FOREST RESOURCES OF NORTHEASTERN FLORIDA 



Future Needs 



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NORTHEASTERN Florida is especially well 

 situated for the continuous output of forest 

 products. The large proportion of the area 

 in forests, a climate that favors forest growth, the 

 presence of important local markets for forest prod- 

 ucts, an excellent local transportation system aug- 

 mented by shipping facilities to northern centers, 

 and a rural population of long experience in the 

 forest industries, all combine to assure that the 

 turning out of forest products will always be one of 

 its major activities. Turpentine and rosin produc- 

 tion and the associated cooperage industry have 

 been active here for more than a century; and the 

 manufacture of lumber, cross ties, poles and piles, 

 and other piece products has been (and still is) of 

 great importance. A large package-veneer indus- 

 try has developed with the cultivation of citrus and 

 truck crops. With the recent construction of pulp 

 and paper mills, a new industry enters the picture. 

 In discussing the outlook for all forest industries, 

 it must be realized that the quantity of increment 

 which annually accrues on the growing stock limits 

 the forest use that can be sustained for any great 

 length of time. In other words, the forest industries 

 cannot reduce the amount of the growing stock 

 without eventually paying for it with curtailed ac- 

 tivities. With conditions so favorable for forest 

 activities, there is not only a need and an oppor- 

 tunity but also a strong justification for intensive 

 efforts that will build up the growing stock to 

 something approaching the possibilities of the sec- 

 tion, not only to assure the continuance of present 

 forest industries but af,so to provide for expansion. 

 It seems inevitable that the main forest industry 

 will continue to be the production of naval stores, 

 and the outlook for other forest industries will be 

 limited thereby in scope, character, and volume of 



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production. This appears particularly probable 

 with the development of second-growth longleaf and 

 slash pine forests, which yield adequate gum but 

 which do not yield the same high quality of wood 

 products as that obtained from the original old 

 growth. The supply of naval stores timber is favor- 

 able to an increasing production of turpentine and 

 rosin, provided the growing competition of wood- 

 products industries for the same timber does not 

 seriously reduce the available supply. The limited 

 supply of timber in some other sections of the naval 

 stores belt may also cause an excessive expansion of 

 the industry here. It appears essential that imme- 

 diate steps be taken by naval stores operators to 

 insure an adequate future supply of workable timber 

 through increased ownership of forest land, longer 

 leases, and the education of small landowners as to 

 the returns possible from naval stores production 

 prior to use for woods products. 



An outstanding feature of the gum naval stores 

 industry is the unfavorable effect its activities have 

 on the forest through a reduction in rate of growth, 

 an increase in rate of mortality, and a degrading of 

 residual lumber, pole, and tie trees. This excessive 

 drain can be greatly reduced through more con- 

 servative turpentining practices and by protecting 

 from fire not only working trees but also those 

 worked out or resting. The closer integration of 

 wood-products requirements with the production of 

 naval stores should bring about a fuller realization 

 of the byproducts value of a turpentined tree and 

 thus favor the application of better forest manage- 

 ment. 



If the gum naval stores and the wood-products 

 industries are integrated, the future of the latter will 

 depend principally upon the condition of the stands 

 left by the turpentine operator. In any case, a 



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