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Description ot Survey Units — 
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@ | O widely varying are the forest resources and indus- 
tries in the different parts of Georgia, from the sea- 
\_ coast at the southeast to the mountains in the north, 
that the State was divided into districts, called survey 
units, that coincide roughly with its five commonly recog- 
nized subregions (fig. 1 and table 1). The general descrip- 
tion of each necessarily will be brief; readers who are inter- 
ested in more detailed information are referred to the 
appendix tables of this report, to Forest Survey releases 
Nos. 41, 44, and 45, of the Southern Forest Experiment 
Station, and to United States Department of Agriculture 
Miscellaneous Publication No. 390, ““Forest Resources of 
South Georgia.” 
Southeast Unit 
Southeast Georgia comprises 35 counties and includes all 
of the Atlantic coast line and the cities of Savannah, 
Waycross, and Brunswick. Nearly three-fourths of the 
land is forested. This and the southwest unit produce 
more than half of the Nation’s gum naval stores. 
Tas_e 1.—Total area and forest-land area in the 5 survey units, Georgia} 
Unit and year of survey Total area 2 Forest-land area 3 
Million acres Million acres | Percent 
Sonmbheashy(Lagdjecase se ees Cou 410.5 | 7.4 | 71 
MOntIWeSt (1984)= 22 see ee ee 5.6 3.0 54 
Central (1936) 10.9 | 5.6 51 
North-central (1936) ___-.----------- 6.3 2.6 40 
North (1936)______ AER fol sae 4.3 2.8 66 
MbsLoWwonal meee a. SUS i 37.6 421.4 57 
1 Detailed figures given in table 29, appendix. 
2 The total land area of Georgia was recomputed and reported in the census 
of 1940 as being 37,451,520 acres, or 132,480 acres less than the older census area 
used as a basis for calculation in this report. It is impractical to adjust the 
many tables and calculations based on area to the new figures. 
3 Forest-land-area estimates refer to January 1, year of survey. 
‘ Includes 796,300 acres of land not surveyed of which it is estimated that 
387,300 acres are forest land. 
This unit lies entirely within the Coastal Plain, the 
topography varying from the low, flat lands of the east- 
ern part of the unit, including the Coastal Islands and 
the Okefenokee Swamp, to the rolling uplands of the 
western part, where elevations above sea level reach 400 
feet. The climate is mild, almost semitropical; the mean 
annual temperature is around 67° F., and the growing 
season is about 8 months. Although the annual rainfall 
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Pine 
is some 50 inches a year, severe and protracted drought 
resulting in serious fire conditions, can be expected ai 
least once in every 2 or 3 decades. About | out of ever 
5 years may have a dry period of several months with a_ 
high fire hazard. Windstorms severe enough to cause 
widespread damage to timber are infrequent in the 
interior, but they occasionally occur along the coast. 
Approximately 60 percent of the land surface is made— 
up of well-drained sandy and sandy-loam soils, on which _ 
most of the farms are located. The poorly drained | 
sandy soils of the lowlands, making up approximately 40 
percent of the area, are not generally worked for agricul 
ture but are well adapted to the growth of timber, par- 
ticularly longleaf and slash pines. ‘4 
Southwest Unit 
Southwest Georgia, with its 22 counties, extends from 
Unit 1 westward to the Alabama line, and from the © 
Florida line to the northern edge of the main body of 7) 
the longleaf-slash pine type. Valdosta and Thomasville 7 
are the largest cities. More than half of the area is a 
classed as forest land. c 
This unit is also entirely within the Coastal Plain and, a 
with the exception of the southeast part, which is low q | 
and flat, is gently rolling, with elevations up to 450 feet — | 
above sea level. The climate is similar to that of south- ~ 
east Georgia, but there is a greater proportion of good 
agricultural land; one of the best farming sections in the | 
# 
State is located in the sourthernmost tier of counties. 
Central Unit 
Extending southwesterly across the State in a belt © 
about 80 miles wide, this subregion covers 49 counties, — 
with Augusta, Macon, Columbus, and Albany as the | 
principal cities. Slightly more than half of the area is — 
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forest land. The average annual rainfall is between 40 — | 
and 50 inches, and the growing season is 7 or 8 months. | 
The Fall Line (i. e., the ancient shoreline of the ocean) — 
separates this unit into two distinct parts. The north- 
ern half, in the lower piedmont, with elevations reaching — 
900 feet, is hilly. The southern half, in the upper Coastal 
Plain, with elevations seldom exceeding 500 feet, is gently _ 
rolling. North of the Fall Line, where the soils are 
generally clay- or sandy-clay loams, erosion has bee 
