GEORG I A FORESTRY CJitorial Reforestation Disproves Dire Forestry Units Effect S avings 1920 Prediction (From the Bulloch Herald) We here in Statesboro are hardly aware of them. We pass the old airbase and see a radio transmitter aerial sticking up through the trees and we may wonder who has such a high aerial, but that's as far as we v.onder. But the farmers in the county those with \\Oodlands, with timber - are keenly aware of them. They recognize them as one of the county's JOOst valuable servic~ groups. The Bulloch county fire department, they might be called. They are the &lloch County Forestry Unit of the Georgia Forestry Commission. Headed by J. W. Roberts, the group uncludes, T. A. Dominy, Carl Chester, and W. A. Bird, patrolmen; Mrs. Pauline Chester, R. R. Ellis, and Etna F. Bird, fire tower watchers; Reggie Dick- erson, 1n charge of firebreak eq1npment; and Mrs. Randolph Dickerson, dispatcher. That this group means thousands of dollars saved in &lloch county is indicated by the unit's record from July l, 1951, to January 30, 1952. With the period a very dry one, only 28 wildfires broke out, burning only 160 acres. During the same period :j..n 195051, the unit suppressed 38 fires with only 300 acres burned. Mr. Roberts states that the citizens ctfBulloch county deserve all the credit for this fine record. The landowners, naval stores \\Orkers, motorists - all have a hand in the business of saving our county' s woodlands . (Continued on Page 10) GEORGIA FORESTRY Vol. 5 March, 1952 No. 3 Published Monthly by the GEORGIA FORESTRY COl\11\IISSION, State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia. Guyton DeLoach, Director Members, Board of Commissioners: G. Philip Morgan, Chairman...........................................................~...................................Savannah John M. McElrath.....~~Macon K. S. Varn....................................Waycross C. M. Jordan, Jr...............................Alamo H. 0. Cummings............Donalsonville Georgia Forestry is entered as second-class matter at the Post Office under the Act of August 24, 1912. Member of t he Georgia Press Association. EADSSITOOCRIA....T.....E......E....D.....I..T....O.....R~S___________-__*______*_~__-__*_____*__..__~_______~_.._.._.._._.._.._._.._.._..R....o...b...e....r..t.RR. uEth. eDrfaovrids Betty Andrews * * * * DISTRICT OFFICES, GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION: DISTRICT I-P. 0. Box 268, Statesboro DISTRICT VI-Mayfair Hall Milledgeville ' DISTRICT li-P. 0. Box 122, Camilla DISTRIC~ III-P. 0. Box 169, Amencus DISTRICT VII-West Building Rome ' DISTRICT VII I-P. 0. Box 811, Waycross DISTRICT IV- P. 0 . Box 333, Newnan DISTRICT IX- P. 0. Box 416, Ga i n e s vill e DI STRICT X-P. 0. Box 302, Washington (From the Waycross Journal Herald) Forestry in Ware County faces a bright future in '52. With sawmills hurnrni.ng a merry tune, with additional pulpmills slated to open during the next 12 months, and with an ever- increasing demand for the products of our forestlands, Ware County 'tree farmers'' may well liken their green woodlands to ''money in the bank." We in this area are fortunate in that we reside in a state noted nationwide both for its timber resources and the manner in which it is constantly strengthening these resources. We have indeed travelled far from the day in 1920 when eminent forest authorities predicted all Georgia's merchantable timber would be completely cut away The fallacv of this prediction may be seen in the fact that today Georg1a' s annual timber crop 1s worth more than her combined cotton and tobacco yields, that half the world's naval stores come from our state, and that Georgia leads the entire South in pulpwood production. l'tlore than 4000 different products are derived from the wood grown in Georgia' s forests. Trees and science comoine to give us many of the things we use daily in industry, national defense, business and home life. Without a full supply of readily available forest products our daily lives would be greatly changed, our standard of living lowered, our national security threatened. Primary among the woodland products are those pictured in the illustration from a poster prepared for school use by American Forest Products Industries, Inc: 2 MARCH, 1952 e.M.J~ Fores try Units Fight Rena,md. inesville. 