by J. O. ARTMAN, Staff Forester, Division of Forestry Relations, Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created by the Congress of the United States in March 1933. It is a regional agency of the federal government, functioning as a government corporation. According to the preamble of the Act that created it, TVA is to:
"improve the navigability and provide for flood control of the Tennessee River,"provide for reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley;
"provide for the agricultural and industrial development of the said Valley;
"provide for the national defense by the creation of a corporation for the operation of government properties at and near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama, and for other purposes."
The engineering accomplishments of TVA are well known - how the Tennessee River has been harnessed by a series of multipurpose dams to control flood, aid navigation, and produce hydro-electric power. The 30 dams and reservoirs now in operation within the Tennessee River watershed provide about 22,433,000 cu. ft./acre (1,570,000 m³/ha.) of water storage. Nine of these dams on the Tennessee River itself provide a 9-foot (2.7 m.) navigation channel from the mouth of the river 630 miles (1,014 Km.) upstream to the city of Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1950 the TVA power system generated 17,700 million kilowatt-hours of electric energy. These are the things for which TVA is best known. In fact, most people still think of TVA only as a builder of dams and a producer of power. Too few realize the full significance of what is happening in other phases of resource development throughout the 26 million-acre (10.5 million ha.) watershed, which includes parts of seven states.
The Act of Congress which created TVA authorizes it to explore, study, test, and demonstrate the most effective measures for restoring and developing the full productive capacity of the region's lands and waters, and for utilizing most efficiently the resources and products they yield. The program developed from this authorization is therefore largely exploratory and investigative. The search is not only for more effective methods of watershed protection and resource development, but also for developing ways and means of bringing the interests and functions of the federal government closer to the people of the region, their problems and opportunities. The Tennessee Valley program is also co-operative, and every effort has been made to work with and through established groups, institutions, and agencies of the government, in order to avoid duplication of effort. Because problems of water control, land use, and resource development are so interrelated they cannot be solved piecemeal or independently of each other. The Tennessee Valley program must therefore be a comprehensive, unified one. It must recognize the unity of nature and the relation of resources one to another. Finally, the program is an educational one. TVA has no regulatory control over the resources of the area, and progress depends almost entirely on the persuasive force of factual knowledge and demonstration. When people know the facts, they will usually conduct their affairs so that the public interest as well as their own private interest is served.
Fourteen million acres (5.7 million ha.) of the 26 million acres (10.5 million ha.) in the Valley are now classed as forest land. The timber is predominantly second growth hardwood, with only about a third of the area supporting pure coniferous stands. Excessive cutting and fire have depleted the forests generally so that they are now only about one-third as productive as they should be. Only 17 percent of the forest land is publicly owned, the remainder being in private ownership, with about half located on farms. Small holdings are the rule; over 7.5 million acres (3.0 million ha.) are in tracts of less than 500 acres (202 ha.).
In 1948 there were 5,075 sawmills operating in the Tennessee Valley counties. In addition, there are over 1,400 other forest products industries, including furniture, cooperage, and dimension mills, pulp and paper mills, tannin extract plants, planing mills, and concentration yards of various kinds. The value of the products manufactured in a single year by these establishments, which provide over 43,000 man-days of employment annually, is estimated at $200 million. This, however, is only a fraction of the potential value. With full timber production, adequate protection and management, and more efficient wood utilization, forest; product values could be raised to $900 million a year. Employment could be increased to 200,000 man-days a year.
This estimate does not include the more intangible values and benefits that come from better watershed protection in this region of heavy rainfall, nor does it include the scenic attractions and recreational opportunities that forests contribute to the public enjoyment. These are additional returns from forests, and it is entirely possible that in the end they may exceed the cash values placed on wood and wood products.
