Faces from the Past: 

Profiles of Those Who Led 

Restoration of the South’s Forests

James P. Barnett

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest Service

Southern 

Research Station

General Technical 

Report SRS–133
Author:

James P. Barnett, Emeritus Scientist, USDA Forest Service, 

Southern Research Station, Pineville, LA.

January 2011

Southern Research Station

200 W.T. Weaver Blvd.

Asheville, NC 28804

Cover:

The cover photo was taken at the Roberts plots near Urania, LA, in April 1940. These plots, established 

in 1913, were used to study the effects of prescribed burning on longleaf pine growth and development. 

From left: H.H. Chapman of Yale University; U.S. Forest Service scientists C. Allen Bickford, H.H. 

Muntz, G.W. Trayer, Clarence L. Forsling, Roy A. Chapman, T.R. Truax, John Curry and J.M. Hughes; 

and Lloyd Blackwell, who became the Head of Louisiana Tech University’s Department of Forestry.

Photo credit:

Unless otherwise noted, the photographs were from collections of the U.S. Forest Service, the Louisiana 

Forestry Commission (now Louisiana Office of Forestry), and the Louisiana Forestry Association. These 

organizations have extensive photo collections and many of the early photographs were interchanged 

between organizations so that the identity of many of the original photographers has been lost. 

Professional photographers Elemore Morgan and Tommy Kohara took many of these photographs. 

Sources for others are identified with the photograph.

Disclaimer

The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service. 

Pesticide Precautionary Statement

This publication reports research involving pesticides. It does not contain recommendations for their 

use, nor does it imply that the uses discussed here have been registered. All uses of pesticides must be 

registered by appropriate State and Federal agencies before they can be recommended.

CAUTION: Pesticides can be injurious to humans, domestic animals, desirable plants, and fish or other 

wildlife—if they are not handled or applied properly. Use all pesticides selectively and carefully. Follow 

recommended practices for the disposal of surplus pesticides and pesticide containers.
FACES FROM THE PAST: 

Abstract—Early in the 20th century, the forests in the South were devastated 

by aggressive harvesting and many millions of acres of forest land needed 

reforestation. Foresighted individuals began a committed effort to restore this 

land to a productive condition. This effort required dedication, cooperation, and 

leadership. A small cadre of individuals led the restoration of the South’s forests 

that became the basis of the South’s economy. Many of these individuals are 

profiled in this document. 

Keywords: History of forestry research, research scientists, restoration of 

southern forests, significance of forestry to the South, southern pines. 

PROFILES OF THOSE WHO LED 

RESTORATION OF THE SOUTH’S FORESTS

JAMES P. BARNETT

How could the United States avoid most of the problems resulting from 

regional deforestation? The answer came from a coordinated effort to 

develop reforestation guidelines. Forward thinking individuals in the 

forest industry, Federal and State governments, private landowners, and 

university groups were determined to restore the devastated lands into 

productive forest systems.

In the early 1900s, forestry was in its infancy in the United States. 

The Biltmore Forest School near Asheville, NC, was created as the 

first forestry school in the United States. However, a number of 

university programs rapidly followed. Cornell, Yale, Minnesota, and 

Michigan universities were leaders in developing strong forestry 

programs. It is somewhat ironic that foresters from northern 

universities came to the South to lead restoration efforts that were 

needed because much of the forest devastation in the South was 

created by northern industrialists a few decades earlier.

The purpose of this publication is to recount the contributions of 

many of the early individuals who played an important role in the 

restoration of the South’s forest ecosystems. Their dedication and 

ability were remarkable, and I hope that a focus on some of these 

pioneers can convey the nature and scope of their contributions to 

the South’s recovery and current economy.

Some bias may be perceived because many of those selected for focus 

worked in the West Gulf Region. Two things contribute to this 

situation. When the U.S. Forest Service established the Southern 

Station in 1921, it was headquartered in New Orleans, LA. It was one 

of the earliest forestry organizations in the South and had research 

responsibilities for the Coastal Plain Region from eastern Texas 

to Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. Hence, many of the early 

foresters in the South worked out of the New Orleans office.

Also, my 50-plus years of forestry experience was in this western 

portion of the South. My career overlapped many of these early 

forestry leaders—hence, I have more information about them. I 

hope that readers can gain an appreciation of the influence of these 

and other individuals who led the restoration of our South’s forest 

resources.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to a few individuals 

who helped insure the completion of this effort. Helen Derr, widow 

of Harold Derr who is profiled in the document, read it and made 

editorial corrections. Her career as a newspaper writer made this 

assistance invaluable. Paul Y. Burns, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor 

and retired head of Louisiana State University School of Forestry, 

Wildlife and Fisheries, provided encouragement, information on a 

number of those profiled, and editorial assistance. I also express my 

appreciation to my wife, Jena, who supported me in the effort.

James P. Barnett

Pineville, LA

When Europeans arrived on the shores of America, they encountered 

extensive forests that provided both a needed resource and a 

hindrance to establishing farm land critical for their existence. The 

forests provided materials for export as well as to build homes and 

cities. Initially, this resource was used slowly, but as the population 

increased timber near bays and rivers was harvested and shipped 

widely to meet an array of timber related needs.

Clearing of forests for crop production occurred throughout the 

southeastern Coastal Plain and Piedmont from the colonial period 

until the beginning of the Civil War (Williams 1989). In Virginia 

alone, more than 25 million acres, nearly one-half of the total land 

area, had been cleared by 1860. Soil erosion became a major problem. 

Declining soil productivity caused large amounts of agricultural land 

to be abandoned throughout the South by the end of the Civil War 

(Fox and others 2007). 

After the Civil War, the South’s economy was in shambles and 

forested land was inexpensive. This provided an opportunity for 

northern industrialists to purchase timber and labor to operate 

sawmills. Although this massive harvest of the South’s virgin forests 

resulted in deforestation throughout the region, it did provide the 

economic basis for recovery of the South.

The development of railroads throughout the country made a rapid 

movement of the population into the Great Plains and West feasible 

with a great need for building materials. Also, newly developed 

railroads and steam powered logging and milling equipment provided 

the technology to quickly harvest and mill tremendous quantities 

of timber. These efforts focused on the western portion of the 

Gulf Coastal Plain where virgin pine forests had remained largely 

untouched. 

Wakeley (1954) stated that there were 13 million acres of forest 

land in need of planting. Later, Wahlenberg (1960) estimated that 

29 million acres needing planting. These conditions resulted from 

abusive agricultural practices that degraded soil productivity, 

coupled with exploitative timber harvesting without provision for 

regeneration. 