6 MARCH , 1952 eJ/alJ, Pike r1fuud~&t dJ,cvun 'II#tiid Two more counties, Hall and Pike, have signed agreements with the Georgi a Forestry Corrmiss ion to establish organized County Forestry Units July l. Details on equipment and personnel for Pike County still were being worked out as Georgia Forestry went to press, and Curtis Barnes, District Forester, District 4, Georgia Forestry Commission, reeorted c c present plans call for a County Forestry Unit which the Fourth District can certainly be proud of. A total of 71,686 acres of Pike County's area is in forestland, and we are planning an intensive forestry program for this area.'' Permanent personnel of the Hall County unit will be a County Forest Ranger and Assistant Ranger. A towerman-dispatcher will serve eight months and a fire crewman six rmnths during the most dangerous fire seasons of fall and spring. Suppression equiprrent will include a jeep with fire plow attachment, andone-half ton pickup truck with water pump, hose~ and hand .tools. Two:way FM radios in the vehicles and towers will facilitate speedier action in fire suppression activities andcoordinationof efforts. Organized fire protection has been proven successful in decreasing fire fosses according to Ninth District Forester Ollie Burtz. Many counties with Forestry Units are able to maintain records showing losses of less than one-half of one per cent of forest fires, while a year's record of losses in an unprotected county may reveal 20 per cent or more of the timberland destroyed by fire. Increase In Hardwoods Resource Survey Made In Southwest Georgia Results of a highly comprehensive Georgia Forest Resources Survey, made by the U. S. Forest E~perim~nt Station in cooperatwn w1th the Georgia Forestry Commission, the University of Georgia, Union Bag and Paper Corporation, and St. Regis Paper Company, were announced this month. The results have been published in a recent booklet, Forest Sur- vey Release No. 37, entitled ''Forest Statistics for Southwest Georgia, 1951,'' by James F. Mc- Cormack, Forester, Division of Forest Economics. The booklet is issued by the U. S. Forest Service and the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Ashville, N. C. The survey group eventually will report on forest resources of the entire state, ant: work toward that goal is progressing steadily. The Southwest Georgia area, or Unit No. 2, was the first on which a formal report has been issued, ar;td reports on_ the remaining Georg1a areas w1ll be released as they are completed. One of the outstanding facts revealed in the recently completed survey was that the number of sound trees in the sapling, pole, and small saw-t1mber size classes increased sharply during th~ 16 year period between surveys. This increase occurred in all species groups and amounted to 75 per cent, or more than 300 million -trees. Another interesting fact brought out in the survey was that while the hardwood species group showed a highly appreciable gain, 160 Per cmt for soft textured hardwood and 177 per cent for hard textured hardwoods, Pine trees increased only 19" per cent. Further evidence of a Pine decrease and a hardwood increase 1s (Continued on Page 10) FOR A BE'I'TER FORESTRY FUroRE- Hall county Commissioner, Joe Chandler, signs the contract bringing organized forest fire protection to Hall County as left to right, George Jordan, Harry Crow, fire investie:ator. and Ollie Burtz, Ninth District Forester look on. 7 Editors Offered Free Mats Georgia editors now are being offered a new set of 28 ready-made ad mats emphasizing forest fire prevention methods, correct management practices, and the importance of our forest resources to the economic welfare of the state and nation. The mats are furnished free of charge to editors upon request to American Forest Products Industries, Inc., 1319 Eighteenth St., N. W., Wash- ington, D. C. Editors already have been provided with 1952 Mat Proof Books from which they can order direct. Each ad may be secured. in several column widths, afford1ng a more flexible make-up treatment to GEORGIA FORESTRY dJ.~P~,~~ (!)I grua~ Ptn Meei Featuring Southern forestry progress, sessions by committees, and talks by outstanding speakers, the annual meeting of the Southern Pine Association will be held in c. New Orleans April 7-9, according to H. Berckes, secretary-manager. Among speakers who will headline the program at the Roosevelt Hotel are Dr. Arthur A. Smith, lecturer and writer on economics; Thurman Sensing, executive vicepresident of the Southern States Industrial Council, and Arthur A. Hood, editor of the American Lumberman. Other leaders will give talks on such subjects as forest conservation, lumber procurement, and wood recovery at sawmills. E. 0. Lightsey ,, Association president, will.open the general session on Monday, April 7, when he gives his