"i raRe, 
Ae 
= right many young trees (fig. 58) , and in severe fires ma- 
ture trees also (fig. 59), but it damages in a greater or 
_ less degree many more than it kills. Thereby the diffi- 
culties of management are increased, since volume pro- 
duction of good timber is reduced, cull volume requires 
‘removal, often at a loss, and in many cases the produc- 
F-441813 
Ficure 59.—Shortleaf pine saw timber totally destroyed by 
: crown fire, April 1942. 
tivity of the site is reduced. Fire also exposes the 
mineral soil by destroying litter and humus, thereby 
causing increased erosion and storm runoff—fore- 
runners of silting and floods. Recreational values may 
be reduced, and in severe fires, game and fish are killed 
and their habitat ruined. 
Most Virginia fires are surface fires, burning along 
the ground. Crown fires are rare, but do occur in 
severe fire seasons in all parts of the State. In the 
coastal swamps, peat and muck fires occur, often re- 
_ quiring dug trenches to suppress them. ‘The spring 
fire season extends from February Ist in the Coastal 
_ Plain to May 15th in the mountains, culminating in 
April for the State as a whole. During this period 
most of the year’s fires occur. The fall fire season is 
shorter, culminating in November. 
Effective in 1946, all of Virginia’s 14.8 million acres 
of forest land was under organized protection by Fed- 
eral or State agencies, cooperating on private land 
with the county governments and individual landown- 
Virginia Forest Resources and Industries 
ers. Prior to this year, the 5-year (1940-44) average 
of area protected was 13,419,000 acres. In this 5-year 
period, on State and private land under protection, 
there was an average of 2,597 fires per year, or 220 fires 
per 1 million acres protected. These fires burned an 
average of 105,700 acres annually, or only 0.9 percent 
of the area protected. This is a good protection record. 
Great variation exists between various parts of the 
State, and from year to year. In seven counties in 
the extreme southern Piedmont, for example, only 
0.6 percent of area protected burned over during this 
period, while in four counties in extreme southwest 
Virginia in the mountains, 1.5 percent burned over. 
In 1942 in the State as a whole, 2.1 percent burned 
over, a total of 237,400 acres, whereas in 1944 only 
0.2 percent (28,800 acres) burned. 
Among insect enemies of living trees the most de- 
structive in Virginia is the southern pine beetle 
(Dendroctonus frontalis). ‘During the past 55 years, 
at least seven notable:and costly outbreaks of the south- 
ern pine beetle have caused a marked drain on the 
forest resources of the State. An exact estimate of 
From the records avail- 
able, it appears that the quantity of timber killed 
ranged from 1 to 9 million board feet per outbreak. 
During the period 1930-33 in Fairfax County alone 5 
In South- 
ampton County an additional 3 million board feet of 
merchantable timber was killed, and in King and 
Queen County 1 million feet was killed in the same 
period. During the 1936-38 outbreak, extensive dam- 
age also occurred in the southern counties (fig. 60). 
The beetle is again active in these counties.” 1°  Ex- 
tensive damage is also done by bark beetles of the 
genus Ips, which generally attack cut or down timber, 
such cannot be given. 
million board feet of pine was destroyed. 
but in summer frequently attack living trees on logging 
operations or following fire damage. 
Forest diseases *t in Virginia take a heavy annual 
The un- 
precedented destruction of billions of feet of chestnut 
toll through mortality, cull, and degrade. 
by the blight fungus provides a striking example of 
what a forest tree disease can do. In the aggregate 
the losses caused by our native diseases and decays that 
whittle continously on our timber capital are ulti- 
St. George, R. A., Entomologist, Bureau of Entomology 
and Plant Quarantine, United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, in statement prepared for this report, January 1946. 
"This statement on tree diseases in Virginia was prepared 
by George H. Hepting, pathologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, 
Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, and cooperator, Southeastern Forest Ex- 
periment Station. 
43 