Deforestation has occurred frequently since the beginning of 

civilization. There are many examples of resulting devastations to 

the climate, loss of fuel for cooking, massive soil erosion, reductions 

in wildlife populations, and general decline of the economy of 

regions where forests were lost. Many European settlers who came to 

America did so because of problems caused by deforestation in their 

home countries, and major deforestation continues to occur in many 

developing nations even today.

PREFACE

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. iii

INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................................................................1

Naval Stores ........................................................................................................................................................................................................2

The Great Harvest of Pine Forests ..............................................................................................................................................................3

The South’s Devastated Forests ....................................................................................................................................................................4

Growing Interest in Management and Reforestation ..............................................................................................................................6

INDIVIDUALS WHO LED RESTORATION OF THE SOUTH’S FORESTS ................................................................................7

The Coming of Forestry to the South .........................................................................................................................................................7

Father of Forestry in the South ..............................................................................................................................................................7

Henry E. Hardtner ..............................................................................................................................................................................7

Early “Transient” Foresters in the South .............................................................................................................................................9

William W. Ashe ...................................................................................................................................................................................9

Wilbur R. (Matty) Mattoon ............................................................................................................................................................. 10

Austin Cary ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Reforestation Pioneer .............................................................................................................................................................................. 11

Philip C. (Phil) Wakeley ................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Pioneer Nursery Specialist and Silviculturist Extraordinary ....................................................................................................... 12

F.O. (Red) Bateman ............................................................................................................................................................................ 12

The Nation’s First Industrial Forester? ............................................................................................................................................. 14

J.T. (Jake) Johnson ............................................................................................................................................................................. 14

The First Forest Survey of the South ................................................................................................................................................ 15

Inman F. (Cap) Eldredge .................................................................................................................................................................. 15

Philip R. (Phil) Wheeler ................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Administration ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17

Great Southern Lumber Company ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

William H. (Col. Bill) Sullivan ........................................................................................................................................................ 17

Southern Forest Experiment Station .................................................................................................................................................. 19

Reginald D. (Reggie) Forbes ........................................................................................................................................................... 19

Elwood L. (Demmie) Demmon ....................................................................................................................................................... 20

Kisatchie National Forest’s Longest Serving Supervisor ............................................................................................................... 21

Hugh S. Redding ................................................................................................................................................................................ 21

Legendary Ranger of Winn Ranger District ................................................................................................................................... 22

George M. Tannehill, Jr. .................................................................................................................................................................. 22

Louisiana Forestry Commission ........................................................................................................................................................... 23

Victor Hugo Sonderegger ................................................................................................................................................................ 23

James E. (Jim) Mixon ........................................................................................................................................................................ 24

Hans Enghardt ................................................................................................................................................................................... 25

Louisiana Forestry Association ............................................................................................................................................................ 27

J.H. (Jim) Kitchens, Jr. ....................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Charles H. (Charlie) Lewis, Jr. ........................................................................................................................................................ 28

Forest Management ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 29

Uneven-aged Pine Management .......................................................................................................................................................... 29

Russell R. (Russ) Reynolds .............................................................................................................................................................. 29

Even-aged Pine Silviculture .................................................................................................................................................................. 30

William F. (Bill) Mann, Jr. ............................................................................................................................................................... 30

Direct Seeding .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Harold J. Derr ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 31

v
Statistics and Mensurational Techniques ........................................................................................................................................... 33

Roy A. Chapman ................................................................................................................................................................................. 33

Frank Freese ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Lewis R. (Lew) Grosenbaugh .......................................................................................................................................................... 34

Control of Upland Hardwoods ............................................................................................................................................................ 35

Fred A. Peevy ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 35

Hardwood Management ......................................................................................................................................................................... 37

John A. (Put) Putnam ........................................................................................................................................................................ 37

Forest Seed Production........................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Howell C. Cobb ................................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Consulting Forestry ................................................................................................................................................................................ 39

Leslie K. (Les) Pomeroy .................................................................................................................................................................... 39

Zebulon W. (Zeb) White ................................................................................................................................................................... 40

Education .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41

Biltmore Forest School ........................................................................................................................................................................... 41

Carl A. Schenck ................................................................................................................................................................................. 41

Teacher, Artist, Conservationist, and “Mother of the Kisatchie National Forest” .................................................................. 42

Caroline C. Dormon .......................................................................................................................................................................... 42

Yale University Forestry Training at Urania ................................................................................................................................... 43

H.H. (Chappy) Chapman .................................................................................................................................................................. 43

Louisiana State University School of Forestry ................................................................................................................................ 45

Major J.G. Lee, Sr. .............................................................................................................................................................................. 45

Ralph W. Hayes ................................................................................................................................................................................... 46

A. Bigler Crow .................................................................................................................................................................................... 47

Louisiana Tech University ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47

Lloyd P. (Black) Blackwell ................................................................................................................................................................ 47

University of Arkansas at Monticello ................................................................................................................................................ 48

Henry H. (Hank) Chamberlin ......................................................................................................................................................... 48

Forest Products............................................................................................................................................................................................... 49

Mr. Pulp and Paper of the South ......................................................................................................................................................... 49

Charles H. Herty ................................................................................................................................................................................ 49

Control of Blue-Stain Fungus .............................................................................................................................................................. 51

Ralph M. (Lindy) Lindgren ............................................................................................................................................................. 51

Timber Harvesting .................................................................................................................................................................................. 51

Albert E. (Wack) Wackerman ......................................................................................................................................................... 51

Premier Wood Scientist .......................................................................................................................................................................... 52

Peter Koch .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 52

Forest Resources ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 53

Soil Erosion and Flood Control............................................................................................................................................................ 54

H.G. (Mac) Meginnis ........................................................................................................................................................................ 54

Prescribed Fire ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 55

H.H. (Chappy) Chapman .................................................................................................................................................................. 55

Wildlife Conservation ............................................................................................................................................................................. 56

Bryant A. Bateman ............................................................................................................................................................................ 56

Claude H. (Grits) Gresham .............................................................................................................................................................. 57

Forest Pathology ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 58

George H. Hepting ............................................................................................................................................................................ 58

Tree Improvement and Genetics.......................................................................................................................................................... 59

Philip C. (Phil) Wakeley ................................................................................................................................................................... 59

Bruce J. Zobel ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 60

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

(CONTINUED)

vi
Photography/History ................................................................................................................................................................................... 61

Forestry Photography ............................................................................................................................................................................ 62

Tommy T. Kohara .............................................................................................................................................................................. 62

Elemore Morgan, Sr. ......................................................................................................................................................................... 62

Forestry History ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 63

Edward F. (Ed) Kerr, Sr. ................................................................................................................................................................... 63

Anna C. Burns ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 64

CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 66

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 67

LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................................................................................................... 68

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

(CONTINUED)

vii

For generations the South has been thought of as an 

agricultural land with cotton and other agricultural crops 

as the basis of the area’s economy. Many have not realized 

that it is one of the great forested regions of the world. Six 

out of every 10 acres of its land area were, and still are, in 

forests.

