OCR Text |
Show Small Voodlots Hold Key To Future Timber Supply By BAITKIIAGE Neus Analyst and Commrnlalnr. WASHINGTON. I have just had an interesting conversation conversa-tion with R. E. McArdle of the forest service of the department depart-ment of agriculture, and I have discovered that I'm one of the people that the United States of America has to look to for its future lumber supply. My father took up some of the last of the government forest land that was available in the Southwest. That little plot, along with the other privately-owned timberland straggling over the map of the U. S., makes up three-quarters of all the timber there is in the country. Only one-fourth of our forests are public property. And three-fourths of this thrce- fourths Is composed of small wood lots which aver- I 3kJ ft h ! Jim age 60 to 70 acres. Furthermore Further-more much of it Is not part of a farm being worked by an experienced farmer. A great deal is owned by people who don't live on the wood lot or near it (like me), "and many of whom I (also like me) Baukhage wouldn't be able to tell a toothpick tooth-pick from a telephone pole if it wrrm'l fnr thnir bia Worse still, many farmers owning own-ing wood lots with valuuble stands of timber on them don't know how to get their money's worth from that land or how to keep the wooded wood-ed acres contributing to their livelihood as the rest of their furmland does. In other words, growing timber in this country has become to a large extent a side issue. I am glad to report, after telliug you all tills bad news, that both the government and the lumber Industry are trying to do something about this situation sit-uation for the general, as well as for the Individual, good. For example, in 1937, the Crossctt Lumber company gave the government govern-ment 1,680 acres of typical second growth stands in southeastern Arkansas. I can't go into the program pro-gram of experimental work that has been done there, but there is one Item that affects our story. R. R. Reynolds of the forestry service went to work on 40 acres of this area. He did the things any farmer can learn to do to a similar woodlot Last year Reynolds reported eight annual cuts which averaged a marketable value of more than $580 a year, and he had as much volume as when he started! Of course, everybody hasn't Reynolds' Rey-nolds' know-how, but the government govern-ment is helping to spread that know-how through Its representatives representa-tives or through state organizations. organiza-tions. So Is private enterprise. Florida Teaches Youth Forestry Fundamentals Thirteen years ago, Florida for example, began a forestry training camp for her Future Farmers of America members. On August 1 of this year, some 200 members of the FFA attended two unrv camp at Camp O'Leno, about 60 miles west of Jacksonville, where they were taught, in the forest, th fundamentals of good forest practices. prac-tices. The first week was for beginners begin-ners who had had no previous forestry for-estry background; the second week was for those who had attended a previous camp. During the first period they were taught fundamentals of gum farminghow farm-inghow to secure naval stores such as turpentine and rosin from slash and long-leaf pines; how to identify the commercially valuable trees and their use; how to farm forests as they farm cotton and other crops; how to protect their woodlots from fire; how to thin their stands of trees by cutting out the crooked, diseased, and other trees to allow the healthy ones room for more rapid growth; how to make seed beds grow tree seedlings. seed-lings. In the second week, the lads were put through more training In advanced principles with emphasis on actual work In the forest. They fought a fire to learn the correct procedure. They marked trees In a plot, estimated esti-mated the board footage In a standing stand-ing tree, cut it down, sawed it into lumber, and measured the lumber as a check against their previous estimates. They were taught how to chip trees in gum farming and how to market the gum. They were even put through a law en-' forcement course which stressed ngming the incendiarist in the woods. They were shown how to detect clues for purposely set fires, what evidence to collect and their rights under the law. Health and recreation are not neglected In these camps, and at the end of the two week period the boys go home enthusiastic, ready to practice on their own woodlands. They take the message to their parents, of course, and make a report re-port to the organizations to which they belong. Briefly they have gained a fundamental knowledge of the value of trees 'and how they can be grown for profit. During the time Florida has run this camp, they have averaged aver-aged 100 boys a year which means some 1,300 have been Indoctrinated In-doctrinated In the fundamentals fundamen-tals of forestry. Today many of these graduates are leading citizens of their communities and many are growing trees for 'profit. Program Extendi To Other States Nor is Florida the only state taking tak-ing an interest in this new thinking think-ing regarding trees and youth. Alabama, Arknnsas. Georgia, Louisiana, Loui-siana, North Carolina, and Virginia staged similar camps this year. FFA or 411 club members were the lucky youngsters, depending on which group the state forestry agency Is co-operating with at the time. The purpose, of course, is not to turn out foresters. That would be impossible in two weeks. But camps can build up an effective Interest In-terest In growing a cash crop by growing trees. This year more than 600 youths from the seven states attended these camps, with all expenses paid by the forest Industries. TV, i. I- .. I : i - i i nucic jiivute industry has stepped Into the picture. On the modern theory that our futuro timber supply must come from what we grow, not as in the past from what we found on the land, the Southern Pulpwood association, composed of southern pulp and paper pa-per Industry members, with the cooperation co-operation of the Southern Pine association, as-sociation, pioneered in financing these and similar camps. The sum total of this whole project proj-ect adds up to this: Industry has Joined forces with state agencies to Interest youth in becoming successful suc-cessful Tree Farmers of America, and to turn to account whut has been up to recently a wasteful sideline on the farms a sideline which must supply an Important part of America's current and future fu-ture vital lumber needs. ' ' V ' t i V- . v 'O"' .5,. -S Florida learhes the fundamentals ol good forestry U IFA youth at annual summer camps. Trsmmel Green, nurseryman for the Florida forest service, Is shown here Instructing two boys In preparation or a seed bed. Here they art spreading pine straw ever the freshly planted seed as a protective measure. |