Fire as a Tool in Southern Pine 



kansas, range burning has nearly dis- 

 appeared. Few cattle are seen in the 

 woods, and the conflict between graz- 

 ing and timber raising has practically 

 disappeared. 



Many of the soils found in the non- 

 mountainous belts of shortleaf, mixed 

 shortleaf-loblolly, and loblolly favor 

 the development of improved pastures. 

 Many exist, and more are appearing. 



This trend creates the reasonable ex- 

 pectation that causes of grazing fires in 

 the shortleaf and loblolly pine types 

 may soon disappear. There are single- 

 purpose foresters who would deny the 

 mixed use of the same ground for tim- 

 ber growing and stock grazing. That 

 position can be granted to the few land 

 managers who are fortunate enough to 

 have consolidated blocks under fence 

 or located where livestock does not 

 have legal right-of-way. But there are 

 owners of sizable areas of wooded land, 

 men whose business is stock raising; 

 timber will be produced on their lands 

 only to the extent that they are con- 

 vinced it need not seriously interfere 

 with stock raising. In between are all 

 degrees of mixed use. Undoubtedly 

 there always will be some stock run in 

 these types of woods, but such dual 

 uses need not be considered entirely in- 

 compatible. Further, more and more 

 people doubtless will come to the con- 

 clusion that wildfire in shortleaf and 

 loblolly timber types is undesirable and 

 harmful to incidental woods grazing of 

 good cattle. With the elimination of 

 grazing fires in the timber types I men- 

 tioned, conflict of uses will disappear. 



The problem for foresters is to work 

 out an adjusted use and through edu- 

 cational efforts to overcome the graz- 

 ing fire. We do not foresee a relation- 

 ship between planned silvicultural 

 burning and grazing by grade cattle 

 in the shortleaf or loblolly pine types. 



The true longleaf and mixed long- 

 leaf-slash pine types (more than 22 

 million acres) present another prob- 

 lem. 



The typical longleaf sites are low 

 ridges with loose, porous, sandy soils. 

 Humus and available mineral nutrients 



521 



leach down beyond the reach of most 

 plant life. The establishment of good 

 pastures that contain the more nu- 

 tritive grasses has been relatively rare, 

 and experimentation has yet to prove 

 that a general development of im- 

 proved pastures on such soils will be 

 economically feasible. 



Herd improvement of range cattle 

 in longleaf areas has lagged, partly be- 

 cause many experienced stockmen be- 

 lieve that breeds that originate in cold 

 climates cannot thrive in a region of 

 high temperatures, insects, and poor 

 forage. But cattle with Brahman blood 

 are good rustlers and can run the open 

 range. 



Under normal market conditions the 

 sale price of native cattle will be low. 

 Economically there can be but little 

 winter feeding of such cattle. Yet, from 

 the owner's viewpoint, whatever he 

 does realize from them will be nearly 

 all profit. Present laws in many States 

 permit this stock to roam wherever it 

 can without regard to landownership. 

 Prospects are that no significant part of 

 the vast area in this type will ever be 

 fenced. From the viewpoint of the 

 stock owner, winter burning of a part 

 of the old rough to expose and speed 

 growth of new grass is essential to this 

 phase of animal husbandry. 



Continued large numbers of woods- 

 grazing cattle must be expected. The 

 situation is complicated because gen- 

 erally the stockman owns but a small 

 part or none of the land he is grazing. 

 Whether or not the landowner wishes 

 to grow timber, stock will be present 

 and wildfires will continue. 



The combination of these factors has 

 created the outstanding concentration 

 of woods fires in the country; the 

 burned acreage annually exceeds the 

 total burned by woods fires from all 

 causes in all other parts of the United 

 States. The situation has changed little 

 for generations. 



As a matter of firm fact, on more 

 than 12 million acres of longleaf pine 

 lands, the conflict right now is so acute 

 that no organized attempt is being 

 made to suppress the fires. The owners 



