters have surveyed the entire state to determine fire protection needs, gathering data on the towers needed, location recommendations, and vehicular requirements. Consolidation of these field reports indicated that an initial investment of 6.22 cents per acre ($1.5 millions) would be required to provide equipment, with an annual operating assessment of 7.1 cents per acre ($1. 7 millions) needed for personnel salaries, depreciation and obsolescence of equipment, and miscellaneous expenses.

Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994/19

ALICIA SUZANNE BAGLEY

MISS GEORGIA FORESTRY

Alicia Suzanne Bagley of Sylvester, honored last year as Outstanding Woman by the Junior Woman's Club in her hometown, has been crowned Miss Georgia Forestry of 1994.
The 19-year-old Worth County High School honor graduate and now a freshman at Abraham Baldwm Agricultural College, was crowned by John Mixon, Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, and Mrs. Sheran Strickland of Waycross, pageant coordinator, during ceremonies in Sylvester.
The new Miss Georgia Forestry, the daughter of Mrs . Coleen Bagley, succeeds Denise Griffin of Fitzgerald

and is the 54th young woman to officially receive the crown since the annual pageant was initiated in 1940. She will represent forestry and forest-related industry during her one-year reign by attending fairs, conventions and other events and participate in parades statewide to promote the importance of forestry.
Alicia, who said she enjoys watching classic movies, reading and spending quiet time at home when possible, is active in the Student Government Association at the college in Tifton and is a member of the Southern Political Science Association. She is majoring in political science and plans to later attend

Florida State University to receive her doctorate.
The crowning ceremony, followed by a reception, was held at the Margaret Long Public Library in Sylvester. Chief Forest Ranger John Cox of the Worth County Forestry Unit was master of ceremonies for the program.
Amy Eunice of Waycross was named Miss Georgia Forestry earlier in the year, but relinquished the crown, and Alicia, second place winner in that pageant, assumed the title . Mandy Jackson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Jackson of Watkinsville, has now assumed first runner-up honors.

20/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

OAK
PLANTER
NEW TIME AND LABOR SAVER

It used to take six to eight people a half-day to plant acorns in a four-row, 750-foot bed at the Commission's Flint River nursery; today it takes about ten minutes to sow that area!
The incredible savings in time and labor is the result of the development of a hydraulically-driven planter that was placed in service at the nursery last year for the first time. The machine was patterned after a machine borrowed from the State of Tennessee.
The planter was closely studied by nursery personnel and with their recommended modifications-and suggested improvement by welders and mechanics at the Macon Shop - the machine was built, field-tested and proved to be highly efficient. It not only

accommodates acorns of the eight oak species grown by the nursery, but can easily be adjusted to handle seed down to dogwood size.
Reforestation Chief Johnny Branan said the new planter creates very little soil compaction as it moves over the beds. The device is mounted on a tractor and can be easily converted from single to multiple row sowing.
Every district in the Commission contributes to the acorn supply each year, with the remainder coming from the seed orchards. Although seed orchard acorns are mainly gathered at Arrowhead, young orchards for oak and other hardwood seed are now installed at Flint River as a future source.
Oak species planted in the nursery

include sawtooth , water, swamp chestnut, chestnut, white, northern red and live. Mike Young, Seed Orchard Specialist, said the North Georgia districts produce the bulk of the northern red and chestnut acorns, while South Georgia is the main swamp chestnut oak supplier. He said white and water oak acorns come in from all sections of the state.
Young said foresters and rangers have learned to gather only the well formed acorns with good characteristics, thus supplying the nursery with quality seed.
The Commission nurseries produce 20 hardwood species, in addition to pines and other softwoods. The seedlings are packaged and sold each year to Georgia landowners at a nominal cost.

Select acorns are placed in a hopper and two men operate the seeder as it is drawn over the seedbeds by a tractor.

WOOD IS CHOICE OF MANY BUILDERS

This Central Georgia home builder prefers wood to metal studs and other framing.

Terry Castles of Macon, project manager of a construction company, watched carpenters work with clean, clear wood studs and ceiling joists as they framed a suburban townhouse. He said he is glad his company continues to build with wood, but fears the day is near when it will have to join the growing number of residential builders who are substituting metal studs and other framing members for lumber.
Although wood is presently the material of choice in 94 percent of residential framing, according to the Environmental Building News, some builders contend that steel becomes more attractive as lumber prices rise and metal becomes more competitive. The steel industry is runn ing campaigns aimed at convincing homebuilders to switch to steel because it is "more environmentally correct." Not so, says the publication. It reports that steel is "over 400 times more conductive of heat than wood"...and can "cause a number of problems: excessive use of heating and cooling, the need for larger space conditioning equipment to handle larger loads; condensation of moisture on the warm side of a wall, leading to dust or mildew strains."
Castles, a member of the National Association of Homebuilders, said "I'm more comfortable with wood ; our

