Forestry in the U.S. South: A History

407 Pages·2015·17.067 MB·English

by  Mason C. Carter, Robert C. Kellison

FORESTRY IN THE U.S. SOUTH
Published in cooperation with
the Forest History Society
FORESTRY
IN THE U S SOUTH
. .
a b
A HISTORY
MASON C. CARTER ROBERT C. KELLISON R. SCOTT WALLINGER
FOREWORD BY STEVEN ANDERSON
louisiana state university press baton rouge
Published by Louisiana State University Press
Copyright © 2015 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing
Designer: Barbara Neely Bourgoyne
Typeface: MillerText
Printer and binder: Maple Press (digital)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available at the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-8071-6054-1 (cloth: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8071-6055-8 (pdf) —
ISBN 978-0-8071-6056-5 (epub) — ISBN 978-0-8071-6057-2 (mobi)
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Much of the story in this book is about events after World War II that led to the massive
increase in Southern Forest production. But the foundation for that work was laid
earlier in the century. We dedicate this book to those early visionary forestry leaders
described in chapters 1 to 4 who first saw the potential and acted to prove it: lumber-
men Henry Hardtner and A. C. Goodyear, industrialists Richard Cullen and Reuben
Robertson, scientists Phil Wakeley and Cap Eldredge, champions of private forestry
Austin Cary and Leslie Pomeroy, shapers of public opinion and policy Chief Forester
William B. Greeley, Professor H. H. Chapman, and Dr. Charles Herty, and many others
in both the public and private sectors. Without the legacy they created, the events that
followed might not have occurred or been as successful as they were.
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Foreword, by Steven Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
Preface ................................................................xv
Acknowledgments .....................................................xvii
PARTI. THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
1. Origins of Forestry in the South ........................................3
2. Expansion of Forestry: Public and Private ..............................16
3. Early Developments in Forestry Education, Research, and
Technology Transfer in the South ......................................35
4. Depression, Recovery, and Controversy, 1930–1945 ......................52
PART II. THE GOLDEN AGE OF INDUSTRIAL FORESTRY
5. Postwar Expansion: Industry, Education, Incentives .....................79
6. The Planted Forest: Intensive Management Begins ......................97
7. The Grand Alliance: Research Cooperatives ............................134
8. Corporate Forestry .................................................189
9. Extending Forestry to Nonindustrial Forests .......................... 233
10. Southern Forestry Enters the Environmental Era ...................... 259
PART III. SOUTHERN FORESTRY AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
11. The Southern Forest at the Close of the Twentieth Century ...............277
12. A New Century Brings Massive Changes to Southern Forestry ........... 289
13. The Road Traveled and the Road Ahead ............................. 310
Appendix A: Glossary ..................................................319
Appendix B: Converting Factors .........................................321
Appendix C: Membership Lists for Cooperative Programs .................. 322
Notes ............................................................... 327
References ........................................................... 343
Index ............................................................... 373
vii
This page intentionally left blank
FIGURES AND TABLES
figures
1.1. Changes in U.S. Lumber Production by Region, 1860–1912 ..............4
2.1. Sulfate Pulp/Kraft Paper Mills Operating in the South in 1930 ..........25
2.2. U.S. per Capita Consumption of Lumber, 1870–1946 ...................25
2.3. Trend of Average Retail Lumber Prices, according to Capper Report .... 28
2.4. Lumber Production and Mill Prices for Southern Yellow
Pine Lumber, 1899–1943 ......................................... 29
2.5. Public/Private Cooperative Effort .................................. 32
3.1. Gum Naval Stores Systems Used in the Southern Forest ............... 45
3.2. Height over Age Curves for Loblolly Pine ............................47
4.1. Gross Domestic Product of the United States and
Unemployment Rate ..............................................52
4.2. CCC Planting Pine Seedlings in Mississippi ...........................55
4.3. Comparison of the Profitability of Three Pulp and Paper
Companies, 1930–1936 ........................................... 62
4.4. Net Earnings for International Paper Company ...................... 62
4.5. Domestic Production and Imports of Sulfate Pulp, 1929–1938 ......... 64
4.6. Acres of Timberland Burned in the South versus Total
Expenditures for Fire Protection ................................... 68
5.1. Pulp Mills in the South and Their Combined Pulping Capacity ..........79
5.2. Small Southern Pine Log Emerging from a Chip-and-Saw Head Rig .... 80
5.3. Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded in Forestry, 1930–1987 .................. 82
5.4. Doctoral Degrees in Forestry before and after the
McIntire-Stennis Act ............................................. 83
5.5. Tree Planting on Private Land in the South, 1925–2000 ............... 90
6.1. Yield Comparisons for Loblolly Pine Plantations ..................... 98
6.2. A Hypothetical Depiction of Types of Response in Pine Plantation ..... 103
6.3. Bedded Site in the Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina ............ 103
6.4. Natural Stand of Bottomland Hardwoods along the Tombigbee River ...131
7.1. Superior Phenotype of Loblolly Pine ................................137
7.2. Grafting Superior Phenotypes for Seed Production ...................138
ix