The original forests of the South consisted of four general 

types. Extending throughout the Coastal Plain were pure 

stands of longleaf and slash pine. Further inland into the 

highlands were forests of loblolly and shortleaf pine, either 

pure or mixed with hardwoods. The mountainous areas were 

mixed forests of upland hardwoods. Bottomland hardwoods, 

the fourth type, stretched along the banks and flatlands 

adjacent to the numerous creeks and rivers. By area, pine and 

hardwood forests were approximately equal.

Longleaf pine forests extended along the lower coastal plain from Virginia to eastern Texas. They were maintained by repeated use of fire. The longleaf 

pine forests originally covered about 90 million acres.

The southern pinery was awesome in its vastness. Interrupted 

by occasional bottomland swamps, the pine forests stretched 

throughout the Coastal Plain from Virginia to the Texas plains 

in what the early settlers must have considered an endless 

expanse—a distance of nearly 1,500 miles. The longleaf 

pine forests themselves were estimated at 90 million acres. It 

was inconceivable that this enormous supply of wood might 

someday be consumed and that there would be a landscape of 

devastated forests.

These forests were looked upon by early settlers as both a blessing 

and a curse. They provided the wood products needed to build 

homes, towns, and cities, but they were an obstacle in developing 

agricultural land for producing food crops. They did provide some 

of the earliest products that could be marketed to England and 

other countries. These forest products helped build an economy 

that sustained the colonies.

I

NTRODUCTION
2

Tapping longleaf and slash pines for resin was a common practice in the 19th century and early 20th century. Naval stores provided major economic 

products from southern forests.

NAVAL STORES

One of the earliest and most colorful industries in the United 

States was the naval stores industry. During colonial days, 

the British navy eagerly sought tar and pitch obtained in 

abundance from pines along the southern Atlantic coast. 

The name “naval stores” comes from the use of tree resin to 

treat the rigging and caulking of sailing ships. In the earliest 

methods, the resinous heart wood of pines, especially longleaf 

pine, was burned in shallow pits dug in the forest. The molten 

resin or tar was drained off for use. The term “tar heels” for 

North Carolinians comes from the early days when naval 

stores production was of major importance.

The naval stores industry was an important one. For more 

than a century, the United States was the world’s largest 

producer of naval stores (Demmon 1937). The two basic 

products, rosin and turpentine, were either derived from the 

living tree, from distillation of virgin longleaf pine stumps, 

or as a byproduct in the manufacture of Kraft paper. Tapping 

living trees was the technology that was used for many 

decades. Distillation of longleaf pine stumps was a method 

developed after most of the virgin longleaf forests were 

harvested. Currently, naval stores products are a byproduct 

of the Kraft paper making process.

Technology for collecting pine resin from living trees 

consisting of nailing cups and gutters to selected trees 

was developed in 1902 by Charles Herty (Reed 1995). The 

previous “box” system was a ruinous technique that resulted 

in tree mortality in a few years (Reed 1982). Gutters were 

metal strips which directed the gum from streak to cup. Each 

week from March through October a streak of one- half to 

three-quarters of an inch deep was cut, or “chipped,” into 

the tree above the gutter by means of a sharp tool called a 

hack. By the end of the chipping season, the streaks formed a 

continuous face extending almost a half way round the tree 

and 18 to 24 inches high. After several seasons, a face might 
3

extend up the tree 8 feet or more. After a tree had two high 

faces, it was generally considered to be “worked out.”

About once a month the gum, known as dip, was transferred 

from cup to dip bucket and then to dip barrel. Mule drawn 

wagons conveyed the barrels 

from the woods to a still where 

distillation of the crude gum 

yielded turpentine and rosin. The 

thousands of small crude stills, 

once such common landmarks 

throughout the coastal region of 

the South, were gradually replaced 

by a few dozen large centralized 

plants of modern design and 

operation. However, working 

the trees faces and collecting the 

gum was never mechanized and 

remained a very labor-intensive 

process. After World War II, 

the labor to work the tree faces 

gradually disappeared. The 

harvest of virgin longleaf pine 

stumps for naval stores products 

continued into the late 1960s when 

the supply of these was exhausted. 

Now, the Kraft paper making 

process supplies the chemical 

products that historically came 

directly from the trees. 

THE GREAT HARVEST 

OF PINE FORESTS

With exception of areas accessible from rivers and bays in the 

Southeast, the harvest of the vast timberland of the South 

was slow until after the Civil War. Movement of timber 

was primarily by wagons and oxen—both slow and labor 

intensive. However, the situation changed rapidly in the late 

1800s when the development of railroads improved access 

into the vast timbered lands.

Also, after the Civil War the South’s economy was devastated 

and land was very inexpensive. Forests in the Northeast 

and Midwest were rapidly being depleted. Investors from 

the North saw opportunities in the South and bought huge 

acreages of forest land, built sawmills, and began to produce 

lumber products for the rapidly expanding needs of industrial 

development. The longleaf pine forests of the Coastal Plain 

provided excellent opportunities for such enterprises because 

resources and labor were readily available.

Facilitating the development of the lumbering enterprises was 

the development of railroad logging. Not only were steampowered locomotives common, but steam-powered skidders 

and loaders were developed that made the harvest of timber 

very efficient. The expansion of such lumbering enterprises 

in the late 1800s and early 1900s began a period called the 

“golden years” of lumbering in the South. During this period, 

sawmills were common in most communities throughout 

the South and, in fact, many towns and cities were developed 

around lumbering companies. Almost any town would have 

Railroad logging had a great effect on the harvest of the old-growth pine stands. Logging by this method 

spread rapidly across the South in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

A typical face worked for producing resin. Naval stores production 

was very labor intensive work.
4

THE SOUTH’S 

DEVASTATED FORESTS

As early as the late 1910s, millions of acres of cutover land 

spread across the South. Development of the lumbering 

industry brought jobs and businesses, but when the timber 

was cut out there was bleakness and a spirit of desolation. 

The magnitude of the cutover land problem was brought 

in focus when a survey was made by the Southern Pine 

Association in 1919. The cutover land equaled the combined 

areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. This survey 

reported that 92 million acres of land had most of the 

timber removed (Heyward 1958). Boyd (2001) quotes R.D. 

