reforested, and plantation 

 management had come to 

 the South (Clepper 1971, 

 p. 238). 



During the same period, 

 the Chesapeake 

 Corporation of West Point, 

 VA, began acquiring 

 timberlands and practicing 

 forest management. In 

 1922, the company, owning 

 only 4,500 acres, started its 

 forest management by 

 leaving seed trees to provide 

 natural regeneration after 

 cutting. By 1929, the 

 company owned 24,000 

 acres and began planting 

 pine seedlings on 

 abandoned farmland. In 

 1930, Chesapeake 

 cooperated with the Virginia 

 State Forest Service in 

 financing and erecting four 

 steel fire towers. Between 

 1932 and 1944, the 

 company cruised and 

 mapped its lands, 

 developed a management 

 plan, established a nursery 

 for seedlings, and set up 

 roadside demonstration 

 plots to display forestry 

 techniques to the general 

 public (Dill 1968). 



One other example of early 

 forest management efforts 

 in the South was taking 

 place during the early 

 1 900's, on the Crossett 

 Lumber Company 

 properties in Arkansas. 



Typical of the early sawmill 

 companies, the mill at 

 Crossett, built in 1899, was 

 cutting all yellow pine 12 

 inches in diameter at the 

 stump and disregarding 

 any future growth with the 

 intention of selling off the 

 cut-over land for agricultural 

 purposes. The company 

 did seek forestry advice, 

 and the 1912 class of the 

 Yale Forestry School 

 prepared a report on a 

 portion of the Crossett 

 holdings. 



Yale and Crossett continued 

 a close relationship, with 

 H.H. Chapman and Walter 

 H. Meyer advising the 

 Crossett people on fire 

 control and other technical 

 forestry matters over the 

 years. A.E. Wackerman, 

 Crossett forester from 1927 

 to 1932, brought fires under 

 control. During his tenure, 

 acreage burned decreased 

 sharply, from 25,000 acres 

 in 1928 to 18,000 acres in 



1929 to 12,000 acres in 



1930 to only 4,800 acres in 



1931 (Wackerman 1932). 



In 1933, Charles A. Gillett 

 was appointed the first 

 State forester in Arkansas. 

 During the next four 

 decades, fires were brought 

 under control to the extent 

 they were no longer a major 

 hindrance to the practice of 

 silviculture in Arkansas. 



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