.. r., ,. ~~ :j\; v~J I t 'I I I J .., , '- . ~- "' ... . ' 1. "'- '~- "--,! J --._.._.\. . v I DEC ... - ) ) - I j GEORGIA FORESTRY e Another First For Georgia (From the Weekly Moultrie Observer) Georgi a has achieved another ''first'' in the nation-one which The record ind icates that the ' 'Keep Georgi a Green'' program is will pay rich dividends in the paying off. Protective measure s future. which have been taken on virtually The Georgia Forestry Comnission reports that this state led the a statewide basis in the last few years have resulted in the conser- entire country in total acres plan ted to trees during 1952. vation of mill ions of dollars worth of valuable timber and Landowners in Georgia al so plant- young trees. It also has served ed almost twice as much privately operated land as 36 other sta tes as an encouragement to other landowners to reforest areas which in combined. the past have been denuded or have During the past year a total of 50,338 acres were reforested in Georgia by private landowners and been lying idle. This program of reforestation, plus the protection being accord - federal, state and local governments. This brought c~orgi a up to fifth in the nation with a total of 357,258 reforested acres since refores t ation efforts were inaugurated in the South. Colquitt county may claim a share in thi s new ''fir s t'' achieved by Ceorgia. The Fores try Commission reveals that 51,400 pine s eedlings have be en s hipped to Colquitt county and planted during 1952-53. ed through fire fighting units, will mean much to Georgia in future years. Farmers are awakenin g to the fact that reforestation is another form of economic insurance. As a consequence. Georgia is taking the 1ead in the nation in taking advantage of t he opportunities to guarantee a bigger supply of lumber and naval stores for the future, as well as providing firmer economic security for themselves. Yol. 6 GEORGIA FORESTRY October, 1953 Published Monthly by the GEORGIA FORESTRY CO:\E\II SSIO:'{, State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia Guyton DeLoach, Director No. 10 e~ (!)u'L 'Woocl.tt!J.~ (From the Atlanta Journa l) Tn e weather is dry. Pine straw and l eaves are tinder on t he forest floor. A spark, a ciga r ette butt, a match, and flames are roari ng through the trees. Volunteers, fire departments and forest service fight the fla mes. The fire is extinguished but not until t housands of dollars of damage has been done. Last week on Poswell Poad, practically in su burban Atlanta, fire destroyed 200 acres of good pine timber. Firemen said they beli eved that picnickers fai led to e xtingui s h t heir camp fire. The picni ckers were trespas sers a nd paid their host for his involuntary hospitality by r uining his property. Last year, after an unusually dry sununer, flames 3wept the ('eorgia woodlands. Now the danger is present again. Forest products contribute millions annually to the state's economy. Thoughtlessness, care less ness, and in some cases, malice each year ta ke their toll despite the best e forts of the men who police t he woods for the great destroyer- fire. Members, Board of Commissioners : G. Philip Morgan, Chairman __ _ ------------ ------------------------------- --- - Savannah J ohn ::\l. McElrath _____ __ _ Macon K. S. Varn ____________________ _Waycross C. l\1. J ordan , Jr. __ _Alamo H. 0. Cummings _____ Donalsonville Georgia Forestry is entered a s second class matter at the Post Office under the Act of August 24, 1912. Member of the Georgia Press Association. EDI TOR A SS OCIATE EDITORS _ * * * * Rob e rt Ruth~ rford, Richard Catherine E. Davis Di s m u k e * * * * DISTRICT OFFICES, GEORGIA FORESTRY CO:\Il\IISSIO~: DISTRICT I-Route 2, Statesboro DISTRICT VI - P. 0. Box 505, Milledgeville DI STRI CT 11- P. 0. Box 26, Camilla DISTRICT VII-Route 1, Rome DISTR ICT 111- P. 0. Box 169, A mer icus DISTRICT VIII-P. 0. Box 811, Waycross DIST RICT IV- P. 0. Box 333, \T e w n a n DISTRICT IX-P. 0. Box 416, Gainesville DIS TR ICT V- P. 0. Box 328, McRae DISTRICT X-P. 0. Box 302, Washington Symbolizing the army of firefighters that girds for battle with wildfires as Georgia's fire season opens