detailed resource data also 

 helped guide investments 

 in acquisition of timberlands 

 and forest management to 

 support long-range industri- 

 al expansion. 



By the early 1940's, the 

 southern forest survey had 

 covered most of the South 

 with a grid of lines and 

 plots established by field 

 crews who traveled on foot 

 through thousands of miles 

 of forested areas, swamps, 

 coastal plains, and moun- 

 tains. The timber inventory 

 information collected in this 

 field work was summarized 

 in some 53 reports, which 

 provided the first set of 

 comprehensive and statisti- 

 cally valid data on the varied 

 timber resources of the 

 South. Prominent among 

 the analysts and authors of 

 these reports in this prewar 

 era were A.R. Spillers, S.B. 

 Hutchinson, R.K. Winters, 

 and F.A. Ineson. 



In 1946, after the return of 

 personnel from wartime 

 duties and increases in 

 apropriations, resurvey of 

 southern forests was begun, 

 followed by subsequent 

 resurveys at approximately 

 10-year intervals. These 

 more recent resource inven- 



tories utilized new tech- 

 niques involving land classi- 

 fication through 

 interpretation of aerial 

 photographs, measure- 

 ments of timber on prese- 

 lected variable-radius field 

 plots, and use of computers 

 for rapid and detailed 

 compilations of resource 

 data. 



Many members of the Forest 

 Service and cooperating 

 agencies made significant 

 contributions in this work 

 under such survey leaders 

 as P.A. Wheeler, J.F. 

 Christopher, J.W. Cruik- 

 shank, J.F. McCormack, 

 and J. McClure. More than 

 40 other authors also 

 prepared publications on 

 timber resources, industrial 

 use of timber products, 

 trends in timber growth, 

 and related information. 



Other specialists is statistics 

 and biometry helped devel- 

 op improved methodology 

 that materially improved the 

 efficiency and usefulness of 

 the forest survey. These 

 improvements related to 

 sampling methods, use of 

 variable plots, and better 

 methods of projecting 

 timber growth and invento- 

 ries under different manage- 



42 



