widely practiced. Such grazing practices were destructive to the 

 young long leaf pine seedlings and permitted inferior species to 

 replace more valuable timber which has been removed earlier. Not 

 only that, but lumbering practices were poor. Seldom were seed 

 trees left to provide new sapplings, and reforestation by plant- 

 ing seedlings was not practiced. 



After the Civil War lumbering once again became a major in- 

 dustry in the area and continued to be a major employer up until 

 the early part of the 20th century. By the time of the depression 

 in the 1930's, most of the good lumber stock had been removed and 

 the available supply was at a low ebb in quality as well as in 

 quantity. 



From the late 1930's to 1960, the forests in the Albemarle 

 Area have made a significant comeback. The following sections of 

 this report discuss the nature of the forest resources, the forest 

 product industries in the area, the employment based on utiliza- 

 tion of these resources, and the possible expansion opportunities. 



The Resources 



Forests in the Albemarle Area cover 1,431,300 acres, just 

 over 68 percent of the total land area. Of this total, commercial 

 forests make up the bulk, nearly 98 percent. The small fraction 

 remaining in noncommercial forests is made up primarily of low- 

 lying lands bordering the sounds which are subject to periodic 

 salt water intrusion. Map 1 shows the forest cover in the region 

 and Indicates the major forest types. 



Over 97 percent of the commercial forests in the area are in 

 private ownership, which Is divided almost equally among farmers, 

 pulp and paper companies, and miscellaneous private owners. The 

 land owned by pulp and paper companies is concentrated in huge 

 tracts of tens-of -thousands of acres, each on the southern half of 

 the Albemarle Area. Most of the woodland owned by farmers Is in 

 small parcels, usually less than 100 acres each, scattered through- 



