Tasre 4.—Correlation of land use with type of erosion, in central, north-central and north Georgia, 19363 
Land use 
FEOLES Uo ses 2 8 Sa SEL See oe Se 
Cropland: 
In cultivation___- 
Idle and abandoned-____-_------ Sy SoG han ee en Se epee | 
No or ar- 5 hi i + 
rested erosion, Sheet erosion 8 By Gullied land Total area eroding 
Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Percent 
9, 753, 800 337, 800 395, 700 478, 000 1, 211, 500 11.0 
6, 006, 600 1, 258, 700 433, 300 58, 700 1, 750, 700 22.6 
1, 008, 800 299, 200 202, 600 106, 000 607, 800 37.6 
490, 500 58, 000 40, 600 25, 800 124, 400 20. 2 
17, 259, 700 1, 953, 700 1, 072, 200 | 668, 500 | 3, 694, 400 17.6 
} 
Percent Percent } Percent Percent Percent 
82.4 9.3 5.1 | 3.2 | 1000}. sce 
SS 
! For detailed figures by survey units, see table 30, appendix. 
well-marked, advanced, and destructive stages was found 
to be present on 12 percent of the total forest, cropland, 
As indicated on the 
soil surface of the many thousands of 4-acre plots sampled, 
and pasture land surface in the State. 
the following types of erosion are recorded: (1) Sheet 
erosion, where the soil is washing off from a generally 
smooth surface; (2) shoestring erosion, where the soil sur- 
face 1s cut into, and a system of small, branching gullies a 
few inches to not over 2 feet deep is formed; and (3) gully 
erosion, where the soil surface is being destroyed by deep 
gully systems. 
As shown in table 4, compiled for the three northern 
units that contain most of Georgia’s eroded land, marked 
erosion is greatest in extent on idle and abandoned crop- 
land, less on cultivated land and pasture, and least of all 
on forest land. It should be pointed out also that in many 
of the places where active erosion is occurring in the forest 
runoff is heavy from fields above, or the forest has grown 
up on a severely eroded area on which it has not yet checked 
the washing away of the soil. Once erosion has become 
serious, it usually continues after cultivation is abandoned 
until grass, weeds, or trees are well established either through 
natural processes or with the assistance of artificial runoff 
controls such as terraces and check dams. 
Unchecked erosion of cultivated lands has in the course 
of Georgia’s agricultural history depleted and even 
destroyed some of its finest farm lands and is now one of the 
most significant single factors in bringing about the decline 
of agriculture in the State. 
Forest Fires 
The prevalence of the old pioneer habit of indiscrimi- 
nately burning the woods is directly responsible for the 
poorly stocked condition of most of the forest stands. 
According to visible evidence found by the Survey in 
1934-36, fires have occurred at irregular intervals in 
recent years on 77 percent of the forest area. Approxi- 
mately half the forest sample plots that show fire damage 
occur in south Georgia, where cattlemen and turpentine 
operators used fire extensively to further their objectives, 
the former to improve grazing conditions, the latter to 
protect their turpentine orchards from uncontrolled fires. 
For all the Georgia units combined, evidence of past fires 
was found on 91 percent of the slash and longleaf pine 
types, on 77 percent of the loblolly-shortleaf pine-hard- 
woods types, and on 55 percent of the hardwood types. 
The common fire is a surface one that advances slowly, 
killing the seedlings and some of the young second growth. 
With the exception of long-leaf pine, which once estab- 
lished is resistant to fire damage, the seedlings and sprouts 
of all species are subject to heavy losses from forest fires. 
In uncontrolled or indiscriminate burning, even some of 
the big trees are killed where ground fuel is heavy or the 
weather is dry or windy. Fires, directly or indirectly, 
cause about 75 percent of the mortality in pine timber.* 
In addition, a large proportion of the damage in standing 
timber of all species is due to fire and the resulting decay. 
According to statistics furnished by the Regional 
° about 3%4 million acres, or 18 per- 
Forester at Atlanta, 
cent of the total forest land of Georgia, was burned over 
in 1937, causing a loss estimated at nearly $4,000,000. 
With the exception of Florida and Mississippi, Georgia 
probably had a greater area of burned-over forest land 
than any other State in the Nation. About 98 percent 
of the burning occurred on forest areas not included in 
organized fire-protection projects. 
Excellent results in fire-protection work should be 
credited to the Georgia Forest Service, to the United 
States Forest Service, and to the landowners who coop- 
erate in this work; but unfortunately in 1939 only 27 
percent of Georgia’s forest area received the benefits of 
such cooperative forest-fire protection; the remainder 
either suffered from uncontrolled fires or were protected 
inadequately by the private landowners (fig. 3). 
ano U. S. Forest SERVICE. 
FOREST RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 32 pp., illus. Jan. 1939. 
5 Georcia StaTE PLANNING BOARD. FOREST PLANNING. 96 pp., illus. 
4 Georcia Division or Forestry 
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