is veteran towerman E. W. Knight, who mans Troup County's Crossroads Tower, Here Knight's eagle eye trains the alidade on a tell-tale smoke as he prepares to radio the bearing of the smoke to the dispatcher at forestry unit headquarters. A key man in the detection-suppression organization, the skilled tower lookout stands on constant guard to send the fire crews into action. OCTOBER, 1953 "Operation W ildfire" Mobilization Plans Set For Fire Emergencies Final details of ''Operation Wildfire,'' the Georgi a Forestry Commission's statewide forest fire emergency plan, have been completed, Guyton DeLoach, Commission Direc tor, announced, as he warned of the approach of the state's dangerous fall forest fire season. The director issued an appeal to all Georgians to exercise'' t he utmost caution with cigarettes , matches and campfires in the state's woodlands'' during coming months. Peporting on completion of ''Operati on Wildfire,'' he sa id the need for such a plan was clear1y indicated during a severe forest fire ''blowup'' whi ch covered several North Ceorgia Counties and resulted in the loss of 7 5, 000 acres of timber land. "Fortunately," he added, ''that fire was fought with high efficiency and a minimum of wast ed effort and confusion. Our plans, however, were mapped after we first realized the seriousness of the blowup. Fighting that fire showed us the necess ity for a pre-determined plan for a qui ck changeover from a county-by-county method of attack to fighting fire on a regional, or even a statewide basis.'' ' 'Operation Wildfire , ' ' however, does be gin with the County Forestry l 1nit as a basis, since, in t h e event of a forest fi r e emer gency covering a large acreage, it is t he county units, working as a coordinated team, which will provide the backbone of the attack. "For that reason, " explained H. E . Ruark, Commission fire contro l chief, who was 1arge ly responsible for mapping out the e mergency plan, ' 'each of Georgia' s 132 county forestry units h as its own wildfire emergency plan.'' ''A typi cal county plan,'' he said, ''lists not only the county forestry unit's own perso nnel a nd. e quipment , bu t names,, addresses, and availability of volunteer pers onn el and equipment. The plan contai ns a predetermined 'fire camp' location and the names of persons who will man the fire camp- - volunteer cooks , e mergen cy and volunteer paid labo rers, medical aid personnel, and all other personnel who would be required should a forest fire gain emergency proportions in a county.' Just as each county ranger has hi s own e me rgen cy plan for his own c ounty, so does each district forester have an ''(peration Wildfire'' mapped out for his entire district. Availability of st r eams prevailing winds, type of terrain, forest types, and manyotherpieces ..... manpower .... equipment MIEN WILDFIRE STRIKESover wide areas, the Georgia Forestry Commission's emergency forest fire plan will result in rapid mobilization and concentration of ......................... . cf information vital to the fighting of a forest fire are contained in t he di strict forester' s records. With this information and with the information he has obtained through combining duplicate c opies of his own county ran gers' emergency plans , the district for ester stands ready to combat any large fire in hi s area through ' 'pulling'' of fire fi ghting vehicles , pe rsonnel, and even vol un teer workers from areas with low fire danger ratings into e mergency areas. ''Opera tion Wildfire' ' goes one step further, however. Tn the office of Fire Control Chief Ruark are copies of each of the 132 county forestry units ' emergency plans and each of the 10 di st rict foresters' emergency plans. From (Cont inued on Page 10) .... operating facilities 3 PIU~ radio stations throughout the state. The musicians are (left to right) Harry Chumbler, bass fiddle; Ruel Parker, fiddle; "Junewg'' Thomas, lead guitar; Ray McKay, emcee; Paul Lunsford, rhythm guitar; and Randy Jones, piano. tt ' Fifty Rangers Attend Athens \ \ Training School a.. iN GWRr~IA.Tu RETURN FROM fur SAL or FoR5T PRODUCTS 11 LARGm T~AN FROM - ' Fifty county rangers of the Georgia