South: (1) railroads, timber 

 companies, and other holders 

 (often absentee), who had 

 depleted most of the 

 merchantable timber without 

 providing for regeneration 

 and future growth; (2) 

 numerous private owners of 

 small to fairly large acreages 

 scattered throughout the 

 respective purchase units; 

 (3) transfers from the 

 Resettlement Administration 

 and other Federal agencies; 

 and (4) reserved public 

 domain lands. 



The Southern Region (R-8) 

 became an organizational 

 entity July 1, 1934. But to 

 understand fully its forests, 

 readers need to look back to 

 the arrival of European 

 settlers in the 1 7th century. 

 They found stands of virgin 

 timber blanketing all of what 

 we now think of as "The 

 South." The principal pine 

 types were loblolly, slash, 

 longleaf, and shortleaf. 

 Sweetgum, white oak, red 

 oak, and yellow-poplar were 

 the prominent southern 

 hardwoods (Hartman 1978, 

 unpubl.). 



From the colonists' point of 

 view, the thick timber stands 

 were as much an obstacle 

 as a resource as they 

 struggled to tame a wild 

 land for farming and grazing. 

 Therefore, they seldom 

 salvaged more than the logs 

 needed for homes and fuel. 



The colonists observed that 

 pines in the South shed 

 great volumes of flammable 

 needles 3 that, under the 

 right combination of dry 

 weather and wind, became 

 fuel for raging wildfires. 

 Following the example of the 

 Indians, settlers found that 

 light burning would prevent 

 the accumulation of resinous 

 fuels that threatened their 

 homes, fences, and livestock. 

 It also benefited grazing, 

 bringing fresh green grass in 

 the spring. Similarly, 

 gum-naval stores operators 

 practiced light burning in the 

 turpentine woods to reduce 

 the danger of wildfire (Riebold 

 1971). 



Setting fire to the forests 

 ultimately evolved into an 

 annual event for woods 

 dwellers-a folkway worth 

 noting, as it was destined to 

 become a contributing factor 

 in the South's wildfire 

 problems 300 years later. 



As the Nation grew over the 

 next two centuries, so did its 

 demand for lumber, furniture, 

 naval stores, and other forest 

 products. Animal logging, 

 the primary means of meeting 



3 Researchers have found more than 

 25 tons (ovendried weight) per acre 

 of needles and other flash fuels in 

 accumulations 10 years old and 

 older under longleaf-slash pine 

 timber stands. 



