Carolina. Equally urgent is the need tor disseminating the 

 available knowledge to timberland owners. 



Protect the Forest 



It is futile to improve the forest growing stock unless 

 adequate protection against fire, insects, and disease is 

 reasonably certain. Great progress has been made in 

 checking these destructive factors but there is still much to 

 be done. 



Fire 



At present about one-third of the forest land in the State 

 is without organized fire protection. Most of this land is 

 located in the piedmont and in the tidewater counties 

 lying north of Pamlico Sound. Up to now it has not been 

 protected because funds were inadequate lor State-wide 

 protection and more efficient use could be made of available 

 funds in the more heavily forested counties of the moun- 

 tains and Coastal Plain. The unprotected counties furnish 

 an important part of the lumber cut, besides a great quan- 

 tity of other wood products, and thus deserve protection 

 as rapidly as additional funds are made available. 



While fire protection should be provided for all forest 

 lands in the State, the increase in coverage should in no 

 way reduce the intensity of effort on lands now being pro- 

 tected. Instead it is becoming more and more apparent 

 that a greater degree of protection must be afforded them. 

 In the past few years considerable forest land in the pro- 

 tected counties has been placed under some degree of man- 

 agement, but the disastrous spring fires of 1941 have caused 

 many timberland owners to doubt whether present fire- 

 control methods are effective enough to justify planning 

 for sustained-yield management. Forestry in North 

 Carolina, particularly in the Coastal Plain, will receive a 

 set-back unless better protection can be provided in the 

 bad fire years. 



Disease 



Disease is a deterrent to high forest productivity because 

 it often necessitates premature cutting of forest stands and 

 also destroys a large volume of sound wood in individual 

 trees. In North Carolina the chestnut blight killed an 

 estimated 12 billion board feet of standing timber, provid- 

 ing a dramatic example of the damage caused by an uncon- 

 trolled disease. Most losses from disease are not so spectac- 

 ular, but they constitute a steady drain upon the forest 

 that can be largely avoided if suitable measures are taken. 

 Decay in hardwoods following fire damage is one of the 

 most serious causes of loss. The Division of Forest Pa- 

 thology, Bureau of Plant Industry, after an intensive study 

 of fire damage, has demonstrated that about 45 percent of 



the money loss resulting from forest fires in the mountain 

 hardwoods is due to decay in living, fire-scarred timber. 

 For each acre burned over in 1939, the average estimated 

 loss from decay was 62 cents, amounting to about $50,000 

 in the mountain division alone. More intensive fire 

 protection will reduce this loss. 



Another disease having serious potentialities is the little- 

 leaf disease, affecting shortleaf and to a smaller degree 

 loblolly pine, which results in the gradual decline of in- 

 dividuals and small groups of trees 20 or more years of age 

 and causes premature death. It was first reported in 

 Alabama in 1934 and its present known distribution ex- 

 tends from Virginia to northeastern Mississippi. In North 

 Carolina it is now present in a few piedmont counties, but 

 has so far caused little change in silvicultural methods of 

 commercial utilization except in a severely affected area 

 around Shelby. The Division of Forest Pathology is 

 making an intensive but so far inconclusive investigation 

 of its cause and rate of spread. If the spread is rapid, 

 adjustments in land use and forest industries may be 

 forced in a large part of the piedmont. 



Common throughout the forests of the State, although 

 not so conspicuous, are top rot in hardwoods and red heart 

 in pine. Top rot is caused by several kinds of fungi which 

 gain entrance through broken stubs and wounds on the 

 upper part of the trunk. Practical guides for recognizing 

 its presence and the probable susceptibility of standing 

 trees, established by the Division of Forest Pathology, 

 enable the forest manager to cut poor risks at an early 

 stage before decay is far advanced. Red heart is caused by 

 the fungus Fomes pini which usually enters through dead 

 branch stubs and destroys the heartwood, primarily of 

 mature pines. Southern pines, except Virginia pine, seldom 

 decay until more than 80 years old. Conks, or sporophores, 

 and punk knots are the most reliable indications of decav. 

 Losses from both red heart and top rot can be reduced 

 through the early utilization of susceptible and infected 

 trees and the adoption of as short a rotation as will produce 

 timber of usable size. 



Insects 



Insects are particularly destructive because they injure 

 and kill standing timber, damage sawlogs and bolts lying 

 in the woods, and cause extensive losses of manufactured 

 wood products. In effect, drain is materially increased 

 because of their activity and the adequacy of the forest 

 growing stock is substantially reduced. Probably the most 

 destructive insect destroyer of timber in North Carolina 

 is the tree-killing southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus fron- 

 talis). Ordinarily rather rare, during periods ot drought or 

 following fires the beetles may increase rapidly and cause 



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