FOREST 



RESOURCES 



O F 



SOUTH 



GEORGIA 



Summary of Findings 



•m 



Area and Land Use 



THE gross area surveyed in the 57 counties in 

 south Georgia is 15,297,100 acres. 

 The principal land uses are: 



Acres Percent 



Forest 10,076,600 65.9 



Agricultural 4,754,700 31.1 



Other 465,800 3.0 



Forest Description 



More than 7 million acres, or 71 percent of the 

 forest area, is dominated by turpentine pines; the 

 remainder by nonturpentine pines, hardwoods, and 

 cypress. 



Only 16 percent of the forest area, or over \){ 

 million acres, is old growth, and more than two- 

 thirds of this area has been partly cut. 



Nearly 77 percent of the forest area, or slightly 

 less than 7% million acres, bears thrifty, second- 

 growth timber, over two-fifths of which has reached 

 sawlog size. 



About 7 percent, or almost three-quarters of a 

 million acres, is clear-cut; of this over one-quarter 

 of a million acres in the pine types have insufficient 

 seed trees to restock the land naturally and probably 

 will have to be planted if prompt restocking is 

 desired. 



Naval Stores 



In south Georgia more than 630 active stills pro- 

 duced 287,000 naval stores units in 1933-34, or 

 approximately 56 percent of the total United States 

 production of gum naval stores. 



The turpentine area of 7,961,300 acres is made 

 up of the following: Round-timber areas, 19 per- 

 cent; working areas, 49 percent; and worked-out 

 or resting areas, 32 percent. 



&r 



Nearly 3]i million acres, or 88 percent of the 4 

 million acres classified as working turpentine area, 

 were being worked for a second set of faces. This, 

 together with the fact that about 30 percent of the 

 trees being worked for turpentine were less than 9 

 inches d. b. h. 3 , shows the intensity of naval stores 

 operations. 



Approximately three times as many virgin cups 

 were hung in the peak season of 1933-34 as in each 

 of the two preceding seasons. 



In 1934 there were approximately 23^ million 

 worked-out naval stores trees, containing almost 6 

 million cords of wood. These should be removed 

 from the stand to make room for a new crop of 

 young growing stock, as well as to increase the 

 growth on the remaining trees. Each year the gum 

 naval stores industry in this area abandons approxi- 

 mately a million cords of worked-out timber. 



Improved gum-distilling methods and transpor- 

 tation facilities, scarcity of large and well-blocked 

 turpentine orchards, and relatively high lease 

 prices are stimulating the utilization of small, 

 scattered stands heretofore considered unprofitable 

 for gum production. 



Owing to the establishment of new markets by 

 gum-cleaning plants and to improved central stills, 

 raw gum is becoming an increasingly important 

 cash crop of the south Georgia farmer. 



Nearly 43 percent of the turpentine area is in 

 well-developed turpentine stands averaging 23 

 possible faces per acre on resting and working trees 

 and on round (unturpentined) trees at least 9 

 inches d. b. h.; the remainder of the area is in 

 younger and lighter stands. 



The annual income of round trees 9 inches and 

 larger on the 3v 2 million acres classified as well- 



3 D. b. h. = diameter at breast height, or 4.5 feet from 

 ground. 



