The Corps' contribution to 

 fire control was immense. 

 By 1937, there had been a 

 substantial reduction in the 

 occurrence of fires and 

 acreage burned, Progress 

 in prevention work, better 

 organization of fire forces, 

 and additional detection 

 and communication facilities 

 contributed to the improved 

 record. 



That year, 62 percent of 

 the fires and 87 percent of 

 the area burned were on 

 the Louisiana, Texas, 

 Mississippi, and Alabama 

 national forests. All these 

 forests were relatively new, 

 and the record reflected 

 that the more established 

 forests were effectively 

 reducing fire occurrence. 

 Fire records for 1937 

 showed that only three 

 forests in the Southern 

 Region exceeded their fire 

 objectives in number of 

 fires and acreage burned. 



When wartime demands for 

 labor ended the Civilian 

 Conservation Corps 

 Program in 1942, the final 

 statistics for national forests 

 in the Southern Region 

 were impressive: 



1,629,218 acres of forest 

 stand improvement 



273,806 acres of field 

 planting and seeding 



1 1 ,225 miles of truck trails 



6,028 miles of telephone 



lines 

 1,968 vehicle bridges, 103 



foot/horse bridges 

 1 97 lookout towers, 64 



lookout houses 

 36 shelters 

 248 barns 

 66 cabins 

 146 dwellings 

 496 equipment or storage 



supply houses 

 205 latrines 

 571 other buildings 

 1 ,497 sewage and water 



disposal systems 

 6,169 signs, markers, 



and monuments 

 412,069 square yards 



treatment of gullies 

 909,704 square yards 



seeding and sodding of 



gullies 



The War Years 



The years 1941-45, during 

 which the United States 

 was at war, may be 

 characterized as silent 

 years in terms of forestry in 

 the South. 



With the beginning of World 

 War II, labor and funds 

 were diverted to more urgent 

 needs. Cutting budgets 

 were revised upward, with 

 emphasis on getting out 

 the timber needed to meet 

 the demands both at home 

 and in the war effort. Timber 

 stand improvement and 

 planting during the war 



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