FOREST PROBLEMS OF GEORGIANS HARDWOOD REGION 



By E. H. Frothingham 



Acting Director, Appalachian Forest Experiment Station* 



BECAUSE of the remaarkable extent and value of 

 the original pine forests and their spectacular de- 

 cline, forestry in Georgia has quite properly become 

 associated very largely with pine and turpentine. 

 Georgia pine lands undoubtedly command first atten- 

 tion; but no forest program for Georgia can afiford to 

 neglect the great resources which the State possesses 

 in its millions of acres primarily adapted for the grow- 

 ing of hardwood forests. 



Hardwoods are important elements in most of 

 Georgia's forest regions, with the exception of portions 

 of the great pine land areas in the southern part of 

 the State. They are an item of value in the river swamp 

 forests of the Coastal Plain, and play a part in the 

 farm woodlands of the Piedmont Plateau. The true 

 home of Georgia hardwood forestry, however, is in the 

 mountain region, occupying about the northern one- 

 tenth of the State. 



This region is a notable part of Georgia. It is un- 

 excelled in the State for scenic beauty, climatic attrac- 



tiveness and recreational possibilities. It is unique in 

 the value of its potential and applied waterpower and 

 the richness and variety of its forest vegetation which 

 stands at the source of this power. Its highest moun- 

 tains bear the southern extremity of the spruce forest 

 which follows down the Southern Appalachian Moun- 

 tains from Canada. The white pine and hemlock, 

 sugar maple, beech, and birch of the northern fores^ 

 meet and mingle in its coves and slopes with a wealth 

 of oaks, hickories, and southern hardwoods such as 

 yellow poplar, cucumber and the gums. The upland 

 pines ^pitch, shortleaf and Jersey scrub still further 

 increase the variety of mixture and the number of for- 

 est 'types with which forestry in this region must deal. 

 The great number of commercial species thus brought 

 together present a complicated series of problems as to 

 both utiilization and silviculture. In the fuiture forest 

 management of the region, the harvesting of the maxi- 

 mum values in quality and quantity from these lands 

 will demand an intimate knowledge of the life habits, 



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 IF THEY WERE PROPERLY CARED FOR. 



A FRACTION OF WHAT THEY MIGHT 



Read before the Georgia Forestry Association at Macon, Georgia, June 7, 1922. 



