Hardtner's plan of 

 management was simple, 

 but effective: protect young 

 timber during logging and 

 cut-over land from fire, and 

 natural regeneration will 

 follow. In 1932, he summed 

 up the results of some two 

 decades of forest husbandry 

 at Urania: 



I have been operating 

 my sawmill on the same 

 site since 1896 (two 

 decades was about 

 average for large 

 southern mills) and there 

 is now more timber 

 tributary to it than ever. 

 The mill is on a perpetual 

 basis. . . its present size 

 is just right to cut the 

 same amount each year 

 forever-the amount the 

 land is capable of 

 producing, or about 20 

 million board feet per 

 year (Henry Hardtner 

 1932). 



In recognition of the part 

 wildfire plays in negating 

 forest management, Urania 

 management built one of 

 the first lookout towers and 

 organized fire crews for the 

 early detection and 

 suppression of fires. Another 

 of the very early forest 

 management efforts was 

 the program of the Great 

 Southern Lumber Company 

 at Bogalusa, LA. The lumber 

 company was incorporated 

 in 1902, and Bogalusa 



Paper Company was added 

 in 1920. In 1937, Gaylord 

 Container Corporation 

 acquired the properties, 

 and they continue today 

 under the banner of 

 Crown-Zellerbach 

 Corporation. 



In 1920, a group of Great 

 Southern Lumber Company 

 directors visited Urania for 

 an inspection of Henry 

 Hardtner's forestry work. 

 They were so impressed by 

 what they saw that they 

 decided to put their cut-over 

 lands under forestry 

 management. Austin Cary 

 was brought in for 

 consultation. "More than 

 any other man, Austin Cary 

 was responsible for the 

 spread of the gospel of 

 reforestation in the yellow 

 pine lands" (Clepper 1971, 

 P- 237). 



Lacking a forestry staff and 

 a supply of seedlings, the 

 company nevertheless 

 immediately fenced 800 

 acres of denuded land, 

 plowed furrows 8 feet apart, 

 and planted pine seeds in 

 them. The next year, 

 seedlings were obtained 

 from the woods and 

 hand-planted on 380 acres. 

 In 1922, a company nursery 

 was started at Bogalusa; 

 1.2 million seedlings were 

 grown and set out on 1 ,200 

 acres. By the end of 1929, 

 23,000 acres had been 



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