The Tennessee Valley forest development program is designed to solve four problems:
1. Fire control. In the past the fire hazard in the Tennessee Valley area has been so great as to discourage ownership of forest land. More than five percent of the total forest area was burned in a single year. Public interest in fire control was lacking and state forestry agencies were underfinanced and understaffed. Prior to 1933 less than half of the privately owned forest land received organized protection; none of it was adequately protected. The situation is much better today but there is still room for improvement. Eleven million (4.5 million ha.) of the 14 million acres (5.7 million ha.) of forest land are now protected by federal or state agencies. On 85 percent of this protected area protection is adequate or near adequate; on only 15 percent is it still inadequate. The present great need is to extend protection to the three million acres (1.2 million ha.) that still lack any protection at all.2. Private forest lands not managed for sustained yield. The public forests of the Valley, for the most part, are now managed for sustained yield. In addition, nearly half a million acres (202,000 ha.) of private forests, approximately 20 percent of the total forest area, are operated under management plans designed to build up growing stock and increase annual production. On the other 80 percent there is no conscious effort on the part of the owner to achieve sustained, maximum yield and to balance growth and drain. Timber management is a new idea to most landowners. They have never thought of timber as a crop and few of them know how to go about increasing production and sustaining it at a high level. They are willing to learn, however, and the facilities for getting information to them are gradually being developed.
3. Need for Reforestation. About 1.5 million acres (607,000 ha.) of land in the Valley is in need of reforestation. Roughly one-third is eroded to such an extent that it is no longer suitable for agriculture, another third is land that was once farmed unsuccessfully and is now idle, and the remainder is forest land that for one reason or another is understocked and needs reinforcing. Since 1934, 182,000 acres (74,500 ha.) have been reforested, that is, about 10 percent of the total area to be covered. Since the planting is done by the owners of the land, progress is limited by their interest and willingness to provide the labor. During the last two planting seasons, 10,700 landowners planted 32 million trees on 31,939 acres (12,926 ha.). - an average annual labor expenditure of about 30,000 man-days.
4. Wastage. Timber harvesting and utilization are still not integrated to the point of best efficiency. One operator is interested in sawlogs, and that is all he harvests: another buys only stave bolts, pulpwood, or veneer logs: too few make a real effort to harvest all of the products from a given stand of timber simultaneously. As a result wood is wasted and harvesting costs are higher than they might otherwise be.
The same is true of utilization. There are not enough wood-using centers where the whole range of forest products can be manufactured. The industry is scattered widely and in most cases it is uneconomical to concentrate waste products for further processing. In addition, almost 70 percent of the circular saw mills in the Tennessee Valley are marginal operations. They operate only part time and account for only 20 percent of the lumber production. Their operators are usually in some other business with sawmilling as a sideline. Yet these mills compete for stumpage, produce a large volume of waste, and in times of equipment shortages use material that should go to the 30 percent of the mills that produce 80 percent of the lumber.
Until recently the owners and operators of forest products industries have been little interested in forest conservation and development. Only a very small percentage of the forest land in the Valley was owned by the industries that use wood as a raw material, which may account for their lack of interest; or it may be because there has never been a real shortage of wood. Sawlogs are smaller than they once were, and lower in quality, but few industries have had to shut down for lack of raw material.
Sawmill operators in particular hold a key position in any forest development program. It is they who harvest the timber; they, even more than the landowner, can determine cutting practices; they can cut only high-quality timber and thus degrade a timber stand, or they can improve stand quality and productive capacity. The timber available today is the result of cutting trees before they are mature and of cutting the best and leaving the worst.
The trend now is away from this type of exploitation. Sawmill operators are coming to realize that they will profit by the same kind of management practices that are of benefit to the landowner or timber grower. The landowner is interested in growing the most timber and the best timber on a continuous basis. If the sawmill operator is interested in perpetuating his business and increasing the value of his products, his interests and those of the landowner are identical. These, too, are the interests that best serve public welfare.
More and more manufacturers of wood products are buying forest land and are managing it so that their supply of raw material will be assured. The larger industries are more progressive in this respect than the smaller ones, but the latter too are becoming concerned over dwindling raw material supplies.
There are several ways of promoting forest conservation and development. All fall into four broad classifications: acquisition, subsidy, regulation, and education.
Public ownership (acquisition) has long been a part of federal policy in the United States. Today the people of the United States own 180 million acres (73 million ha.) of forest land, which is administered by the U. S. Forest Service. Some of the states have followed the lead of the federal government and have acquired some 20 million acres (8 million ha.) of state forests.
Subsidy takes the form of forest tree seedlings distributed to landowners free or at a price that covers only part of the production cost. Federal aid to the states for fire control is another example. More recently government payments have been made to landowners who adopt certain approved conservation practices. Free service to landowners by public foresters is another form of subsidy.
Direct contact between technicians and forest landowners at all levels is an integral part of the way TVA is tackling its forest problems.