president's message. Sensing will speak on ''The South of 1952," and Hoods' t~oic will be ''Market Opportunities.'' FoUowing luncheon sessions by the SPA and the SP IC committees on Nominations and Resolutions, an industry-wide meeting will be held under the auspices of the Southern Pine Industry Committee. R. M. Eagle, chairman of SPIC, will preside at this afternoon session and will review SPIC activities. Brig. Gen. A. W. Pence, ass1stant chief of engineers for m1litary supply and procurement, will give a statement to the group on l~~er procurement, followed by a statement from Robert N. Denham, former general counsel of the National Labor Helat10ns Board. An official from the Office of Price Stabilization also will address the meeting, and Berckes will talk on ''Legislative Pros- pects for 1952.'' The April 8 morning session of subscribers will be centered around the theme, ''Progress of Private Forestry in the South." editors. These ads are part1cularly designed for use by stores, banks, hotP.ls, and other businesses, as well as by forest products producers and salesmen. The advertisements are easily adapted to inject local names, facts, and figures, thus appealing to particular communities through ''close to home'' phrasi ng. The AFP I suggests that t hose obtaining the ads use the state ''Keep Green'' emblem, which also is furnished free of charge, in mat form. FFA Boys To Attend 1952 Camp At Rutledge Seventy North Georgia members of the Future Farmers of America are exPected to attend the annual Georgia Boys' torestry summer camp at Camp Rutledge, Morgan County, June 15-21, Commission Director Guyton DeLoach announced this week. Boys attending the camp will be chosen on the basis of their interest in forestry, so that those most genuinely interested will have the opportunity to receive specialized instruction from well qualified and experienced teachers. Spans or ing the camp are five member firms of the Southern Pulpwood Conservation Association, Union Bag and Paper Corporation, Savannah, the Macon Kraft Company, Macon; Brunswick Pulp and Paper Company, Brunswick; Gair Woodlands Corporation, Brunswick; and St. Mary's Kraft Corporation, St. Mary's. These firms pay all of the boys' expenses other than their transportation. A roster of persons who will serve as advisors is now being composed. These instructors will conduct lecture and demonstration periods especially designed to develop the campers' interests in forestry management and the necessity for forest protection and conservation. Supervisors will discuss the problems which foresters and rangers must encounter in their work, and will attempt to clarify them for their listeners. 8 MARCH, 1952 Foresters And Rangers In The News Seven 4-H Club members in Jones County have been given the opportunity to ''tree farm'' one acre of land as their project for the coming year. The Macon Kraft Company donated 1,000 seedlings to each of the boys. The young apprentice farmers will practice all the rules of good management and .strive to make their small plots examples of correct farming methods. The project was undertaken to give the boys valuable practical experience and furnish a forestry yardstick for the rest of the community. Jones County Forester E. T. Carnes is assisting the boys in their tree planting venture. Those t.aking part are Jimmy PenningtonJom Bentley, Raymond Coulter, Tommy Davis, Dawson Gordon, Jr., Berry Moore, and Morgan Turk. ~'' ~,../ Harrow County's Forestry Unit will soon move its headquarters to a site on the Monroe highway near the edge of Yargo Park. The Unit's 100-foot lookout tower also will be constructed on park property, and fire-fighting equipment will be stored in sheds furnished by the State Parks Department, according to Ranger W. J. Casey. A special fire prevention program will be centered around the area fronting on the Monroe highway, which always has been a danger spot for forest fires. Drivers will view ''Keep Georgia Green'' .signs along thehighway cautioning them to do their part in the program to preserve state forests. Raymond C. Hill, Assistant District Forester, is working with the State Parks Department to carry out this program. Pierce County Ranger R. C. James, and Troup County Forester Morris Tindall recently stressed the importance of forest fire prevention and the value of the state's timber resources in talks to civic organizations. Tindall, in his speech to the Lagrange Kiwanis Club, noted the decrease in fire loss figures since the Troup County Forestry Unit was established in 1949. He also emphasized the progress made in increasing personnel and equipment since the Unit was first organized. Tindall supplemented his lecture with a film, ''Dead Out,'' a dramatic portrayal of the disasters caused by forest fires and the precautions which should be taken to prevent such tragedies. James addressed the P. T. A. of the Main Street Grammar School in Baxley, stressing self-interest in conserving state forests. He also supplemented his discussion with forestry films. S~10KEY IN TilE FlESH! - 'fwi,ggs County Forester Bill Murray holds a tantalizing tidbit al.