South Georgia Trees Boost Top Industry
ALBANY -- C.W. Stripling planted his
first pine tree in 1939 and he's been hooked on them
ever since.
''I'd have trees whether we got anything from them
or not,'' said Stripling, 79, the American Forestry
Association's tree farmer of the year in 1986-87.
''You stand in the middle of a bunch of trees and
you feel you're closer to God.''
Trees improve air quality, they enhance the beauty
of the state, they shade people from the hot summer
sun and they reduce erosion. They also pay college
tuition and put meat and potatoes on a lot of dining
tables in Georgia. As a $19 billion industry -- Georgia's
largest -- forestry provides 171,000 jobs.
Citing statistics in a new inventory of the state's
forest resources, officials say Georgia continues
to lead the nation in tree plantings and can count
on having an ample supply of pines and hardwoods for
years to come.
With an average of 613,090 trees planted each day
for the past 20 years, and millions more regenerated
naturally, Georgia landowners are growing substantially
more trees than they are cutting, said Bob Lazenby,
deputy director of the Georgia Forestry Commission
in Macon.
''It means we're making every attempt to have a sustainable
resource for the industry that's already here and
to hopefully provide for the future, also,'' Lazenby
said.
Statistics on Georgia's forest reserves are contained
in the latest Forest Inventory Analysis, prepared
by the U.S. Forest Service. The analysis, released
last month, shows that Georgia's forests increased
by 441,000 acres from 1989 to 1997.
The biggest problem facing the industry is urban sprawl,
Lazenby said.
Forest acreage in north Georgia has continued to decrease,
while acreage in the south has increased. The biggest
loss has occurred in the 13-county Atlanta Metropolitan
Area.
Lazenby said the loss of forests means tree farmers
will need to become more efficient and grow more trees
on less land.
''There's still a lot of technology out there that
we can benefit from,'' he said. ''It costs money,
but the return is worth it.''
Seedlings will continue to improve, he said, noting
that improved pine varieties already produce 15 percent
more wood than they did 20 years ago.
Another boost should come from intensive cultivation
and fertilization -- improving the growth and health
of trees by tightly controlling weeds, insects, soil
quality and nutrients.
Stripling, who grows peanuts, cotton and trees on
a 2,100-acre farm near Camilla, 30 miles south of
Albany, has about 700 acres of pines.
''It's not something you get rich on overnight,''
he said. ''But I think everybody ought to have a certain
number of trees, if for nothing else than environmental
purposes.''
Stripling helped lead a campaign that changed the
way timber is taxed. Georgia voters approved a 1990
constitutional amendment that postpones taxes on timber
until the trees are harvested, instead of forcing
landowners to pay annual property taxes on timber.
The change has provided an incentive for Georgians
to grow more trees.
''I was prepared to cut everything I had,'' he said.
''They were prepared to tax each tree and then the
growth. Municipal bonds would have been a better investment.''
Marshall Thomas, president of F&W Forestry Services
Inc., an Albany-based forest management, inventory
and appraisal firm, believes landowners have planted
more trees because of higher prices and increased
demand.
''My overall opinion is that for the past 60 years
the South has operated with either a balance between
harvest and growth, or a surplus of growth over harvest,''
Thomas said.
''This most recent assessment indicates that we continue
to operate at an approximate equilibrium and that
the current situation is sustainable forever.''
By Elliott Minor
Associated Press
Source of this information: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022899/new_0228990004.shtml
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