FOREST FIRE PROTECTION IN GEORGIA 



By J. G. Peters, United States Forest Service 



[An address by J. G. Peters, Chief of the Branch of Forest Management, United States Forest Service, before the Georgia For- 

 estry Convention, at Macon. Georgia, June 9. 1922.] 



ONE of the urgent matters demanding the attention of 

 all Georgians at this time is to what extent the lack 

 of forest protection affects the economic life of the Com- 

 monwealth. Your forests are among your great natural 

 resources. They have supplied a variety of products not 

 only for use in the upbuilding of Georgia, but they have 

 as well been the means of bringing wealth into the State 

 from the outside. Yet Georgia is fast reaching the point 

 where it will have to go outside for some of its wood ma- 

 terials, because the State has not yet taken steps to make 

 sure that all of its needs of this nature should be sup- 



FIRE ON LONG-LEAF PINE LAND 



Note how the undergrowth, which is full of pine seedlings, is 

 furnishing the best fuel for the flames. 



plied within and a tidy balance left for distribution else- 

 where. We are a wood-using people. We have become 

 accustomed to using wood wherever it will serve our pur- 

 pose, to using it lavishly, and to using the better grades, 

 and we simply cannot get along without it. Therefore, 

 when Georgia ceases to be self-sustaining in lumber and 

 other forest products, as will certainly be the case unless 

 timber depletion in the State is checked, you will have to 

 go outside, and you will go outside, to other forest re- 

 gions, very probably to the Pacific Coast, for that is 

 where the last big supply of timber remains. And you 

 will accordingly pay the freight. Under present lax 

 methods of caring for our forest lands, the day of cheap 

 lumber and cheap forest products has gone. The price is 

 increasing as the supply dwindles. 

 What about the dependence of your farms upon the 



forests? The farmers are our greatest users of wood. As 

 you go through this Southern country, how many dilapi- 

 dated farm buildings do you see, buildings unpainted, 

 rotting, falling to pieces. How are you going to house 

 and equip the hundred-thousand settlers you are urging 

 to come to Georgia, if you cannot house and equip the 

 farmers already here? I have heard the industrial agents 

 of some of your railroads tell of the difficulties of divert- 

 ing the stream of immigration from the West and North 

 to the South. And this is in spite of your wonderful 

 attractions. Would not cheaper lumber be a tempting 

 bait? 



The number of farms in this State, according to the 

 1920 census, is about 311,000. It has been estimated that 

 the lumber requirements of the average efficiently run 

 farm for upkeep and improvements is 2,000 board feet 

 yearly. This would mean, therefore, 622,000,000 board 

 feet yearly for this State, which exceeds your present 

 yearly consumption of lumber for all purposes and is 

 more than 80 per cent of your present yearly lumber pro- 

 duction. Bear in mind that these 622 millions would 

 represent your requirements for the upkeep and improve- 

 ments of farms alone, and that this estimate is based on 



ONCE SWEPT BY FIRE 



While many of the long-leaf pine on the fire swept area survive 

 their growth will be seriously checked. 



the average farm for the entire country. But will 

 Georgia be content merely with the average farm? I 

 think not. The South is on the eve of a great agricul- 

 tural awakening. Surely you are not going to let Georgia 

 sleep by the wayside for want of a fundamental necessity 

 in the economic life of the farm. 



What about the moving of your peach crop? The fruit 

 grower must have wooden containers. It was estimated 