Forbes of stating in 1923 that “the plain truth of the matter 

one or more sawmills that provided 

labor, income, and drove the recovery 

of the economy. Along major railroad 

lines, small mills were almost in sight 

of one another. One author wrote, “If 

one had forgotten to sound its daybreak 

whistle calling labors to work, the 

blasts from neighboring mill would stir 

the neighbors to wakefulness.”

Many sawmills were relatively small, but 

some were huge. The Great Southern 

Lumber Company (Great Southern) 

completed its mill in Bogalusa, LA, 

in 1907. The Great Southern became 

the largest mill in the South with four 

8-foot band saws which ran at full 

speed for more than two decades and 

produced more than one-million board 

feet of lumber every 24 hours. Typical 

of many mills, the Goodyear family 

of Pennsylvania established a town 

to support its mill. In 1906, the town 

consisted of a number of large buildings 

and more than 700 dwellings.

Not only did railroad logging provide 

rapid transport of timber from the 

woods, the tracks could be moved 

frequently to continually access more 

and more timber. Also, the advent 

of the steam-powered skidders and 

loaders that operated on the tracks 

made handling of logs efficient. One 

steam-powered skidder could harvest 

logs from a 40-acre tract without 

having to relocate. The cable systems 

powered by the skidders were so 

powerful that they destroyed any 

timber that was not merchantable 

(Clark 1984). So, much of the resulting 

cutover land was without any means of 

natural regeneration.

By the end of the 1920s, many hundreds of sawmills had 

cut all their available timber and ceased operations. In their 

wake were left “ghost towns” or towns able to maintain 

only a feeble existence (Forbes 1923). Many of the larger 

companies moved their equipment to the remaining great 

body of virgin timber in the West. A greater number were 

liquidated. For all practical purposes, the old-growth pine 

forests had disappeared from the South. In the Capper Report 

of 1920, the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) made the 

statement that “in 15 years the South will become dependent 

for its own needs upon large importations of lumber from 

the Pacific Coast” (Heyward 1958).

Clyde steam-powered skidders provided an efficient means of harvesting timber. However, they were 

extremely destructive knocking down any trees that were not cut.
5

is that in county after county, in State after State of the 

South, the piney woods are not passing but have passed.” 

(Emphasis is Forbes’.)

Not all of this land was barren stump-land since all sawmills 

did practice the same degree of utilization, nor did all make 

use of steam skidders, a form of logging which caused great 

damage to any timber left standing. However, little of this 

acreage was capable of becoming productive again without 

help. Cutover lands were a man-made problem and required a 

man-made solution.

In 1917, a Cut-Over Land Conference of the South was 

held in New Orleans, LA. Of 340 people registered, only 

four were foresters. Most were representatives of railroads, 

lumbermen, and specialists in all lines of agriculture. 

Although timber growing was recommended by some as 

the solution of the cutover problem, the sentiment of the 

meeting was in favor of converting forest land for livestock 

grazing.

There was widespread condemnation of the lumbermen for 

stripping the land. In 1904, Gifford Pinchot of the Forest 

Service stated, “It is evident that never before has forest 

destruction been as rapid as at present, that we have never 

been so near to exhaustion of our lumber supply and that 

vigorous measures have never been as urgently required as 

now” (Heyward 1958).

Although the lumbermen justly bore the brunt of much 

criticism, in some respects they were unable to change the 

direction of the destruction. First, in the beginning there 

was no intention of returning to the lands logged over. 

The trees were 150 to 250 years old. It was beyond human 

capacity to conceive of a means whereby private capital 

might restore timber whose age at maturity was reckoned, 

not in decades, but centuries.

Second, the logging methods used by the large mills in the 

early days precluded activities commonplace today. Interest 

rates and depreciation on equipment, especially railroads, 

made impossible the cutting of a portion of the timber 

from an area and returning for a second cut in later years. 

Therefore, all merchantable timber was harvested.

Finally, local tax structure was a perplexing problem confronting 

early sawmills. As timber was cut, the tax levy was increased on 

the remainder. This prompted the mills to even greater efforts to 

liquidate their timber. Situations such as these were widespread 

and were a factor responsible for the cutout and get-out policy 

(Chapman 1912).

This area became a part of the Palustris Experimental Forest and represented millions of acres of cutover forests across the South.
6

The George Vanderbilt estate near Asheville, NC, hosted the first forestry program in the United States and still manages forestry holdings. (Photo from 

Biltmore Estate Web site)

There were other reasons why lumbermen did not consider 

forestry. First, these individuals knew little or nothing of 

forestry. Even as late as 1925, there were only a few foresters 

practicing in the entire South. Second, one report cited 

another reason why private interests could not practice 

forestry. It stated, “so long as excellent tracts of fine, virgin 

yellow pine could be purchased from $3 to $6 per thousand 

feet, it was of course manifestly impossible for any individual 

to give serious consideration to the encouragement of second 

growth” (Heyward 1958).

GROWING INTEREST IN 

MANAGEMENT AND 

REFORESTATION

It is interesting to note that the first steps in private forestry 

in the South came from progressive men in the naval stores 

industry. They were among the first to undertake on a 

commercial scale the growing of new crops (Heyward 1958). 

They learned how to minimize damage from their intentional 

fires and developed prescribed burning to a considerable 

degree before the forestry profession as a whole would admit 

the practice was possible. Their efforts received little praise 

because no practice was more ruinous to a pine forest than a 

typical early-day naval stores operation.

As the 20th century began, the newly created Forest Service 

began receiving requests for advice on timber growing from 

lumber companies and individuals widely scattered about the 

South. To be able to respond to these requests, the Forest 

Service recruited a few individuals with forestry experience 

related to the issues of concern. Although they had little 

forestry training, these individuals had exceptional ability 

to observe nature, draw tentative conclusions, and make 

practical recommendations. The most notable of these were 

Austin Cary, W.W. Ashe, and W.T. Mattoon. They were 

headquartered in Washington, DC, but traveled widely 

throughout the South.

Also at the turn of the century, it was apparent that there 

was a critical need for forestry training and education. 

Gifford Pinchot, who became Chief of the Forest Service, 

had established a forestry program at George Vanderbilt’s 

estate near Asheville, NC. After leaving the Biltmore Estate, 

he recommended that Carl A. Schenck, a professionally 

trained forester from Germany, be hired to establish a 

forestry school. The Biltmore Forest School was established 

in 1898 and its curriculum focused on providing practical 

forest management field training supplemented with 

traditional classroom lectures. Established universities such 

as Cornell, Minnesota, Michigan, and Yale each created 

forestry schools shortly after the Biltmore experiment began. 

