854 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



natural reproduction, have been largely wiped out by subsequent 

 fires. Most of the present annual increase in devastation is in the 

 pine types. 



In the Lake States, forest devastation began with the rise of com- 

 mercial logging about 1850 and reached its peak about 1910. As the 

 area of cut-over land increased, slash accumulated and fires became 

 more and more common, in bad years reaching catastrophic propor- 

 tions. With the decline of destructive logging and its vast accumu- 

 lation of slashings, standing snags, and other inflammable material, 

 the conditions essential for severe conflagrations resulting in extensive 

 forest devastation have also declined. Of the 560,000 acres burned 

 annually, some 90,000 acres are left in a devastated condition. 



In the South, no devastation of consequence, within the meaning 

 of the definition, is going on in hardwood types, although deterioration 

 is serious. Of the possibly 415,000 acres estimated as being devas- 

 tated annually in the pine types, nearly 90 percent is longleaf and 

 slash-pine land. The major causes of this devastation are cutting, 

 fire, turpentining, and hogs. Turpentining, however, seldom causes 

 devastation unless followed by cutting and fire, but may be a potent 

 cause of deterioration. 



Good stands of longleaf in the western Gulf States, frequently run- 

 ning from 10,000 to 15,000 board feet to the acre over large areas, 

 have invited the use of skidders, which, as ordinarily operated, break 

 down or cripple many of the trees left standing by the fallers. An 

 example of practically complete denudation is a tract of longleaf pine 

 land in southwest Louisiana cut over between 1914 and 1919. It 

 originally bore a stand of about 15,000 board feet to the acre of prime 

 timber. A tally was made in 1925 of the standing trees and seedlings 

 on a strip two chains wide run at random for 4 miles through the 

 tract. This showed, on each 5 acres, less than one living pine 4 inches 

 diameter breast high or larger, and generally this occasional tree was 

 so small or crippled as to be incapable of seed production. Longleaf 

 seedlings averaged only 28 to the acre. In this example, fire played 

 a part, as it does elsewhere. Similar logging methods are still em- 

 ployed on other tracts in the South, although less extensively now, 

 because of the rapid disappearance of the heavy old growth stands. 

 In some localities, trees left in logging are cut for piling, poles, and 

 posts, and devastation is made complete by the removal of even the 

 stumps for distillation. 



Longleaf pine seedlings have remarkable fire resistance except 

 during the first two or three months following germination and again 

 during the 2 or 3 years following the beginning of height growth. 

 During these periods, fires at any season of the year may destroy a 

 considerable proportion of the young trees. Fires occurring during 

 the growing season are the most destructive. 



Hogs are serious enemies of longleaf pine seedlings. These animals, 

 either of the razorback or more domesticated variety, can wipe out 

 in a few months a stand of young longleaf pines as much as 5 or 10 

 years old. Damage is particularly serious around settlements. 



The wet areas in which slash pine commonly occurs do not burn 

 often, but w r hen dry enough to burn make very hot fires because of 

 the abundant vegetation. When such fires occur, especially in young 

 stands, devastation is very likely to result. 



