550 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The noncommercial forests, principally in Texas and Oklahoma, 

 are not only extensive in area but also are used considerably by live- 

 stock. The oak-hickory belt in Texas, west of the shortleaf and 

 loblolly pine-hardwood type, usually contains post oak, blackjack oak, 

 and hickory. The accessible tender shoots and sprouts of the tree 

 species (especially on cut-over areas), as well as those of sassafras, 

 persimmon, and other smaller trees are browsed. Among the grasses 

 the needlegrasses, panic grasses, and broomsedge furnish considerable 

 forage. 



FOREST RANGE PROBLEMS 



Among the more important problems in the grazing of southern 

 forest lands are : The widespread practice of uncontrolled burning to 

 remove unused grass, the serious damage by hogs in rooting out 

 longleaf pine seedlings, and the grazing of sprouts of valuable timber 

 species in the southern Appalachian hardwoods. Another very 

 important problem is the need for a more adequate coordination 

 between the grazing on forest ranges, the use of improved pastures, 

 and supplemental winter feeding. 



In a later section, "Protection Against Fire", it is shown that an 

 average of 37,571,500 acres of forest land were burned annually from 

 1926 to 1930 in the South, mostly on areas where no organized 

 attempt was made to control fires. A large part of these fires occur 

 in the southern pine belt and are mainly set by livestock owners to 

 remove the rough and to keep down the undergrowth. Fires are 

 also set in the belief that they contribute to the control of insect 

 pests, and in some instances to keep the country open for hunting. 

 Many stockmen also burn^the forest undergrowth in the belief that 

 the quality of forage is improved. Green, 6 reports substantially 

 greater gains in weights of cattle on burned forest range in southern 

 Mississippi as compared to cattle on an adjacent unburned area. 



Forest Service studies show that uncontrolled fires have already 

 caused great damage to southern pine forests, and are especially 

 damaging to turpentined trees, which are seldom carefully protected 

 after the turpentine operations have ended. Uncontrolled fires on 

 forest land kill out pine reproduction and retard the restocking of many 

 tree species, although longleaf pine is particularly resistant to fires. 

 The coordination of grazing use with timber production requires 

 either the prevention or the control of fire to insure the success of 

 forestry undertakings. 



In the southern Appalachians burning to improve forest range is 

 much less widespread than in the pine belt of the South. Unfenced 

 forest grazing is of less importance than formerly because, with the 

 better grade of livestock now being raised and fence laws which make 

 the stock owner liable for trespass, more of the animals are being 

 grazed on improved farm pastures. Some sporadic grazing damage to 

 the better tree species such as yellow poplar, oak, and chestnut occurs 

 in the coves and on lower mountain slopes when cattle congregate 

 there. 



Studies by the Forest Service have shown that considerable damage 

 is done to longleaf pine reproduction by hogs, which run at large 

 throughout the year. Mast acorns and nuts from hardwoods 



6 Greene, S. W. The Stockman's Interest in Protecting Forest and Range from Fire. Proc. Eleventh 

 Southern Forestry Congress. 1929. 



