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The Rehabilitation of Georgia’s Forest — 
Resource 
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HROUGHOUT its long history, Georgia has been 
an agricultural State, with cotton as the principal 
crop. For several decades now, as cotton culture 
has declined, its agricultural economy and traditional land 
use pattern have been considerably upset, and the whole 
State has suffered. Especially in the central and northern 
parts of the State, thousands of farms have been aban- 
doned, and thousands of farm families have had to give up 
their efforts to make a living from the soil, the fertility of 
which has been depleted through erosion and one-crop agri- 
culture. According to observations of the Forest Survey 
made in 1934-36, there was more than 2 million acres of 
idle or abandoned cropland, much of which may never be 
used again for agricultural crops. This serious maladjust- 
ment in land use and the growing instability in land owner- 
ship has resulted in State-wide reduction of both income 
and standards of living. 
The decline in agriculture is also reflected in reduced 
opportunity for gainful employment. According to the 
Special Unemployment Census taken in 1937, there were 
more than 250,000 people on relief, or totally or partially 
unemployed and wanting work. To offset this decline in 
employment for land and people, other opportunities for 
both must be scught. In the main, these opportunities 
will be found in the utilization and processing of the na- 
tural resources of the State, among which forests and forest 
lands still constitute one of its greatest assets. The forests 
of Georgia have always occupied a greater proportion of 
the land surface than all the other crops and uses com- 
bined, and have played a large and important part in mak- 
ing the State what it is today. Therehabilitation and in- 
tensive development, utilization, and processing of this 
resource can go a long way in placing the economy of the 
State on an enduring foundation. The soils and the climate 
throughout the length and breadth of Georgia are favorable 
for the growth and development of forest stands; the native 
species are renowned for their vigor of growth and quick 
reaction to man’s efforts to improve them. The nearness 
of the State to the great centers of population and con- 
sumption in the East and Middle West, and its ports on 
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the seaboard, which serve as a base for over-seas shipment, 
give it ample opportunity to market its forest products. 
Because the forests have long been subjected to repeated 
burning, harsh turpentining, and short-sighted, often pre- — 
mature cutting, the present stands are so poorly stocked — 
that the annual growth of wood is less than half of what 
the soils are capable of producing. Frequent and indis- 
criminate forest burning has long been the most important 
factor militating against the development of well-stocked 
timber stands. Since early colonial days, fires have swept 
through the woods every few years, killing the small trees 
that are needed as recruits for the growing stock, and in- 
juring or destroying many of the larger ones. In 1937, 
they caused a damage estimated at $3,750,000 of which 98 
percent occurred on areas not accorded organized coopera- 
tive protection under the Clarke-McNary Act; only 2 of 
the 12 Southern States reported greater losses. Although 
most of the fires in Georgia originate from carelessness, 
many of them are purposely and systematically set. 
After many years of harvesting only the larger and more’ 
valuable trees, the stands of today are composed chiefly of 
small trees, 2 to 10 inches d. b. h., or in the south are full 
of worked-out longleaf and slash pine of small value for 
lumber. In upper Georgia, because of the high percentage 
of old-field pine stands, about half of the pine saw timber 
is in rough and limby trees that in the main will yield only 
In much of the State, the hardwood 
component of mixed stands is increasing because the lack 
low-grade lumber. 
of a market has left the mature trees standing. While the 
first and most important step in the rebuilding of Georgia 
forests is the control of the fire situation, the widespread 
application of good cutting practices and avoidance of 
overcutting are also essential. 
Notwithstanding harsh treatment and_ short-sighted 
management, the nucleus of a good growing stock is to be 
found in all sections. If Georgians were satisfied to accept 
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low returns from steadily depreciating forest stands, the — 
present situation might not seem unduly alarming; for as 
shown by 1936 data, under stocked as they are, the a 
forests still are capable of supplying on a sustained-yield 