Forestry Commission attended the Commission's two-day training session September 9-10 at the School of Forestry, tl1t> l'niversity of c~orgia, Athens. Attending the sessions were all newly-employed County Forestry Rangers and thosewho had not attended previous ~ummer training sessions. In an address to the rangers at the opening day's session, Guyton DeLoach, Director of the c~orgia Forestry Commission, declared, "In earlier days, little else was required of a Georgia forest ranger that that he be a competent fire fighter. Today, however, as we make more and more progress in our battle to reduce the losses from wildfire, you rangers must concentrate on bringing an effective over-all program of forestry to your counties. Fighting forest fires in our state still is a big task- - and an important onebut an efficient forestry program recognizes the irnportance of wellmanaged woodlands and the importance of trees as an agricultural crop.'' Outlining the purpose of the Ranger Training School, DeLoach said, ''Heads of our County Fares try Units must be more than firefighters. They must have a detailed knowledge of reforestation, fire prevention, informaand education methods, forest management, law enforcement, and must have a working knowledge of all vehicles ranging from small RANGER SCHOOL SCENES--Bill Murray, of Milledgeville, (top photo), Assistant District Forester, District 6, gives some maintenance tips on tractors and fire plows. James Coad, of Washington, (center photo), gives a lecture on tree identification. Someof the Ranger 8::hool sessions were held in the University of Georgia School of Forestry auditorium, (bottom photo). MANAGEMENT, I. & E. PLAY VITAL ROLES--The "1 earning by doing" plan was followed in many of the Ranger Training School courses. At left, 0. L. Knott, of Atlanta, Assistant Chief, Information and Education, describes operation of a motion picture machine which rangers will operate in their counties. Upper right, rangers learn thinning and selective cutting by tallying individual trees that they would remove in a harvesting operation. jeeps to heavy duty tractor sup- pressi.on u, ,nits used in fire sup- press1on. 1he rangers were given instructions in the newest methods of forest fire fighting and prevention, forest management and preventa.tive maintenance of equipment. Training topics included administration, fire preventionand suppression, reforestation, forest management and information and education, including press, radio, visual aids and demonstrations. The two- day school was followed by a series of one- day training sessions held in each of the ten forestry districts in Georgia. Instructors for these short sessions were James C. Turner, Tenth District Forester; W. N. Stone, First District Forester; and L. L. Lundy, Assista~t Fire Control chief. SCHOOL DAYS FOR RANGERS--Rangers representing 50 Georgia counties attended. They include, (bottom left photo) M. W. Page, of Seminole County, (left) and Frank Campbell, of Catoosa County. With a crop of 100,000,000 seedlings slated to be planted in Georgia during the next few months, three rangers (right photo) study thoroughly all phases of reforestation courses. The group inspecting the tree planter includes W. H. Dawkins, of Lincoln County; J. E. Vickers, of Irwin County, and Cy Perkins, of Clay County. 7 GEOR GI A FORESTRY Central Ge orgia Survey ?It~ r/C~Ze 'J~'Zea4e ierce nt of ~he area support s s tands of sawtim- be r. lhe volurre of s awtimber in Central Georgia decreased s harpl y from 13 . 3 billion board feet in ]03fi to 0. 