Meeting Tennessee's Timber Needs 



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THE GREAT majority of Tennessee's timber- 

 lands are without management, or are still in 

 the early stages of transition from unmanaged to 

 managed forests. Much of their present condition 

 stems from their past use, and similarly much of their 

 future hinges upon present and future treatment. 

 Though interest in the growing of timber is increas- 

 ing, a great deal remains to be accomplished before 

 the forests are fully developed. 



Tennessee has the timber-producing potential, the 

 markets, and the leadership necessary to develop a 

 more productive timber economy. These are the 

 ingredients for creating an abundance of timber that 

 will lead to more jobs and greater economic returns 

 from the forest. It is not the function of this report 

 to detail the forestry program needed to develop this 

 more productive economy, but the findings of the 

 Forest Survey throw light on some of the approaches 

 to a better forest situation. 



Protection 



Adequate protection of the forest is essential in 

 building up and maintaining the timber resource. 



Fire Control 



During the past 20 years, two-thirds of the State 

 has been placed under organized fire protection largely 

 through joint State-Federal financing. The current 

 goal in the State is to hold the annual burn to less 

 than 0.5 percent of the area protected. In the 5- 

 year period 1947-51, the annual burn on State-pro- 

 tected land averaged 1.0 percent. In 1951, the burn 

 was held to the lowest percentage on record — 0.56 

 percent. This excellent record was broken in 1952 

 when an abnormal, prolonged drought produced an 

 extremely hazardous fire situation, and 13 percent of 

 the protected area burned. More than 1.5 million 



acres of timberland burned that year with an esti- 

 mated damage of over 7 million dollars (fig. 31). 



Not only is one-third of the State unprotected, but 

 present facilities in protected areas are still inade- 

 quate, particularly when blow-up conditions as in 

 1952 occur. Tennessee needs additional equipment, 

 manpower, funds, and training of fire fighters if 

 losses from fire are not to exceed the current objective 

 of protection. 



Grazing Control 



At least one-third of Tennessee's farm woodland is 

 grazed. As frequently practiced, grazing is so heavy 

 that it destroys seedlings, particularly of the most 

 valuable species such as \ r ellow-poplar. It also 

 injures tree roots, slows the growth of large trees, 

 destroys humus and litter, and reduces the ability of 

 the soil to absorb water (fig. 32). In hardwood tim- 

 ber types such as predominate in Tennessee, the 

 weight of professional opinion is on the side of sepa- 

 rating grazing from timber production. 



The means for grazing protection were greatly im- 

 proved in 1948 when the State made it unlawful to 

 run livestock at large. It is true that some stock- 

 owners now graze their own woodlands more heavily 

 than before, since they are denied access to the land 

 of others. However, the landowner who desires to 

 practice forestry has legal recourse, and in general no 

 longer need contend with his neighbors' hungry 

 cattle. The law is one more step in the recognition 

 of timber as a crop. 



Forest Pest Control 



A large part of the damage to merchantable timber 

 from insects and disease can be traced to earlier fire 

 injuries that permit the entrance of wood-destroying 



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Forest Resource Report No. 9, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



