FOREST 



RESOURCES 



O F 



SOUTH 



GEORGIA 



Introduction and Explanation of 



Terms Used 



•£» 



THE first permanent English settlement in 

 Georgia was established at Savannah by 

 Oglethorpe in 1733. Prior to that time and 

 for a few years afterwards, much of the coastal 

 region of Georgia was disputed territory, claimed 

 both by the English to the north and the Spanish 

 to the south. The settlement of Georgia following 

 the Revolutionary War was rapid, but took place 

 mainly in the lower Piedmont region of the State. 

 In south Georgia, the population increased very 

 slowly and for many years was confined to narrow 

 strips along the coast and along the larger rivers. 

 In the 1880's, however, the utilization of the great 

 forests of the interior brought about the building of 

 railroads and the establishment of farms and towns. 

 In 1930, according to the census, the total popula- 

 tion in south Georgia, including the unsurveyed 

 area, was 912,000 or 36 persons per square mile, of 

 which 78 percent lived on farms and in small towns 

 of less than 2,500 inhabitants. Nearly 60 percent 

 of the people are native-born whites, 40 percent 

 are Negroes, and only a negligible proportion are 

 foreign-born. 



The forest resources of south Georgia, long the 

 support of highly important forest-products in- 

 dustries, have generally received scant considera- 

 tion from the owners, who have utilized the timber 

 with little or no thought of the future. If these 

 industries are to continue at their present rate or to 

 expand, more intensive management of this re- 

 source and more intelligent planning for this 

 region are necessary. In order to formulate sound 

 forest policies that will build up the resource, 

 stabilize forest industries, and thereby make per- 

 manent communities, a knowledge of the kind, 

 character, and quantity of timber and of its rate 

 of increase, together with accurate information 



-&<$■ 



about the industries engaged in its utilization, is 

 essential. 



These data were obtained during the winter and 

 spring of 1933-34. Several three-man crews grid- 

 ironed the area with east and west compass lines 

 spaced 10 miles apart. At intervals of 660 feet 

 along these lines 19,278 %-acre plots were sampled, 

 to furnish evidence of the nature and use of the 

 land and to form the basis for computing the con- 

 dition of the total area. On the 12,847 forest plots 

 among this number, detailed measurements and 

 observations were recorded covering the size and 

 species of trees, forest type and condition, repro- 

 duction, naval stores history, site class, growth, 

 and other information, including fire-damage and 

 erosion data. The data from which volume tables 

 were constructed were collected by J. W. Girard, 

 who also determined tree guides and cull 

 percentages. 



Estimates of forest drain for the years 1934-36 

 were based on production information obtained 

 from operators of representative forest-industrial 

 plants in south Georgia. Naval stores production 

 data are based on a canvass of all the turpentine 

 stills that operated during the 1934-35 cropping 

 season, supplemented by later reports obtained 

 through the Naval Stores Conservation Program 

 and the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. 



Analysis of the inventory data and a discussion 

 of the balance of growth and drain will be given, 

 together with their significance to the industries 

 and communities dependent upon the forest re- 

 sources. Future requirements for forest products 

 are being studied on a Nation-wide basis and will 

 be treated in separate reports. 



This report, which covers the longleaf-slash pine 

 section of south Georgia, includes Georgia Survey 



