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Compass issue 13
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Compass is a quarterly publication of the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station (SRS). As part of the Nation's largest forestry research organization -- USDA Forest Service Research and Development -- SRS serves 13 Southern States and beyond. The Station's 130 scienists work in more than 20 units located across the region at Federal laboratories, universites, and experimental forests.



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Issue 13

Forty Acres: Making it work for landowners

After the Escambia was established in 1947, the land was surveyed and divided into 40-acre compartments. Two 40-acre studies were established as demonstrations for landowners.

The Farm Forty Study was designed to show what an average landowner could get off 40 acres of longleaf pine in a year without spending much effort or money. The acres were managed using the shelterwood method, resulting in open stands with large well-spaced seed trees. All the operations were those that could be done by the owner with average farm equipment. An annual field day was held to showcase all the products—poles, sawtimber, turpentine, and gum—that could be harvested from a 40-acre woodlot in 1 year. Each fall all the harvested products except naval stores (represented by empty barrels) were stacked on a yard for visitors to see.

 

(More...)

The 40-acre Investment Forest Study was set up at the same time to offer practical management guidance to the typical investment owner. To help investors evaluate profits from longleaf pine stands, records were kept of the costs of activities such as timber marking, maintenance of roads and boundaries, and prescribed burning. Logging was done by company contract crews and management activities by station personnel.

60 Years on the Farm 40

John Kush, research fellow at the Auburn University Longleaf Pine Stand Dynamics Laboratory, and Becky Barlow, assistant professor at the Auburn School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, recently spent almost 3 days filming the story of the Escambia, including extensive interviews with SRS emeritus researcher Bill Boyer. They plan to produce three to four videos for use by landowners, agencies, and the general public. The first of these, “60 Years on the ‘Farm 40’,” can be viewed at www.srs. fs.usda.gov/news/377.

 

 





Each year products from the Farm Forty Study were stacked on a yard to demonstrate to landowners what they could harvest in a year from a 40- acre woodlot. (Forest Service photo)
Each year products from the Farm Forty Study were stacked on a yard to demonstrate to landowners what they could harvest in a year from a 40- acre woodlot. (Forest Service photo)