Many lumbermen observed the destructive nature of 

the “cutout and leave” practice and became interested in 

developing a forestry program. The leader of this effort was 

Henry Hardtner of the Urania Lumber Company. Some felt 

that his vision of reforestation was foolish, but he persisted 

and convinced others that there was a future in secondgrowth forests.
7

Early efforts focused on reforestation of the denuded forest 

lands. But, it was apparent that many other issues needed to be 

addressed, for example, the role of fire in forest management 

and the economics of second-growth forestry. So, these early 

efforts are grouped into the several categories for discussion. 

Individuals who led restoration efforts will be discussed by 

category of their contributions.

The individuals selected for focus in this document were 

not only major contributors to the restoration effort, but 

they were persons where adequate information could be 

located for inclusion in this document. Presented will be 

biographies and accomplishments of about 50 individuals 

who made significant differences in recovery of the 

South. Accomplishments for each topic area will be briefly 

discussed as an overview. Two individuals (H.H. Chapman 

and P.C. Wakeley) made significant contributions in more 

than one area and appear twice in descriptions of their 

accomplishments.

THE COMING OF 

FORESTRY TO THE SOUTH

As the rapid decimation of forest land occurred, few 

envisioned that restoration of the forests was feasible. 

However, Henry Hardtner of the Urania Lumber Company 

observed that second-growth forests might have potential. 

He led an effort to convince other mill owners that there 

was economic potential in young pine stands. Others began 

to support the ideal of reforestation either by natural 

regeneration or by tree planting.

Many of the early sawmill enterprises were closed during 

the late 1920s or 1930s. However, some family owned mills 

learned from the demonstrations of potential value of their 

forest land and investing in it. Some of these privately owned 

family operations continue even today.

A slow influx of trained foresters into the South began 

with the establishment of the Southern and Appalachian 

Forest Experiment Stations. These foresters partnered with 

individuals who developed a practical interest in reforestation. 

This collaboration of effort started a rapid development of 

ideas and technology that began the reforestation effort and 

quickly expanded into other efforts. 

One of these early efforts that made a major impact on the 

development of new forest industry in the South was the 

initiation of the Southern Forest Survey. This project set the 

stage for the return of forest industry to the South.

Father of Forestry in the South

Henry e. Hardtner

Until the end of the 1800s, pine forests in the West Gulf region 

remained virtually untouched. But, as the harvest of northern 

pine forests was exhausted, northern and eastern industrialists 

moved to the South to invest in the rapidly developing lumber 

industry. Expansion of railroads made transportation to 

national markets feasible. The period from 1900 to 1920 was 

one of big mills. These two decades became a “golden period” 

for investors, mostly out-of-staters who reaped profits with a 

cutout and get-out approach. They had little concern for leaving 

the forests as barren cutover stump wastelands, and they were 

not concerned about land and resource conservation. Many 

believed that reestablishment of forests was impossible and that 

the land would be converted to range or agricultural use.

I

NDIVIDUALS WHO LED 

RESTORATION OF THE 

SOUTH’S FORESTS

Henry Hardtner (left), a native of Pineville, LA, founded the 

Urania timber and sawmill enterprise that lasted 100 years.
8

Hardtner’s father was a shoemaker in Alexandria, LA. 

Henry was quoted as saying, “I was born in the forests 

and have had close association with them since childhood. 

What I know about them cannot be learned in schools 

or colleges. To me they are as humans and I know trees 

as I try to know men.” This desire to know more about 

reforestation potential of cutover lands led him to invite, 

in 1917, the Yale University Forestry School to conduct 

its spring field course for students in Urania, LA. This 

association went on for decades and resulted in many of 

America’s leading foresters receiving training there.

Philip Wakeley spoke of Hardtner as a shrewd businessman 

who had a grasp of the future. By 1924, Hardtner’s Urania 

mill was sawing second-growth fixed-assessment timber. 

Wakeley is quoted as saying, “He had an old rattle trap mill 

and Urania, the town, was nothing to look at... Around 

Urania was the center of the Yale camp for years, and having 

started this program he utilized the full advice of Chapman 

and other members of the Yale faculty. So, there was a 

nucleus, a focus of happy affection, so to speak, at Urania, 

dating back roughly to 1912.”

Hardtner’s enthusiasm and persistence in the field of 

advanced forest management caused many people to take a 

second look at their timber stands and the reclamation of 

their cutover lands. Urania became the location for persons 

interested in forestry and conservation lumbering to learn of 

forest management. The impact of the demonstrations and 

visits is impossible to measure, but they contributed to the 

recognition of Hardtner as the “father of southern forestry.” 

References

Burns, A.C. 1978. Henry E. Hardtner, Louisiana’s first conservationist. Journal 

of Forest History. 22: 79-85.

Burns, A.C. 1978. Henry Ernest Hardtner—A lumberman’s vision of 

reforestation. Forests & People. 28(4): 17-20, 39-41.

Clark, T.D. 1984. The greening of the South: The recovery of land and forest. 

Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky. 168 p.

Demmon, E.L. 1943. The South’s forest frontier and the war. Social Forces. 

21(4): 397-405.

Demmon, E.L. 1935. Henry E. Hardtner. Journal of Forestry. 33: 885-886.

Kerr, E.F. 1953. Louisiana’s State story, Part 1. American Forests. 59(2): 24-26, 

55.

Mattoon, W.R. 1939. Dedication address to Henry E. Hardtner. Journal of 

Forestry. 37: 761-762.

A few native Louisianans became involved in this lumbering 

industry. At age 21, Henry Hardtner of Pineville, LA, entered 

the lumbering scene in 1892 with $1,000 capital. Hardtner 

quickly parlayed his investment into a small sawmill 30 miles 

north of Alexandria, LA. In 1896, Hardtner established a mill 

at a site in Louisiana that he named Urania. To provide access 

to new tracts of timber, a railroad was built. Although it was 

only 8 miles long, Hardtner listed the Natchez, Urania and 

Ruston Railroad on his letterhead. As president, he enjoyed 

pass privileges on other lines.

Hardtner began to recognize that cutover lands were 

a serious problem. He enjoyed the woods part of the 

company’s operation and began thoughtful observation of 

the cutover stands. His growing belief that a second crop of 

trees could be grown profitably after the virgin timber was 

cut was ridiculed by others. However, he began a practice 

of leaving trees smaller than 12 inches and he insisted on 

leaving four seed trees per acre. Gambling that cutover lands 

could be brought back into production, he began to buy 

cutover tracts at $1 per acre. As his belief grew stronger, 

he initiated a primitive fire protection system and began to 

fence young longleaf pine stands to protect them from the 

rooting of open range hogs.

Although Hardtner had no formal forestry training, he read 

widely about forestry and soon began crusading for the 

forestry cause. He sought professional forestry advice, one 

of the first lumbermen to do so. In 1909, the Forest Service 

sent W.W. Ashe, and later W.R. Mattoon, to assist Hardtner. 