>ove the inquisitive nose of Smokey Bear, unofficial mascot of his Forestry Unit. Smokey was taken from his native hal.>itat in the Altamaha river swamps and is now a veteran memlJer of the 11\' iggs Unit, serving in teaching fire prevention to children, tourists and other county residents. Ranger J. C. Pace and Mrs. Catherine C. Morrison, editor of the Dade County Times, are collaborating on weekly publication of a special forestry feature written by prominent local residents. The features appear on the front page with an illustrated head and boost fire prevention and suppression and forest management work in the county. The first three articles printed in the series were, ''Dade's Forests of Yesteryear and Today , '' by Jules A. Case, ''Take Care of the Forest," by LarkinS. Blake, and ''The Future of the Forests,' ' by C. Raymond Street. 9 GEORGIA FORESTRY University Nursery Again In Operation The University of Georgia's Forestry School Nursery is back in operation for the first time s ince 1942 when wartime conditions forced its closure. Guyton DeLoach, Director, Georgia Forestry Commission, and Dr. W. A. CampbelL U. S. Division of Forest Pathology, were responsible for reacti vatmg the nursery last year as a research station and a practical training center for forestry students . Since May of 1951 the Georgia Forestry Commission has supervised the rehabilitation of the old nursery site which was first established in 1916 on land now occupied by the stadium. Last ~ay, .James H. Hill, Assistant Director, Management and Nursery, Georgia Fares try Commission, and staff members of the Davisboro Nursery supervised the planting of seedlin_gs. All equipment used to modernize the nursery site was furnished by the Commission,including the portable irrigation equipment which was used to improve tne water system. The old nursery buildmg was converted by the students into a rustic lodge where five of them are now living. During ~he past year improvement proJects have been given foremost attention since much was needed to be done on the old site. At~ention is now being turned to us1ng.the nursery as a practical exper1ence center for nursery management students and for research on such problems as weed c<.m trol, soil improvement, denS1ty of sowing, disease control, mulches, and fertilization in an attempt to remedy some of the farmer's problems. Specialized research is also being carried on by Dr. Campbell to learn more about the littleleaf disease of shortleaf pine. Jn January,.a crop of seedlings including 160,000 Loblolly Pine, 25,000 Slash Pine, 27,000 Shortleaf Pine, 13,000 V/hite Pine, ll, 000 Arizona Cypress, and 6, 000 Red Cedar was lifted and sold to Georgia farmers. Forestry v:as among the featured subjects at the 1952 meeting of the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers held in Atlanta during February. Presiding at the fares try discussions were Guyton DeLoach, Director, Georgia Forestry Commission, C. Dorsey Dyer, Extension Forester, Tifton, Dean D. J. Weddell, University of Georgia School of Forestry, Athens, and I van R. Martin, Extension Forester, Auburn, Alabama. Problems of wood waste, water management, logging machinery, pulpwood and paper production, insect damage, and tree diseases were considered at the various meetings. Floyd Cossitt and Carl Strauss of the U. S. Forest Service, who have just recently returned from Japan and Germany, gave 1nformative illustrated lectures on forestry methods and conditions 1n the two foreign countries. S~OONTS GAIN FIRSniAND EXPERIENCE- University of Georgia Forestry school students are shown removing pine straw mulch at the school's nursers. PINE SEEDLINGS AT UNIVERSITY ~URSEP.Y - Pictured are beds of southern pine seedlings School of Forestry nursery. MARCH , 1952 10 Resource Survey Made In Southwest Georgi a . . . . (Continued from Page 6) seen in a survey chart showing change in area of forest types from 1934 to 1951. Longleaf and Slash Pine showed a 350,000 acre decrease, other Pine species a 50,000 acre decrease, yet