In anticipation of passage 

 of the Clarke-McNary Act, 

 the Forest Service had 

 already made field 

 examinations in Alabama, 

 Georgia, Louisiana, 

 Mississippi, and Texas. 

 Prospective areas in 

 southeast Oklahoma were 

 also located. 



In 1 930 and 1 931 , the Forest 

 Service acquired two more 

 national forests: the 

 Kisatchie, in the cutover 

 longleaf pine lands in 

 Louisiana, and the Osceola, 

 in the naval stores belt in 

 Florida. 



Management: 

 Establishment to New 

 Deal 



During the period 1911 to 

 1933, the Nation took at 

 last the first steps to reclaim 

 the timber resource and 

 establish a system of 

 national forests in the South. 

 Management during this 

 period was primarily 

 custodial, however. Fire 

 protection was the primary 

 concern. Roads, trails, and 

 telephone lines were built 

 to improve access for fire 

 control and for public 

 recreation. Game preserves 

 were set aside, with the 

 assent of the States, and 

 public campgrounds were 

 built. 



With the exception of lands 

 reserved from the public 

 domain, most of the 

 acquired lands were cut 

 over, burned over, eroded, 

 understocked, and of 

 relatively low site quality. 

 Most stands were 

 uneven-aged because of 

 previous cutting practices 

 and fires. Even-aged stands 

 were found on abandoned 

 homesites and some sites 

 of intense burns. Generally, 

 stands of 



merchantable-sized trees 

 were comprised of mature, 

 often decadent trees left 

 from earlier cuttings, fires, 

 and the ravages of chestnut 

 blight. 



Timber sales were another 

 important management 

 activity, but on a very 

 modest scale. Management 

 objectives were to improve 

 the condition of the forest 

 and, consistent with annual 

 growth, to assure 

 dependent industries a 

 supply of timber. The 

 National Forest Reservation 

 Commission report of 1923 

 summed up the program: 



The chief object in 

 selling timber is to 

 improve the condition 

 of the forest. To this 

 end, much time . . . has 

 been devoted to the 

 preparation of cutting 

 plans. Such plans 

 outline how much timber 



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