Figure 15. — This 11 -year-old plantation, which exemplifies the 

 fast-growing properties of slash pine in south Georgia, is now 

 being worked experimentally for naval stores. 



Fire Damage 



Since early settlement days the forests of south 

 Georgia have been subjected to widespread and 

 repeated forest fires. Evidence of fires was found 

 by the Forest Survey on 90 percent of the forest 

 area in the turpentine pine group, on 80 percent 



in the nonturpentine pine group, and on 50 percent 

 of the hardwood area (fig. 12). In the naval stores 

 woods it has been customary to rake all inflam- 

 mable material from the base of trees being worked 

 for gum and to burn the area in the winter (fig. 

 13). Although this procedure protects the cupped 

 trees during the period of operations, it is decidedly 

 detrimental to the stand as a whole, and repeated 

 forest burning has a deleterious effect on the density, 

 the growth rate, and the quality of the stand. 



The Georgia State Forest Service was organized 

 in 1926, and immediately attacked the serious fire 

 problem, with the cooperation of the Federal 

 Government. Much progress has been made in 

 educating landowners and the public generally 

 as to the detrimental effects of woods burning and 

 in organizing forest-fire protection. In 1938 ap- 

 proximately 1,500 landowners, in cooperation 

 with the State and Federal Governments, were 

 applying systematic fire protection on more than 

 2}{ million acres, or about one-fourth of the forest 

 land of south Georgia (fig. 14). 



During the last few years a much saner and 

 healthier public attitude has developed in support 

 of landowners and public agencies in their efforts 

 to stamp out wholesale woods burning and to 

 practice good forestry. Many private individuals 

 and companies are not only protecting their 

 holdings but are also thinning overdense stands, 

 making improvement cuttings, and planting up 

 open areas. In the spring of 1937 alone, almost 

 2}i million slash and longleaf seedlings were 

 planted on numerous areas throughout south 

 Georgia. Some of these plantations are experi- 

 mental only but others are large commercial 

 ventures involving several thousand acres, (fig. 15) 



24 



