EORGIA, one of the original 13 States of the 
: Union, popularly called the “Empire State of the 
_ “\ South,” is the largest State east of the Mississippi 
F OR iver, its greatest length being 300 miles and its greatest 
A sf width 250 miles. Approximately three-fifths of its area is 
- forest land. Georgia has a greater volume of saw timber 
and, with the exception of Florida, more forest land than 
a any other eastern State. From it to the North and Middle 
Be West go great quantities of lumber, railroad cross ties, 
“paper, and other forest products, and it is also the source 
of more than half of the Nation’s naval stores. It is obvi- 
& ous that forest resources and industries of such magnitude 
are of prime importance in any consideration of economic 
‘and social conditions of the State. 
In the endeavor to ascertain how important such re- 
ources are to the people of the State and how they can 
‘a be made even more valuable, a State-wide field inventory 
4 was conducted in Georgia during 1934, 1935, and 1936 by 
the Forest Survey, employing several crews of three men 
and a supervisor.’ Parallel lines 10 miles apart were run 
approximately east and west across the State. At }¢-mile 
ts intervals along each line, quarter-acre sample plots were 
established. In the southeastern part of the State, because 
of elative inaccessibility, the Okefenokee Swamp (412,100 
~ acres) and coastal islands (384,200 acres) were not covered 
a in the field survey. On the 26,000 forest plots examined, 
> field men recorded such items as forest type, forest 
condition, fire damage, density and distribution of repro- 
duction, and site quality. They tallied the trees by species 
nd diameter class and made increment borings to deter- 
. i total age of the stand and growth of the timber during 
beth e last 10 years. 
mates for the areas not covered by the field survey, furnish 
Pi he basis for the statistics of area, volume, and growth 
_ presented in this report. 
age Information on forest industries and timber-drain figures 
for 1934, 1935, 1936, and 1937 were obtained from a can- 
ASS of the wood-using plants and local wood consumers. 
These data, together with some esti- 
Assistance in the collection of this material was Senne by the 
Stes, 
: 
F 
“Summary of Fi 
report are given in the agen page 38. 
Naval stores production is based on a canvass of 
turpentine stills that operated during the 1933-34 er 
season. Volume tables were constructed, and tree gradient y 
and cull percentages were compiled as supplemental studies. — & 
Present consumption and probable future trends in eee a! 
requirements for timber and other forest products are being - 
studied on a Nation-wide basis oe will be _treatec 
separate reports. ’ : 
J 
Fifty-seven percent of Georgia’s total land Gees” i 
million acres is forest. Agriculture is the biggest industry, 
although the principal cash crop, cotton, has only a frac- 
tion of its former annual value. In many parts of the 
State, erosion has aie the land and drained its fertility. 
The survey found over 2 million acres of idle and aban-_ 
doned agricultural land, most of which probably will revert 
to forests. Forest land should play an increasingly i im- 
portant part in the economic and social structure vot the 7A 
State. “ 
> 
The Forests J 
Most of the trees are ama: Although the sites usually 
are good, the stands are less than half stocked owing to 
overcutting and to the frequent occurrence of forest fires; 
only 27 percent of the forest area receives the benefits of 
organized forest-fire protection. 
Public ownerships, State and Federal, include about $ 
percent of Georgia’s forest land; farm woodlands, § | 
percent; and nonfarm, privately owned woodlands, +0 
percent. | 
Pine type groups ? cover 66 percent of the forest : 
studied; pine-hardwood type groups, |3 percent; ° 
hardwood and cypress type groups, 2! — tA : 
result of decades of cutting, only 2% millicr ' 
growth remain. Upon cut-over land 
fields, a natural second growth has ret . 
acres, about half of which has alrea: 
2 For description of forest-type groups, 
Used,” appendix, p, 39. 