2 billion in 10S2 , a los .s of 3 1 perce nt. Thi s loss was re c orded despit e a large in c re ase in fore s t area and was explained by the fa c t that muc h of th e land -whi c h has r ece ntl y r e ve rt ed to for es t s support s only stand s of s eed l in gs and s apli ngs which, as yet, c ontain no s aw timbe r volum e . Pine s pe c i es ma ke up more than half the pre sent s awtimber volume with l.obloll y being the mos t pre valen t s in g l e s pec ies. Jl a rdwood trees c ont a in 4fi pe r ce nt of the boa rd-fo ot vo lume , the most important be ing bla c kgum and s wee t gum. OCTOBER, 1953 Rangers In The News 8 Barber To Head Fifth District Assistant District Forester Frank Craven and Seventh District Forest Bangers are making weekly television appearances on Price Selby's ''Fin ar:d Feather Club': a Monday evening feature telecast. ''The Fin and Feather Club'' is a 30 minute program dedicated to hunting, fishing, and outdoor life. The program originates from Station "ROM in Home, Georgia. In h{s portion of the program, Mr. Craven and Mr. Selby, with the help of Seventh District Rangers, explain to viewers fire suppression and prevention activities by showing the uses of the di:; patcher' s map, two way radio, and fire fighting equipment. He emphasizes proper planting methods by sand box demonstrations and he stresses forest fire prevention by using pictures and slides. ''SnokeyBear '' inperson- -live and playful, but safely caged was Craven's special guest on a recent program. rvk.lscogee County Ranger Floyd Cook has made long range plans for construction of a forestry camp and experiment farm in Muscogee County. rv1r. Cook has negotiated for 20 acres of land on which he hopes to to build a large T-shape building to serve as a camp center for 4-H members, Scouts, and other organizations. He presently is seeking aid of Muscogee County lumber and construction companies for his project. ~ I George Gay, Mitchell County Forest Ranger, has promoted an industrial-planting pro g ram whereby wood-using industri es are purchasing pine seedlings and distributing them free in limited ~antiti es to landowners in Mitchell County. Pulpwood, sawtimber and pole ope r ators are all participatin g in behalf of this project. ~.~..~~:~~;--r--~ ~,.,-~""-!.... ~Ji': . ... -~ r. \ ) I J' \ ) ( TUrner F. Barber, Jr. Turner F. Barber, Jr., who ha s been serving as .\ ssist antDi stric t Forester in Charge of Management in the Third District, Americus, has been named Fifth District Forester with headquarters a t ~'cPae. Barber, a native of Macon, first began his forestr y work as a Pange r in Coughe rty County in July , 194Q. In }QSO, he went to hi s pos t in Arrericu s. He is a graduate of t he George Foster Peabody School of Forestry of the Vniversity of Ge o r g i a . Barber succeeds Miles S. Koger, who re signed to enter the business field . In conm enting on the appointment of Barber, Commission rirector Cuyton DeLoach expressed regret at losing the services of Koger, but stated that he was glad to be able to fill the position with a man of Barber's high ability and extensive experience. "Barber, "saidDeLoach, "enters his new job with a commendabJ e record with the Georgia Forestry Commission, andwecan assure the citizens of District 5 counties that they have at their s ervice a highly- qualified, cornpe tent man.'' 9 GEORGIA FORESTRY dJ.o~z dJ.o/ted~tlf t Juccdion Current Literature Available To Public The importance of ''thinking before acting'' is stressed in current literature available to foresters, educators, and a]l interested in forestry, whether the actor be a timber owner desiring to sell his wood products, a student choosing a career, or a sawmill operator planning to harvest a tract of timber The P. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a number of publications designed for educators. ''Materials To 1-'elp :Yeach Forest Conservation '' describes materials for CurriculumPui ld ing; Audio- Vi sua lAids, includingTranscriptions, ~1aps, Films, Posters and Charts; Bulletins; Bookmarks; Tree Description Sheets; Teach- ing 01 tlines; and Prie f Pamphlets especially helpful to teach~ ers and easily understandable by s tudents. Requests for the conservation bibliography should be addressed to Regional Forester, V. S. Forest Servi c e, 50 Seventh St.]