bottom- land hardwoods showed more than a 300,000 acre increase. Lpland hardwoods showed a 25, 000 acre increase, and Cypress and Tupelo combined to rise slightly above the 100,000 acre mark. . Nearly 98 percent of the forest land in the Southwest Georgia Unit is in the private ownership, the remainder being held by Federal, State, or county and municipal agencies. Farmers o.vn 85 per cent of the private forest acreage, and nearly all the forest land, according to the survey report, can be considered commercial in character, since less than 100 acres are included in parks or other areas where timber cutting is not permitted. Chief reason given for the shift from hardwood to pine was that of cutting practices used in harvesting timber. Where stands of pine are mixed with hardwoods or cypress, the preferred Pine timber is often cut, leaving the less desirable species to occupy the site. Under resurvey standards, which divide the forest into types on the basis of cubic volume or number of stems, the Pine types still predominate, however, occupying 60 per cent of the area's forest land. Hardwood types, including hardwood-pine mixtures, occur on 1.1 million acres, or 37 per cent, and the cypress type occupies the remaining three per cent. A definite increase in the number of smaller trees was noted, an increase undoubted!y due to a shift from old-growth ~o secondgro.vth conditions. Most of the change, however, was attributed to more intensive fire protect ion. (Fourteen of the 22 counties composing the Survey Unit No. 2 are under organized forest protection of the Georgia Forestry Coomission. This fact is also thought to account for the better cutting practices, reforestation, and better conservation practices in turpentining, which in turn brought about the increase m number of smaller trees.). Units Effect Savin~ . . . . ( Con'tinued from Page 1) When you' re in the \\Qods, thinkbefore you toss away that lighted cigarette. Think- before you burn o {f fields and woodlmds. Think before you burn your hedge rows. Think- before you burn dead trees and brush when you clean up new ground. Think -before _you leave a fire after a picnic, fishing trip, or camping-out trip. Think - before you burn 'off somebody else's woods in order to ''make the grass greener'' for your cattle. The forestry unit is on duty 24 hours a day. Their equipment includes five fire-fighting trucks, fully equipped; t\\Q with two-way radios; two crawler tractors for firebreak construction; and three lookout towers for spotting fires. This Forestry Unit is yours use it, for safety and profit. Forestcy lbi ts Figilt Fires . (Continued from Page 2) an~ to use a~tomobile ash trays wh1le trave.l bng on the highway. . Lessening of high winds, rain 1n some areas, and the work of the 10~ County Forestry Units in battl1ng and suppressing the flames overcam~ ~he wildfire danger, and the cnt1cal period was over. ''This first serious wildfire flareup of the current forest fire season,'' said DeLoach," once again emphasized two highly 1rhportant facts. First, brush burning on dry, windy days is a highly dangerous activity. Farmers and landowners planning to burn debris should at all times notify their County Forester or Ranger of their intentions.'' ''The second fact emphasized,'' the Director added, ''was that the \\Qrk shown by the men of these various County Forestrv Units was of the highest calibre." MOTORISTS, TAKE HEED - This sign located in StephenS county on the Yonah Dam Road cautions motorists to beware the dangerous curve ahead as well as alerting tbem to tne need of fire prevention in wooded areas. P~ting of the sign was part of stephens County's efforts to carry out an extensive ' 'Keep Georgia Green' ' program and tp help the c:u rren t $1000 Keep Green Forest Fire Prevention contest. Area Forester c. N. Brightwell and Ranger owen J. Dean placed the signs. Air Patrol Aids Rangers.... (Continued from Page 5) Forest fire investigators of the Georgia Forestry Coomiss ion are aided in tracking do.vn firebugs by the aerial firefighter, who, with a high powered aerial crurera, is able to photograph action of persons on the ground. Law enforcement men have hailed the air patrol as a ''great step ahead'' in bringing to justice those who set fire to the woods. The air patrol will be utilized by District Foresters on the basis of greatest need. -- ......_._._~ - ' -- eor 18 March 1982 -"- - ~ wr- .. -- .. ----.... - - -- - Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Atlanta, Georgia. i George Fo -.ter Sc:bool ot Fo reatq l1n:lversity at Athens . ..( -