It is interesting to note that Hardtner’s ideas on reforestation 

were ahead of professional knowledge. However, Ashe and 

Mattoon gave credibility to Hardtner’s actions.

Hardtner’s leadership in conservation began to be recognized. 

In 1910, he led a Commission of Natural Resources that 

proposed a six-point forestry program. Although it took 

three decades to implement the recommendations, they 

became the “cornerstone of forestry in Louisiana.” 

One of the approved actions was the establishment of State 

reforestation contracts. These contracts for up to 40 years, 

allowed assessment of cutover land at a low value for tax 

purposes, provided that timber was grown and maintained 

on the lands. Hardtner signed the first reforestation contract 

in 1913, placing 25,719 acres of Urania Lumber Company’s 

land under a 40-year contract. This forest reserve became an 

experimental site where forestry reforestation practices where 

developed.

Elected to the Louisiana Legislature as both Representative 

and Senator, Hardtner had great influence on the 

reforestation of cutover lands within the State and on the 

development of forest practices across the South.
9

Early “Transient” Foresters 

in the South

As late as the mid-1920s, there were fewer than 20 

professionally trained foresters in the entire South. With 

exception of these who had attended the Biltmore Forestry 

School in North Carolina, most of these were recent 

graduates of forestry schools established in the North. 

However, before these graduates were in the field there were 

a few early transient foresters that did invaluable work in 

the South although they were located in Washington, DC. 

Three of these traveled the South over a period of years 

in the early 1900s as employees of the Forest Service. The 

need for forestry expertise was beginning to be recognized 

and these individuals greatly influenced the development of 

forestry practices in the South as well as in other regions. 

These individuals were recruited because of their unique 

capabilities.

William W. asHe

Ashe was a native of North Carolina (born in 1872) and 

was trained as a pioneer naturalist, not a trained forester. 

He attended the University of North Carolina and Cornell 

University from 1891 to 1892. Ashe participated with 

Gifford Pinchot and Carl Schenck at the Biltmore Estate in 

the first experiments conducted in silviculture and forest 

management. He wrote the first comprehensive treatise 

on loblolly pine in 1915, worked for the North Carolina 

Geological Survey as a forester from 1891 to 1909 and 

greatly influenced the establishment of forestry within the 

State.

As a forestry practitioner, he encouraged Charles H. Herty, 

then a chemist at the University of North Carolina, to 

conduct an analysis of North Carolina’s turpentine and resin 

extracting procedures. Ashe suggested that a better method 

of gathering gum should be sought, a suggestion that led 

to the invention and perfection of the Herty cup for resin 

collection.

He was a forest specialist hired in 1909 by the Forest Service, 

and it was largely through his efforts and his knowledge and 

experience of forest conditions that the national forests in 

the South were established. Ashe also was one of the few 

individuals having any professional forestry knowledge when 

Chief Forester Pinchot sent him in 1910 to provide guidance 

to Henry Hardtner of the Urania Lumber Company.

Ashe was an outstanding botanical authority on forest 

trees and vegetation and was an advocate of forest cover 

on water quality. He was the man who determined tentative 

boundaries for national forest purchase units on land that 

in those days nobody really wanted. That was usually tax 

delinquent, cutover land.

For example, he was the Forest Service representative 

interacting with Caroline Dormon who was leading the effort 

to establish a national forest in Louisiana. He was a very 

quiet individual and did not have much to say, but he was an 

excellent observer.

Ashe’s illness and death in 1932 significantly slowed 

the effort to establish national forests in Louisiana and a 

number of other Southern States. His botanical work in the 

South was authoritative. He made significant contributions 

to botany, dendrology, and early ecological work in the 

Eastern United States. One of the most enduring personal 

contributions was his dogged campaign to help secure the 

famous Weeks Law in 1911 that provided for purchase of 

land to establish national forests.

Ashe was highly respected and after his death the Forest 

Service tree nursery at Brooklyn, MS, was named in his 

honor. His extensive plant collection, which contained over 

20,000 dried specimens, was acquired after his death by the 

Coker Herbarium at the University of North Carolina.

W.W. Ashe was a noted botanist.
10

Mattoon could take findings from a research organization 

and put them into simple language that a farmer could 

understand. His responsibility covered a lot of territory, and 

he had a lot of influence in getting forestry started where 

there had been no previous forestry program. In some States, 

there was a State extension forester before a State forestry 

organization was established. As an example, Arkansas had 

an extension forester for several years before it had a State 

forestry department.

austin Cary

Austin Cary was a nationally known forestry pioneer who 

worked for the Forest Service, State forestry organizations, 

forestry schools, and private companies. Born in Maine in 

1865, Cary entered Bowdoin University at 18 and obtained 

two degrees by 1890. He was awarded an honorary doctorate 

by Bowdoin in 1922. Cary had early training in the Maine 

woods where lumbering was the primary activity of his New 

England family.

Cary worked for a number of early forestry related 

businesses, traveled to Europe to learn of their forestry 

practices, and published numerous publications related to 

thinning, naval stores, and fire issues. Always, he approached 

these issues with a businessman’s view. He became a pioneer 

on the practical side of forestry. In 1910, he was appointed 

as logging engineer for the Forest Service in Washington, DC. 

In 1917, Cary first visited the South in his new capacity. 

He came to realize the South’s potential as a major timbergrowing region in the United States. At a time when most 

lumbermen saw no future in owning cutover forest land, 

Cary began a campaign to convince them of the potential 

of forestry. Cary would not spend time with underlings, but 

Austin Cary promoted the practice of forestry to 

influential lumbermen.

Wilbur r. (matty) mattoon

Wilbur R. (Matty) Mattoon was the pioneer extension 

forester working out of the Forest Service’s Washington, 

DC, office who was in charge of Federal forestry education 

in the South. Although most of his work was with State 

extension foresters in the Southern States, he made 

real contributions to southern forestry because of his 

publications and speeches. Mattoon was widely known and 

devoted most of his attention to small landowners. 

Mattoon was one of the best writers in the Forest Service on 

forestry matters. He wrote bulletins on the southern pines 

and cypress that were easy for people to understand. In 1922, 

he published the first comprehensive bulletin on longleaf 

pine. Through his writings, many folks learned more about 

forestry than they would have otherwise. The information 

contained in the publications was used by extension foresters 

as a guide to improve forestry practices throughout the 

region.

In all of Mattoon’s writings and speeches, he was optimistic 

about the possibilities of timber growing in the South. He 

was a friendly, pleasant, and courteous individual always 

making a favorable impression during meetings. He was a 

good example of a man in the Forest Service working in 

the public interest—not primarily for pay, but to make a 

difference.