\'. E., Atlanta 5, Georgia. The development of fore s t con- servation in this country from the days when the first colonists landed on Ameri c a's fares ted shores to the present is traced in a 24 page booklet prepared by the Fore .s t Service titled ''Highlights In the History of Forest Conser- vation''. A copy of the book- let, Information Pulletin R3, is available for 15 cents from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. ''Is Forestry ~1y Career ' ' will answer many questions for students seeking guidance in choosing a career. The brochure, designed to attract high school seniors to the career of forestry, is available at 14 cents per copy from the Southern Begional Education Board, Committee on the Regional Education Roard, Committee on the Regional Program in Forestry Education and Pesearch, fi30 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta. Many publications have been recently released to aid both the timber owner and opera tor. The Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Asheville, North Carolina, hasrevealedtheresults of a study of three 40-acre timber tracts near ~facon, Georgi a, point ing out that a tree farmer by working only two to four hours per acre each year may double his annual gross income. ''Managing Southern Piedmont Farm Woodlands Pays Dividends,'' byT. A. ~1cClay, indicates that returns were from $2.75 to $Q. 25 per acre, and t he stands were improved over a fouryear period by carefully pre-plan- ning management methods on the tra cts. FAIR SFASON UNDER WAY- -Fall means fair season in Geo r gia, and one of the earliest fairs at which Georgia Forestry Commission material was displayed was in Polk County. The exhibit featured a panel display highlighting fire prevention and forest management. Smokey Bear ushered the onlookers into the exhibit booth. ' ' Suggestions for Pruning Southern Pines 1 1 are presented in leaflet number 35 issued by the Alabama Poletecnic Institute, Agricultural Experiment Stat ion, Auburn, Alabama. Occasional Paper 125 of the Southern Forest Experiment Station, New Orleans, Loui siana, present s guides for use in deciding when to cut southern upland hardwoods, discusses southern red oaks, white oaks, and yellow- poplar, and the chief products into which these species are cut , except for tight cooperage bolts and face veneer logs. A method of determining when a tree is financially mature, is presented and the booklet co ncludes with a set of simple marking guides that can be used in the woods. ''The Pse of Sawdust for ~lulches and Soil Improvement,' 1 Circular Number l ql, reviews in son~ detail benefits and techniques as well as problems in using sawdust as a mulch, and in place of manure as condtional. Such usages are a promising outlet for excess sawdust, the l'SDA circular points out. ''Forest Magic' 1 by f'onald J. Hardenbrook, vice president of Union Bag and Paper Corporation , is a 24-page booklet dealing with the story of man 1 s uti liz at ion of the forest resources and the econo mi c influences of the expanding pulp and paper industry in American economy. Another publication available from the Superintendent of Cocuments, for al cents, will aid small timber owners in computing Federal Income Tax. The material is written in non- technica 1 language and was prepared by the Forest Service for the timber owner and those who may advise him on his tax problems. l11e 55-page hand book describes the ordinary income and capital gains methods of reporting receipts from sale s of timber and forest products. Attention is given to income tax treatment of timber losses from ( Continu ed on P ag e 10 ) IVIobilization--- (Continued from Page 2) this information, the Commission official has an over-all statevi de erne rgen cy plan. Basic details of the plan are the same as those which are contained in the counties' plans - except they are on a s ta tewi de basis. Locations of fire camps cannot be pre-determined, since none knows where a large regional fire would begin, but the county and the district plans would in nearly every case provide this information. In addition, the statewide plan sets in motion what is known in army terminology as an ''S. 0. P." --Standard Operating Procedure in case a blowup should occur in the state. Should a forest fire assume such proportions that the fire fighting forces of an entire district would be unable to cope with it, the statewide "Operation Wildfire'' is put into effect. The director emphasized that the plan was more than an emergency setup. ''One of our main purposes,'' he said, ''is to prevent a forest fire emergency occuring in the first place. This