Summary of Replies from Correspondents, by Regions (Table 1)..... 12 Forest Fires in the State of North Carolina, 1909: I. Our vanishing hardwood supply emphasizes the increasing necessity for fire protection. Virgin white oak, 200-300 years old, Buncombe County, N. C. Such large trees are rarely killed by the common surface fires.... 7 II. The result of spring fires in the Coastal Plain region: A, A grove of longleaf pine 15-20 feet high burnt to the top and killed. B, Large oak trees just coming into leaf killed by surface fires.. 20 III. One result of burning the woods. Mature longleaf pine timber destroyed by fire getting into old boxes.... IV. How surface fires destroy mature timber. Base of pine tree burnt through by fire in the boxes. This will blow down, or be burnt down by the next fire..... V. 220 22 The increasing necessity for fire protection. Our future hardwood VI. Two ways of treating a cut-over forest: A. Hardwood forest burnt over after logging, Watauga County, N. C. All reproduction and most of the second growth has been killed. B, Hardwood forest protected from fire. Thrifty yellow poplar reproduction, Buncombe County, N. C. A forest fire would destroy this growth 26 VII. Longleaf pine forest. Seedlings of longleaf pine up to six years of age killed by surface fire.... 26 VIII. A, Effects of boxing and fire. Pine forests laid waste in Coastal Plain region. B, Fire protection. Road used as a fire-break with complete success in a longleaf pine forest..... IX. Fighting fire with the plow. Surface fire in pine forest stopped by plowing two double furrows.. 40 42 PREFACE. On account of the enormous loss that North Carolina sustains each year as a result of forest fires, the North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey decided to make an investigation regarding the number of forest fires, the amount of damage resulting from them, their causes, and whether it would have been possible to have prevented any of them. The information has been obtained largely by correspondence and in coöperation with the Forest Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, which is collecting similar statistics from all over the country. Although we were not able to obtain as full information as was desired, yet the statistics that have been collected are of considerable importance and show the need of some legislation to prevent as much as possible this enormous waste that is caused each year by forest fires. It is hoped that this report will be the means of awakening our people to the realization that forest fires are causing a heavy loss to the State each year and that some legislative action is necessary to remedy this. JOSEPH HYDE PRATT, State Geologist. |