South: the volume, size, 

 and ownership of the timber 

 resources thereon, and the 

 growth, mortality, and 

 utilization of timber. Informa- 

 tion on the gum naval stores 

 industry also was included 

 in recognition of the signifi- 

 cance in earlier years of 

 that southern forest-based 

 industry. 



Survey reports issued in 

 the 1 930's soon revealed a 

 surprising recovery of 

 southern pine forests, 

 despite the extensive log- 

 ging and widespread fires 

 characteristic throughout 

 the South. Improving forest 

 conditions reflected better 

 control of wildfires and the 

 natural ability of southern 

 pines to restock cutover 

 and burned areas. Natural 

 seeding of abandoned 

 croplands during the 1 920's, 

 the depression years of the 

 1930's, and the period after 

 World War II also was of 

 considerable importance. 

 Establishment of pine 

 plantations by the Civilian 

 Conservation Corps in the 

 1 930's and by many industri- 

 al and other landowners 

 after World War II also added 

 to the pine timber resource 

 base. 



The survey reports that 

 came from the printers 

 beginning in 1934 were of 

 special interest to the pulp 

 and paper industry, then 

 on the threshold of a 

 spectacular expansion 

 throughout the South. 

 Information on the increas- 

 ing availability of pine 

 pulpwood supplies un- 

 doubtedly helped stimulate 

 construction of more and 

 larger mills, even in the 

 depressed years of the 

 1 930's. Pulping capacity at 

 southern pulp mills, amount- 

 ing to about 3,000 tons per 

 day in 1 930, nearly quadru- 

 pled by 1940, while the 

 number of mills rose about 

 25 percent (from 40 to 49) 

 in this period. Continued 

 expansion in the years after 

 World War II raised pulping 

 capacity in the South to 

 some 110,000 tons per day 

 by 1 979, or about 65 percent 

 of the Nation's total pulping 

 capacity. 



The 1960's and 1970's also 

 saw the rapid development 

 of a major southern pine 

 plywood industry, as well 

 as marked resurgence of 

 the southern pine lumber 

 industry, all guided in part 

 by resource data from the 

 forest survey. Increasingly 



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