FOREST 



RESOURCES 



O F 



SOUTH 



GEORGIA 



General Description of Area 



^ 



THE two survey units covered in this publica- 

 tion constitute the heart of the naval stores 

 belt; from them comes more than half the 

 rosin and turpentine produced in the United States. 

 This section is rapidly becoming an important 

 southern center for the production of pulp and 

 paper and, with well-established lumber, pole, and 

 tie industries, is one of the most active forest regions 

 in the United States. Its principal cities are Sa- 

 vannah with a population of 85,000 and Bruns- 

 wick with a population of 14,000, according to the 

 1930 census; both are ports on the Atlantic sea- 

 board and are important centers for naval stores 

 exports. Waycross, Valdosta, and Thomasville, 

 cities of 12,000 to 16,000, are the principal inland 

 trade centers. 



South Georgia is well supplied with transporta- 

 tion facilities. Several major railroad systems pro- 

 vide adequate rail transportation; many hundreds 

 of miles of hard-surfaced, modern highways con- 



-<«- 



nect the principal cities and towns; and secondary 

 gravel and dirt roads give access to practically all 

 other parts of the area. Truck transportation fleets 

 have established themselves in competition with the 

 waterways and railroads, especially for short hauls. 

 Savannah and Brunswick, which have deep-water 

 harbors, are connected with other Atlantic seaports 

 by the intracoastal waterway. The Savannah, Al- 

 tamaha, Satilla, and St. Marys Rivers flowing into 

 the Atlantic, and the Flint and Chattahoochee 

 which reach the Gulf of Mexico through the Apa- 

 lachicola River, are navigable for barges for a con- 

 siderable distance into the interior. Steamships 

 and modern barge fleets offer excellent transporta- 

 tion facilities to foreign and domestic ports. 



Below the fall line the slow-moving rivers within 

 this coastal section are not used for commercial 

 power production, but hydroelectric plants on the 

 upper streams of middle and north Georgia, to- 

 gether with modern steam plants that compete suc- 



Table 1 . — Land area of south Georgia, classified according to land use, 7934 1 



Land use 



Southeast Georgia 



Southwest Georgia 



South Georgia 



Forest: 



Productive _ _ 



Acres 

 7, 056, 200 



Percent 



72.7 



Acres 

 3.014,000 

 6, 400 



Percent 



54.0 



.1 



Acres 

 10, 070, 200 

 6.400 



Percent 

 65.8 

 . 1 











Total _-_ 



7. 056. 200 



72.7 



3, 020. 400 



54.1 



10, 076, 600 



65.9 



Agricultural: 



In cultivation .. 



Out of cultivation: 



Idle 



Abandoned ._ _ 



Improved pasture . . _ . . 



2, 052, 400 



135, 400 



123, 700 



19,500 



21.1 



1.4 

 1.3 



.2 



2, 057. 000 



207,700 

 95, 900 

 63, 100 



36.9 



3.7 

 1.7 

 1.1 



4. 109, 400 



343, 100 

 219, 600 

 82,600 



26.9 



2.3 

 1.4 

 .5 







Total : 



2,331.000 



24.0 



2, 423, 700 



43.4 



4, 754, 700 



31.1 





324, 000 



3.3 



141, 800 



2.5 



465, 800 



3.0 







AH uses 



9,711,200 



100.0 



5, 585, 900 



100.0 



15,297.100 



100.0 



i Does not include Okefenokee Swamp or coastal islands. 