Matty Mattoon provided forestry information to 

extension specialists across the South.
11

would charge into the office of the general manager or 

company president. Always carrying an axe, he would take 

the men into the woods. He would not hesitate to cut down 

a tree or two just to illustrate its growth rate by counting 

annual rings. Observations such as these made a deep 

impression on many of the lumbermen and they had great 

respect for Cary.

Cary, a shaggy, red-bearded New England Yankee, would 

come back repeatedly selling them on forestry. They liked 

and enjoyed him and over time he convinced them to begin 

forestry programs. Cary spent his winters in the South, 

working out of Florida and returning north during the 

summer. Although Cary was a member of the Forest Service, 

he was so independent that they had little control over 

him. The Washington Office of the Forest Service rarely 

kept track of where he was or what he was doing. They 

understood, however, the value of his forest extension work 

and talent in interesting lumbermen in forestry.

He was a rugged individualist and a nonconformist in 

social customs as in forestry. William Greeley, who was 

an early Chief Forester of the Forest Service, remembers 

inviting Cary as a dinner guest soon after he married. When 

completing the dinner, Cary returned to the living room, 

shed his coat, unbuttoned his vest, and stretched out on 

Greeley’s sofa. Soon he kicked off his shoes and began a 

running fire of comment on current publications and doings 

in forestry. Greeley’s bride looked at Cary with astonishment. 

Little did she know that this was the custom of Cary after 

dinner, regardless of location.

Cary was a remarkable teacher. He endeared himself to 

students by his pithy, homely ways of putting things and 

by his practical, down to earth Yankee mind. He was one of 

the great early leaders in American forestry, not in official 

organizations or programs, but as an individualist in the 

woods. As a roving missionary in the South, he laid much of 

the groundwork for the piney woods forestry of today.

He foresaw the great promise in the pine lands of the South. 

Judged solely as a forester, Cary deserves the highest rank, 

but his role as a champion of the South demands even 

greater recognition. The progress of southern forestry 

and forest industries unmistakably bear the imprint of his 

work. Heyward (1955) states “Forest history will record the 

South’s fond remembrance of, and respectful gratitude to, the 

‘Yankee peddler of forestry,’ Austin Cary.”

References

Ashe, W.W. 1915. Loblolly or North Carolina pine. Bulletin 24. Raleigh, NC: 

North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey. 176 p.

Clark, T.D. 1984. The greening of the South: The recovery of land and forest. 

Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press. 168 p.

Greeley, W.B. 1955. Austin Cary as I knew him. American Forestry. 61(5): 30.

Heyward, F. 1955. Austin Cary: Yankee peddler in forestry. American Forests. 

61(5): 29-30, 43-44; 61(6): 28-29, 52-53.

Heyward, F. 1958. History of industrial forestry in the South. The Colonel 

William B. Greeley lectures in industrial forestry. Seattle, WA: University of 

Washington, College of Forestry. 50 p.

Mattoon, W.R. 1922. Longleaf pine. Bulletin 1061. Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture. 50 p.

Maunder, E.R. 1977. Voices from the past: Reflections of four foresters; Inman 

F. Eldredge, Elwood L. Demmon, Walter J. Damtoft, Clinton H. Coulter. 

Santa Cruz, CA: Forest History Society, Inc. 252 p.

White, R.R. 1961. Austin Cary, the father of southern forestry. Forest History. 

5(1): 3-4. 

Reforestation Pioneer

PHiliP C. (PHil) Wakeley

The period from 1900 to 1920 marked the “golden” era of 

lumbering in Louisiana; an era when native forests were 

harvested with a “cut-out and get-out” attitude. Large and 

small sawmills harvested these forests with no thought of 

reforestation. Many of these companies abandoned their 

cutover lands, and ownership of them reverted to the State 

when taxes were not paid. However, a few individuals began 

to see the economic potential of reforesting the cutover land, 

and Henry Hardtner of the Urania Lumber Company led 

this effort.

Hardtner’s efforts at Urania focused on leaving a few 

trees per acre for natural regeneration. His efforts caught 

the attention of Great Southern at Bogalusa, LA. Great 

Southern was one of the largest mills in the South, 

Phil Wakeley photographed in 1962 late in his 

career. By this time, he had garnered regional, 

national, and international recognition for his 

contributions to southern forestry.
12

running four 8-foot band saws that could produce one 

million board feet of lumber every 24 hours and did so for 

more than two decades. Great Southern hired J.K. Johnson, 

one of the first industrial foresters, to begin efforts to 

reforest some of their cutover land by seeding and planting 

techniques.

The Forest Service established the Southern Forest 

Experiment Station (Southern Station) in 1921 with its 

headquarters in New Orleans, LA. Reforestation was 

recognized as one of the greatest needs in the South. 

Three years later, the Southern Station recruited Philip C. 

Wakeley. Wakeley received a forestry degree in 1923 from 

Cornell University—the first 4-year school of forestry in 

the United States. Upon arriving in New Orleans, LA, the 

New York native was assigned to Bogalusa, LA to establish a 

cooperative reforestation program with Great Southern.

The cooperative effort between Phil Wakeley and Great 

Southern was very productive. Great Southern developed 

an operational nursery that also served as a research 

facility. Not only did J.K. Johnson and his ranger, “Red” 

Bateman, provide local technical support, but they helped 

acclimate Wakeley to the South. In order to give Wakeley 

an experience with chiggers, Bateman led Wakeley to sit on 

the ground to eat his lunch. So, on his first day in the field, 

Wakeley was able to get acquainted with redbug bites.

The Great Southern staff and Wakeley worked together 

for about 10 years. During this time, Wakeley was able to 

develop and compile rudimentary guidelines for producing 

and planting pine seedlings. With the onset of the Great 

Depression in the early 1930s, Great Southern went into 

receivership. About the same time, the Kisatchie National 

Forest and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 

established the Stuart Nursery north of Alexandria, LA, 

near Pollock. The reforestation emphasis shifted from Great 

Southern to the Stuart Nursery. 

Wakeley documented his preliminary research in a U.S. 

Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin that was used 

extensively across the South in the reforestation programs 

carried out by the CCC during the 1930s. Moreover, the 

availability of labor from the CCC program at the Stuart 

Nursery allowed Wakeley and his colleagues to conduct 

additional large scale research outplantings. Nearly 700,000 

seedlings were planted in research studies on the Palustris 

Experimental Forest that was established by Wakeley for 

this purpose.

In 1954, Wakeley published the results of his reforestation 

work into the book "Planting the Southern Pines." This 

publication provided the information necessary to establish 

successful reforestation programs. It is probably the most 

cited forestry publication in the South, and is still frequently 

cited today though having been out of print for decades.

