NORTH CAROLINA FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 



Opportunities for Increasing Utility of the 



Forest Resource 



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THE forest situation discussed in the preceding sec- 

 tions does not give cause for great optimism. True, 

 the State has an extensive, fast-growing timber re- 

 source and a diversified, active wood -products industry, but 

 the facts point toward a growing strain on the timber 

 supply which if allowed to continue will have an adverse 

 effect upon forest industries, land use, employment, and 

 economic conditions generally. 



Sound conservation principles dictate that the forest 

 growing stock be maintained at a high level, the timber 

 resource be used no faster than it grows, and the annual 

 increment available for removal be of satisfactory quan- 

 tity and quality. In North Carolina the softwood timber 

 is being reduced in both quantity and quality and the hard- 

 wood timber is being reduced in the species, sizes, and 

 grades most in demand. Correction of these conditions 

 will increase the usefulness of the forest resource on a 

 permanent basis. 



Develop the Forest Stand 



The greatest opportunity for increasing the utility of 

 the forest lies in building up the stand." This is primarily 

 a task of developing and putting into effect sound practices 

 of forest management adapted to the requirements of 

 profitable timber utilization. The objective of these prac- 

 tices should be to increase the volume and improve the 

 quality of the growing stock while developing the most 

 satisfactory methods of harvesting the timber crop. Farm 

 woodlands, containing over one-half of the forest land, need 

 improvement as much as industrial timberlands do, or more. 

 Actuallv, they present a better opportunity for successful 

 development; the use of cull material and low-value species 

 for fuel wood and rough construction on the farm make it 

 easier to increase production of high-grade material. 



Increase Volume 



The usual prescription for building up the volume of 

 growing stock calls for a reduction of the cut below the 



productive capacity of the forest. In theory this will ac- 

 complish the desired result, and it does so on managed 

 forests in stable ownership; but on a State-wide area of 

 18 million acres, in thousands of ownerships, such control 

 is practically impossible under the existing laissez-faire 

 policy. Expanding markets for timber, rising prices, fire 

 and insect losses, and changes in land use practices are a few 

 of the unpredictable factors that may increase wood con- 

 sumption or reduce timber volume and increment. 



The forests of North Carolina are, in general, productive 

 enough to justify a more positive approach. Instead of 

 trying to reduce the cut, with consequent reductions in 

 employment and income, emphasis should be placed upon 

 increasing the growing stock while keeping the cut at the 

 present level until increased yields warrant an expansion 

 of wood use. This will require public financial aid and 

 legal recognition of the need tor conservative cutting prac- 

 tices to insure more complete restocking to desirable 

 species. It will require protection of reproduction and 

 young second growth from logging damage, adequate fire 

 prevention and control measures, and public encourage- 

 ment and assistance in planting abandoned fields, clear- 

 cut land, and thinly stocked stands. North Carolina will 

 miss a great opportunity it it fails to insure the general 

 adoption of these constructive practices. 



Improve Quality 



The potential utility of North Carolina's forests will 

 never be realized as long as 16 percent ot the total sound 

 wood volume is in cull trees of limited merchantability. In 

 1938 there were 44 million cords ot wood in cull trees, 

 chiefly hardwoods, representing a reduction in forest pro- 

 ductivity ot 15 to 25 percent. Even as scattered trees 

 throughout the forest, they occupy useful growing space 

 and reduce the total area of productive forest land by an 

 aggregate ot nearly 4 million acres, measured by the area 

 required tor an equal volume ot sound trees. The greatest 



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