Forestry in the U.S. South: A History by Mason C. Carter, Robert C. Kellison, and R. Scott Wallinger (review)

In the year 2000, the southern states produced 60 percent of the timber harvested in the United States. Timber and wood products were bulwarks of the southern economy, generating more than 700,000 jobs and $115 billion in revenues. Yet 100 years before, the southern forests were in dismal shape, as lumber operators clear-cut millions of acres, taking all of the trees in a stand and leaving small branches and leaves on the ground. This slash dried into tinder and fueled the wildfires that constantly swept through the region.

How did the southern forests evolve from that deplorable condition into their current state of productivity? That is the story of Forestry in the U.S. South: A History, authored by Mason Carter, former professor of forestry; Robert Kellison, former head of the Hardwood Tree Improvement Cooperative at North Carolina State; and Scott Wallinger, former senior vice president at Westvaco, one of the leading packaging corporations in the United States at the time of publication in 2015. Together they have created a comprehensive and well-organized account of southern forestry.

Other histories of American forests and forestry, such as American Forests: A History of Resilience and Recovery(1993) by Douglas McCleery, have been national in scope. Forestry in the U.S. South: A Historyfills a gap in the research by telling the complex story of forestry in the southern states. In addition, while other forest histories have focused on government agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, this book trains its eyes on privately owned forestlands. One of the overarching themes here is the relationship—sometimes cooperative, sometime contentious—between private forestland owners and government agencies.

The authors have divided the book into three chronological parts. Part I, "The Dawn of an Era," narrates how lumber operators migrated south after the Civil War and applied the same destructive methods that they had in the eastern and Great Lakes states. The major revolution in forest management was the emergence of the science of forestry at the end of the nineteenth century. The authors explain the importance of Gifford Pinchot, close friend of Theodore Roosevelt and the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Part I also examines the growth of the paper and pulp industries in the South and the pivotal role of corporations like the International Paper Company. At the same time, the southern states lagged in establishing state forestry departments. Kentucky was the first, in 1912. Relationships between forestland owners and government agencies were often fraught with tension, and the authors cite cultural and historical factors, including suspicion of northern motives, to explain why.

The heart of the book is part II, "The Golden Age of Industrial Forestry," which takes us from the post–World War II era to the 1990s. After the war, the science of forestry developed a number of new methods, such as genetic breeding of superior trees, to generate higher yields. Machines like mechanical harvesters and hydraulic loaders also increased productivity. Part III, "Southern Forestry at the Turn of the Century," examines the challenges facing southern forestland owners and managers in the twenty-first century. Globalization has brought the creation of global wood-products companies, and real estate investment trusts and timber investment management organizations have boosted investment in the forest industry.

The authors also explore the impact of the environmental movement. Southern forestland owners often bridle against what they perceive as environmental overregulation. At the same time, the authors cite examples in which private landowners engage in voluntary programs to protect habitat for endangered species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker. However, they could have analyzed in more depth why environmental groups criticize the predominance of pine plantations, which provide habitat for fewer plants and animals than do forests of mixed species.

Foresters, forest historians, conservation historians, and general readers interested in forests will find...