Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

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  • FORESTS AND FOREST CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. By H. B. Ayres and W. VS. Ashe. re moun region origi- The Southern Appalachian Mountains extend from Virginia southwestward into Alabama, and lie between the Piedmont Plateau on the southeast and the lowlands of East Tennessee on the northwest. That this is preeminently a region of mountains is well illustrated by the fact that the mountain slopes occupy 90 per' cent of the total area; and probably the combined area of the valleys and gentler slopes (of less than 10 degrees—about 2 feet in 10) will not aggregate more than 15 per cent of the whole. Before the advent of man the entire region, save the tops ^J,11^ of a few high mountains—the grassy "balds"—was COv-rnsf[i11>'£°rest co> ered with forest, mainly hard wood. (See PI. XXXVII.) Then, as now, the forest varied as to density and vigor of growth, but a far larger portion of that existing then is resembled by the best of to-day on such tracts as are found in the most favored situations and have been protected from fire and severe culling. A total area of 5,400,000 acres has been examined in connection with this investigation, and of this 4,050,000 acres, or 75 per cent of the whole, are still in forest. Of this total area in forest about 7.4 per cent, or 303.000 acres, is still in primeval condition, i. e., has never been culled at all. The remainder of this wooded area has been culled to a varying extent. (See PI. XXXVIII.) A limited J**%%£$£ portion of that near the railway lines has been robbed of linearly everything of commercial value, while the remote areas have had only the walnut, cherry, and figured woods cut. From the intervening areas, far the larger part of the whole, a varying proportion of the most valuable trees have been removed, but large amounts of commercial timber still remain. The clearing and culling of a century have made considerable inroads into these forests. The woodland connected with the farms has been largely 45
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