Regulatory measures have necessarily been invoked by the federal and state governments in the interest of fire protection. Several states have enacted laws that regulate forestry practices on private land. Bills proposing similar federal legislation have been introduced in Congress several times, but have never yet become law.
The educational approach to forest development, especially the use of educational methods to persuade forest landowners to adopt good forestry practices, has long been used in the United States but never fully developed. Under this approach, activities are designed to enlist the support of all citizens, and the active participation of those directly concerned with timber growing or processing. Full collaboration is developed between woodland owners, timber operators, forest industries, and the public agencies involved, with the recognition that people in all walks of life must do the things necessary to develop and utilize forest resources wisely. This is the type of forestry program under way in the Tennessee Valley.
TVA operates two forest tree nurseries with a combined capacity of about 50 million seedlings a year. One is in the eastern part of Tennessee, the other in northern Alabama. The policy of the state forestry agencies that provide forest planting stock to landowners is to charge for seedlings. The price is not very high - $2.50 to $3.00 a thousand - but usually the people whose lands are most in need of reforestation are the least able to pay for seedlings. TVA therefore decided to provide seedlings without charge to any landowner who would agree to plant them properly and protect them against fire and grazing. Such public investment is justified by increased watershed protection and future timber production.
In each of the seven Tennessee Valley states the state forester is the recognized forestry leader. He is responsible for the reforestation project. He or his representative approves all applications for trees, those from farmers having been first approved by a county agent (representative of the state agricultural extension service). Thus an agriculturalist helps landowners to decide which farm lands need to be reforested. On non-farm lands a forester helps them with the decision.
Each year TVA foresters make an appraisal of the success of planting within some major geographic area of the Valley. The last one was in northern Alabama. During the 1949-50 planting season, landowners in the 15 Valley counties of Alabama made application for 2,121,850 seedlings. A statistical sample of these plantings in the fall of 1950 showed that 99 percent of all seedlings had been planted and that 88 percent were alive and growing. All but about 5 percent were planted on soil well suited to the species involved; 92 percent were adequately protected from grazing. Earlier surveys in other parts of the Valley showed similar success.
TVA's major contribution in the field of fire control has been in the form of co-operative demonstrations with the state forestry agencies. Most of these involve financial as well as technical assistance. Some run one or two years, some as many as five years. One now operating in the 15 Valley counties of North Carolina will serve as an example. The object here was to achieve adequate protection of 1.6 million acres (648,000 ha.) of private forest land within a five-year period. TVA's financial contribution amounted to about 15 percent of the total cost. The project began in 1947 and will continue until 30 June 1952.
Major emphasis is on prevention and the training of fire control personnel. Activities are all based on annual work plans prepared jointly by TVA and State foresters. The fire situation was carefully analyzed and prevention activities are aimed squarely at major fire causes. For the five years prior to 1947 an average of 450 fires occurred in the area each year. They burned about 50,000 acres (20,000 ha.) - three percent of all forest lands, each fire destroying an average of more than 100 acres (40 ha.). During the four years of the project the average annual burn has been less than one-fourth of one percent and the area of the average fire has been reduced from 100 to 10 acres (40 to 4 ha.). The number of fires per hundred thousand acres (40,000 ha.) of forest has dropped from 26 to 17.
This and other similar projects have proved that the fire problem can be solved with adequate financing and planning. They also prove that a much greater proportion of the fire control funds must be spent on prevention. Too often the job of putting out fires takes all the money and leaves nothing for prevention. The fire control organization should always be on the defensive.