METAL MAKES
INROADS, BUT
LUMBER STILL
MATERIAL OF
CHOICE!
carpenters are well experienced in wood construction and if we go to metal, some type of retraining would have to be done." He said the alternate material was discussed at the recent national meeting of the association, which he attended, and some training workshops for metal construction are being held. Now that metal is more competitive in price, the project manager said "it seems we will eventually have to go in that direction."
Although reluctant to follow the trend, Castles said he understands how high lumber prices are making it hard for some residential builders to stay with the traditional materials. "It is not only the price of lumber," he said , "but the dramatic fluctuation in pricing." He pointed out negotiations with home buyers is more difficult when the materials market is so unstable.
Tommy Loggins, Chief of the Commission's Forest Products Utilization,

Marketing and Development Department, said "wood is naturally renewable, requires less energy in the lumber manufacturing process and is, of course, biodegradable." He stressed that steel requires "raw material extractions that can he harmful to the environment and the manufacturing process involves considerable energy."
Loggins said "energy use in th e manufacture of sawn wood products is relatively low, and there is essentially little to no production of emissions or other pollutants. Additionally, wood processing residuals can be utilized for paper products and along with all the other benefits from wood , it is also a top income producer for landowners in Georgia."
The Forest Products Laboratory of the U. S. Forest Service points out wood is probably the most environmentally acceptable material for construction, especially when the lumber is derived from a well-managed forest. The laboratory cites air-dried wood as superior because of its lower embodied energy and concludes that exterior walls are better framed with wood because they avoid thermal bridging which might occur with other materials.
Steel framing systems instead of the traditional 2X4's accounted for about 15,000 new homes in 1993,an increase

22/Georgia Forestry/Winter, 1994

peop e
1n the news
ROBERT RUTLEDGE is the new chief forest ranger of the Dekalb County Unit, a unit that formerly served Dekalb and

RUTLEDGE

MUEHLFELT

Gwinnett Counties. Rutledge, a native of Dekalb County and a graduate of Rockdale County High School, came with the Commission as a patrolman in the Butts-Henry County Unit in 1981 and transferred to Dekalb in 1987, where he served as Ranger I until his recent promotion. The chief ranger and his wife, Janet, have two children , Robin and Matthew. The family attends Center Hill Baptist Church...TOM MUEHLFELT is the new aircraft pilot for the Washington District. His parents moved from Illinois to West Palm Beach, Florida when he was a teenager and he graduated from high school in that city. He majored in aviation technology at Southern Illinois University. The pilot, who replaces A. T. BAXTER, who recently retired , has

of 500 residential structures over the previous year, according to one source. The Iron and Steel Institute of America predicts steel will be used to frame onefourth of all new homes by 1997.
Industry sources claim the reason for the shift goes back to the endangered spotted owl issue . Since 1991 , when logging was severely curtailed in the Pacific Northwest to protect the owl , lumber prices have risen dramatically. it is estimated that increased lumber prices have added about $5,000 to the cost of

worked for air freight and air taxi services in Phoenix, Arizona and has served as a seasonal pilot for the Commission . Muehlfelt and his wife Laurie and son, Brett, 14, now make their home in Washington .. .CHIEF RANGER O'NEAL KELLAR of the Stephens County Unit retired recently having served more than 30 years with the Commission. A native of Stephens County, Kellar served four years in the Air Force and later worked in construction before coming with GFC. The retired ranger and his wife , Peggy, have a daughter, Laura, and two grandchildren . The couple is active in Toccoa First Baptist Church, where they work in a pre-school department. Kellar is a member of Toccoa Masonic Lodge 309 and Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta. Following the ranger's retirement, the Stephens Unit was combined with the Habersham , Rabun , and White County Units. The four county units are under the direction of Chief Ranger Brion Williams.
an average house. Regardless of the optimistic predictions
of the steel interests, Loggins and others concerned with the promotion of products from the forests of Georgia the state which leads all other states east of the Mississippi in the production of quality lumber - believe the majority of families planning to buy new homes will choose wood as the most efficient framing material.

THE BOOK CORNER
(continued from book corner story) faced .
One thing is for certain; when 13 volumes are complete, regional flora can be related to continental relatives from a cohesive perspective never before offered. Everything you ever wanted to know about Aora ofNorth America (but were afraid to ask) will be in these pages.
As one prominent botanist put it: "Since the set is incomplete, it remains to be seen whether this will be the work of the century, or a collection of trash ." Lest this diametrical contrast be taken too seriously, it should be noted that this is the same botanist who defined horticulture as "the growing of plants" and forestry as "the cutting down of plants." A graduated moderation of expectations may be more applicable - just like botany provides several names for various plants.
(LOST IN THE WOODS
(confjnued from page 7) by overcast, he knows what types of vegetation grow on the shady side and sunny side of ridges.
He also knows that wild food which sustains animals may be eaten sparingly. If necessary, he knows that he can go two weeks without any food - but two days without water and he's in trouble. Depending on the situation, he knows that he must remain where he is and wait to be found , or move on with some definite objective in mind - but never to the point of exhaustion. In most cases, he knows that someone is looking for him and this knowledge makes hardships easier.
There is another case of being lost in the woods that is relatively easy to deal with. In many states, such as Georgia, increasing population has made it likely that a lost traveler in the woods might very well have wandered onto posted property. In most cases of this sort, all the lost hunter would usually have to do is fire his gun in the air several times and the landowner will have the sheriff promptly rescue him.
(Lynn McElroy is the Commissions Newnan District Ranger.)

Georgia Forestry/Winter,1994/23

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