will be made possible through the fact that the plan calls for detailed instructions on relaying- - from county to district and from district to Atlanta headquarters- the first indication that forest fires are reaching an emergency stage in any area and that out-ofcounty or out-of-district aid might be needed. (Continued from Page 9) f:re or other casualty and to the treatment of the costs of forest ownership and operation. Included are questions and answers, sample problems and a list of the estimated useful lives and depreciation rates for logging, sawmill and agricultural machinery and equipment as compiled by the U. S. Treasury Department. The booklet points out that, ''many4 if not most, small forest-land owners now pay more in income taxes on timber sold or harvested OCTOBER, 1953 10 ' -- J~ FIRE WARDEN . : ' -~ ' . EPDRT FIRES HERE VOWNTEER Fl RE WARDENS HANG OUT THEIR SIIINGLES-- These eye-catching red-and-white signs will marl< residences and businesses of volunteer fire wardens throughout Georgia. Designation of the volunteer wardens and use of the signs will provide for more rapid reporting of fires, particularly in inaccessible areas and on days of bad visibility from towers. than the law requires, and such overpayment detracts from the eco mic incentive to practice forestry.'' Several booklets available from the Tennessee Valley Authority, ~orris, Tennessee, deal particularly with sawmilling and logging. ''Logging Facts for Sawmill Opera tors analyze and answers these questions: Do I have the Right Logging Equipment?, What Size Trees Should I Cut?, What Are My Logging Costs?, and How Can I Reduce Them?. Accompanying each section is a rating sheet, chart or analysis form, for use by the opera tor in obtaining a clear picture of whether or not hi s equipment and methods are practicable and profitable, and what s teps can be taken for improvement. "Effects of Log Size and Grade on Production Rate and Lumber Grade in Shortleaf Pi ne,'' covers a study of sawing pine logs on a circular sawmill to compare production rate and lurrber grade , yield from different sizes and grade s of logs, and to check Tnternational Quarter Inch Log Rule against mill tally. Cutting large logs (10 to 11 inches)increased production by 6R percent over small log runs (6. 4 inch average diameter) ''Sawmill Facts '' relates information collecte 1 during a study of SR circular s awmills in the Valley, It shows the importance of right equipment, right number of men, how log size affects production rate and how inc r eased ope rating time adds to profit. Another study of iS logging o- peration~ in the Te nnessee Vall ey i s the bas i s for ''Hardwood Logging Co s ts in the Te nnessee Vall ey, Techni cal Note ln, s howing t hat the chain saw is about twice as e ffective in felli ng and bucking as the c ro ss-cut saw . Loading and hauling by various methods are also conpa red. At c urr t>nt wagP rate s , t he f ollowi ng rule of th umb indicates the approximate ef fect of tree diameter on logging co s t s : Logging costs de crease one dollar per thousa nd board fe et with eac h increase of o ne inch in treP di ametPr breas t hei gh t. Georgia Forestry October 1953 fire won't do the iob People like this start forty thousand woods fires a year. Why7 Fire is not the answer to the boll weevil problem. It will not rid a farm of snakes or chiggers. Timberland, burned or unburned, is rarely good pasture. Yet, millions of acres of green woodland are burned over purposely every year. Mature trees are injured little trees die. u tw 1Jot:'=, Everyone loses because a few people overestimate the usefulness of fire and underestimate the damage it does to America's timber resources. {.~ \ ~ ( ~::-~~ )J STOPS 6~ ~~ lOLL WEEVIL 1 Wood, r.ru.illlre lno~l wi U nolridafildof .... ~a,_ G REENS U,. PASTU RE7 ~ -" . ... "" '/ . :,...I._~ -~ ...~ Some r...d ;, h.JIIt.l itedfor pulu re . Some ~~ he1t for tr..l. Fir douo'l h.lp lhrlyp kiLLS SNAI< ES7 Sn u Ulu lly "'"9 to q.t "' 'I wh11 th wood1 burn . l1ttl fru n~r do. Entered as second cla~s matter at t he Post Otf1ce, Atlanta , Georgia. Library School of For P ..L' J University of Geo1gia Athens, Georgia