In an attempt to encourage landowners to adopt sustained-yield timber management, in 1942 TVA started a forest management demonstration program in the Valley. This is also a co-operative project, set up jointly with agricultural extension agencies for farm woodlands and with state forestry organizations for other forest lands. Today there are 285 of these management demonstrations operating throughout the Valley. They cover nearly half a million acres (202,000 ha.) and include all kinds of ownerships, timber types, and topographic conditions. In each case the cooperating public agencies help the landowner inventory his forest land and prepare a plan of operation that will ensure continuous yields and maximum watershed protection. For example, a large coal company in southwest Virginia adopted a timber management plan in 1948. On their 18,000 acres (7,285 ha.) of forest land they are proving that timber growing is good business, in 1950 they cut 900,000 board feet (4,077 m³) selectively and sawed it into lumber on their own sawmill. All trees to be culled on 150 acres (61 ha.) were girdled to release young growing stock. Timber on another 400 acres (162 ha.) was marked, and cutting is now under way. Over 200,000 trees have been planted on mined-out areas and other open land. Two cities, one in North Carolina and one in Tennessee, have set up demonstrations on their municipal watersheds. Both are interested in water, recreation, and wildlife in addition to timber, and both have realized substantial incomes from timber sales without in any way harming the other resources. A lumber company in western Tennessee had just about cut itself out of business in 1943, so that company officials had the choice of liquidating their dwindling timber resources and going out of business, or of adjusting operations in order to obtain a sustained yield. They chose the latter course even though it meant additional cash outlays for fire control, strict control over the timber cut, and radical changes in manufacturing practices. In five years they had cut fire losses from an average of eight percent of the total area to less than one-half of one percent. They had increased their holdings from 49,000 to 75,800 acres (20,000 to 30,676 ha.) and the number of men employed increased from 80 to 130; their annual payroll doubled. In 1943 they dealt almost entirely in pine boards. Now they specialize in converting hardwoods into small dimension items. Their lands are becoming more productive each year.
Other demonstrations on farms, state lands, college campuses, etc., are all doing their part to convince landowners that timber growing can be a profitable business. County agents, helping to set up demonstrations on farm woodlands, learn something about forest management in the process and are able to assist other farmers. A few high schools have school forests, and vocational agriculture instructors in the public schools are beginning to teach farm forestry. Sawmill operators, once hesitant about buying timber marked for cutting by the landowner, are now beginning to see the advantages of selective harvesting.
Perhaps the greatest utilization need in the Tennessee Valley today is a profitable use for low-grade hardwoods - the timber left by previous loggers because it had no commercial value. It has little value by present standards and yet it occupies valuable growing space. The problem is how to get it out of the woods at a profit to the owner.
TVA has investigated two possibilities: laminated lumber and wood molasses. The first involved development of a continuous glue press that would assemble small-size wood slats into a three-ply board, 12 in. (30 cm.) wide and continuous in length. Such a press was developed and tested in a pilot plant operation. The product proved very satisfactory but the press did not operate as efficiently as was expected. A new one has been cosigned and private industry is now being encouraged to take up where TVA left off and develop the process commercially.
Some 50 tons (45 m. tons) of molasses were hydrolyzed from hardwood waste in pilot plant operations during the last two years. This project, carried out in co-operation with the Forest Products Laboratory of the U. S. Forest Service, is designed to further the knowledge of wood hydrolysis. Prior research in the United States has dealt primarily with coniferous species. The TVA tests involve hardwoods, both round wood and mill waste. The molasses, containing about 50 percent sugar, is being tested as a livestock feed supplement.
To encourage the use of treated wood by farmers and others, TVA inaugurated a regional fence post preservation project in co-operation with six state colleges and held timber treating demonstrations throughout the Valley. The research project was aimed at testing simple treating methods as applied to the common wood species of the region. The demonstration program was to encourage the establishment of small treating plants and the more general use of treated timber. So far the colleges have treated over 11,000 fence posts (26 species) with pentachlorophenol and copper naphthenate. These posts have all been set in the ground and are examined annually. Mobile treating equipment was developed and 56 treating demonstrations have been witnessed by more than 12,000 people.
TABLE I. - PUBLIC FOREST IN THE TENNESSEE VALLEY COUNTIES 1
|
|
Acres |
Ha. | |
|
Federal | |||
|
|
Forest Service |
2 137 410 |
865 010 |
|
|
National Park Service |
459 390 |
185 915 |
|
|
Tennessee Valley Authority |
323 480 |
130 915 |
|
|
Department of the Army |
70 800 |
28 653 |
|
|
Fish & Wildlife Service |
44 010 |
17 811 |
|
|
Atomic Energy Commission |
30 600 |
12 384 |
|
|
War Assets Administration |
17 400 |
70 042 |
|
|
Bureau of Land Management |
10 430 |
4 221 |
|
|
Farm Credit Administration |
5 700 |
2 307 |
|
|
Soil Conservation Service |
3 350 |
1 356 |
|
|
Veterans Administration |
310 |
125 |
|
|
Agricultural Research Administration |
100 |
40 |
|
|
Total |
3 102 980 |
1 255 776 |
|
State | |||
|
|
State Forests |
98 190 |
39 737 |
|
|
Wildlife Areas |
60 700 |
24 565 |
|
|
State Parks |
36 970 |
14 962 |
|
|
Defense Installations |
24 300 |
9 834 |
|
|
School Lands |
14 110 |
5 710 |
|
|
Other |
15 230 |
6 164 |
|
|
Total |
249 500 |
100 973 |
|
County | |||
|
|
School Lands |
3 190 |
1 291 |
|
|
County Farms |
2 180 |
882 |
|
|
County Forests |
160 |
65 |
|
|
Total |
5 530 |
2 238 |
|
Municipal | |||
|
|
Municipal Watersheds |
52 130 |
21 097 |
|
|
Municipal Parks |
160 |
65 |
|
|
Total |
52 290 |
21 162 |
|
GRAND TOTAL |
3 410 300 |
1 380 148 | |
1 Includes all tracts of 100 acres (40 ha.) or more.
As a result, 21 small commercial and co-operative treating plants are now in operation. Prior to the demonstration program there were no such plants in the Valley. In connection, with this project, TVA developed two portable post peeling machines, one of which is capable of peeling over 90 pine posts per hour. A pilot treating plant was also set up to solve technical problems and provide information on treating cost.
As mentioned earlier, about 30 percent of the circular saw mills in the Tennessee Valley produce 70 percent of all the lumber manufactured in the region. To encourage greater efficiency in the operation of these mills, TVA made a study of a representative sample. Here are some of the findings: only about 15 percent of the mills are operated on sound management principles They saw too many small logs - logs that yield lumber worth less than the cost of producing it. Many mills are under-powered and lack such necessary equipment as edgers, spare saws, and log handling devices. They lose an average of two hours a day from shutdowns, most of which could be avoided, and operate only 120 days a year, less than half the potential number. They earn a margin of only 10 percent for profit and risk when they could earn twice as much. These facts were analyzed and translated into practical recommendations for improved sawmill management. They were distributed widely at sawmill schools and conferences throughout the Valley. A companion study on the production of logs is now in progress.
TABLE 2. - FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES - TENNESSEE VALLEY COUNTIES
|
Major Groups |
Number of Establishments |
|||||||
|
Alabama |
Georgia |
Kentucky |
Mississippi |
N. Carolina |
Tennessee |
Virginia |
Total |
|
|
Sawmills |
897 |
386 |
152 |
193 |
593 |
2 334 |
520 |
5 075 |
|
Planing Mills |
119 |
45 |
7 |
17 |
52 |
238 |
36 |
514 |
|
Woodworking Shops |
5 |
14 |
28 |
4 |
84 |
132 |
22 |
334 |
|
Concentration Yards |
18 |
5 |
9 |
15 |
8 |
106 |
6 |
167 |
|
Furniture Plants |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
57 |
9 |
79 |
|
Cooperage and Cooperage Stock Mills |
11 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
- |
23 |
1 |
49 |
|
Handle and Handle Blank Mills |
2 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
- |
29 |
5 |
47 |
|
Shuttle Block Mills |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
19 |
21 |
1 |
43 |
|
Basket, Box. Crate and Pallet Plants |
10 |
2 |
2 |
- |
1 |
12 |
2 |
29 |
|
Special Dimension Mills |
2 |
- |
2 |
- |
4 |
12 |
1 |
21 |
|
Tanning Extract Plants |
- |
- |
- |
- |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 13 |
|
Pencil Plants |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
6 |
- |
6 |
|
Wood Turning Plants |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
3 |
- |
4 |
|
Paper and Pulp Mills |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
All Others |
14 |
5 |
- |
2 |
17 |
80 |
31 |
155 |
|
TOTAL |
1 128 |
466 |
217 |
243 |
790 |
3 059 |
636 |
6 539 |
Sawmills enumerated in 1948 by Bureau of the Census, other plants reported by Division of Forestry Relations personnel as of July 1951.
1 Three plants also manufacture paper and pulp.
The activities mentioned above are representative of what is being done in the forestry phase of the Tennessee Valley resource development program. There are others, equally important, but space does not permit describing them forest resource and industry inventories, management investigations, soil-water-forest relationship studies, improvement and testing of black walnut and other nut bearing trees. These and others are all part of the unified, cooperative program being carried on in the Valley.
Much has been accomplished; much more remains to be accomplished. However, TVA is steadily proving that an informed mankind can work in harmonious partnership with nature. The fight against forest depletion has given way to a crusade for forest development.