Phil Wakeley was a keen observer and keeper of meticulous 

records. Even after retirement, he could be called upon to 

provide specific locations for individual studies or trees 

from genetics outplantings made decades earlier. His career 

covered 40 years, all with the Southern Station in New 

Orleans, LA. He was recognized by a number of awards: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture Superior Service Award, 

elected by Society of American Foresters as Fellow and 

for the Barrington Moore Award for Biological Research. 

Phil is recognized across the South, as well as nationally 

and internationally, for his contributions to restoration of 

southern forest ecosystems. He probably contributed more to 

the reforestation of the South than any other individual. His 

work facilitated the change of face of the South from cutover 

desolation to productive pine forests.

References

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360.

Wakeley, P.C. 1978. The adolescence of forestry research in the South. Journal 

of Forest History. 22(7): 136-145.

Pioneer Nursery Specialist and 

Silviculturist Extraordinary

F.o. (red) bateman

Soon after Henry Hardtner, president of the Urania Lumber 

Company, began efforts to reforest his company’s lands, 

Great Southern, headquartered in Bogalusa, LA, became 

interested in reforestation. Great Southern was one of the 

larger mills in the South, and had the financial backing of 

the Goodyear family of Pennsylvania.

The Great Southern company began an aggressive forestry 

program in 1919-20. Col. William H. Sullivan, general 

manager, named F.O. Bateman as head ranger. Bateman was 

known as “Red” for his florid complexion. Unlike his younger 

brother, Bryant Bateman, long of the faculty of the School 

of Forestry at Louisiana State University, Bateman’s formal 

education extended only to the ninth grade. However, he had 

a remarkable talent for extracting both factual information 

and constructive ideas from the many professional foresters 

with whom his work brought him in contact.

From the start of Great Southern’s artificial reforestation at 

Bogalusa, LA Bateman was the prime mover in developing 

planting principles and techniques. By 1922-23, two 

growing seasons before Philip Wakeley arrived at the 

Forest Service, Southern Forest Research Station to conduct 

reforestation research, Red had worked out the essentials 

of the general practice still employed today—slit planting 

of bare-rooted seedlings grown at moderate seedbed 
13

densities in the nursery without shade. He developed a 

planting tool (or “dibble”) that is still used to plant pine 

seedlings. The 6- by 8-foot spacing he chose as most suitable 

and economical for southern pines was the almost universal 

standard throughout the South for decades. Before the 

Great Depression halted his company’s planting operations, 

Bateman had planted 12,700 acres. With only one exception 

(the Biltmore estate in North Carolina), there was no other 

successful southern pine plantation of more than 100 acres. 

Bateman’s ingenuity was described by Wakeley when he 

remarked to Bateman that it was a pity that the persistent 

wings of longleaf pine seeds prevented drill-sowing that 

species on nursery beds. By noon, Bateman asked Wakeley 

to stop by the nursery. During the morning Bateman had 

designed a drill seeder that worked with 

longleaf pine. It was a wooden trough 5 feet 

long to fit across nursery beds. It was hinged 

to open at the bottom and drop seeds on the 

bed. A pair of tall, curved handles at each 

end permitted opening it without stooping or 

kneeling, which made the device easy to use. 

This seeder designed in a morning resulted 

in marked improvement in the uniformity and 

quality of longleaf pine nursery stock.

Not only did Bateman determine how to plant 

southern pines effectively, in anticipation 

of a bumper fall crop of longleaf pine, he 

persuaded Col. W.H. Sullivan to let him fence 

15,000 acres of burned forest land to protect 

the area from hogs. The 1920 crop exceeded all 

expectations, and Bateman’s activity resulted in establishing 

longleaf seedlings on 10,000 acres, all from a single seed 

crop—a notable achievement.

Another aspect of Bateman’s early work was the prevention 

and suppression of fire on company lands. Bateman observed 

the fire was needed to prepare areas for seed fall or planting, 

but that seedlings were killed by fire while in the cotyledon 

stage. As they developed they became tolerant to fire.

As an example of Bateman’s practical approach, he described 

to a couple of young researchers why direct seeding would 

not work. This was decades before repellents were found to 

protect seeds from bird and rodent depredation. Wakeley 

(1976) quotes Bateman’s comments on his final vain attempts 

to direct seed in plowed furrows: 

When we went out to start seeding, there was a pheellock 

[field lark or meadowlark] sittin’ on a fence, he whistled, 

and up come fifty more pheellocks. We went down the 

furrows, dropping five longleaf seeds every six feet. The 

pheellocks follered us down the furrows and, gentlemen, 

when we got to the end of the furrows, there wasn’t a 

damn thing left in the furrows but bird-s—t!

Bateman was an untiring and marvelously keen observer 

with far above-average ability to reason about what he saw. 

These personal traits and his accomplishments make him, 

as Wakeley described, “one of the greatest silviculturists 

the South has known.” Not only was Red Bateman a great 

silviculturist, he was remembered by Charles Goodyear as a 

tung-orchardist and a trainer of pointers to hunt quail. Red 

died at age 46 from a heart attack. 

References

Wakeley, Philip C. 1976. F.O. (Red) Bateman, pioneer silviculturist. Journal of 

Forest History. 20(2): 91-99.

F.O. “Red” Bateman standing by a Tung-oil tree. 

(Photo from C.W. Goodyear collection)

F.O. Bateman’s seeder for sowing longleaf pine seeds in the nursery in operation. This 

simple tool significantly improved the quality of nursery longleaf pine seedlings.
14

The Nation’s First Industrial Forester?

J.t. (Jake) JoHnson

J.T (Jake) Johnson, called by many as the “granddaddy of 

Louisiana’s foresters,” contributed an immeasurable quality 

of skill, labor, and ingenuity to the rebuilding of the South’s 

great pine forests. Johnson was born in Washington Parish, 

LA. Although he had no formal forestry training, Johnson 

had obtained a teaching certificate after taking a public 

examination in 1896.

Johnson joined the old Great Southern company of 

Bogalusa, LA in 1912. The Great Southern in its heyday was 

capable of devouring a million board feet of timber through 

its four band saws every 24 hours. The old growth timber 

in Louisiana and Mississippi was rapidly being depleted. 

Col. A.C. Goodyear, one of the founders of Great Southern, 

proposed a reforestation plan in about 1918 or 1919. Since 

it was recommended that a local person be chosen for the 

task, W.H. Sullivan, vice-president and general manager, 

asked Johnson, “How’d you like to be our new forester, 

Jake?” This greatly pleased Johnson who lived and practiced 

conservation. Johnson was told to “proceed without delay.”

But, there were no seedlings to plant. There was not even 

a tree nursery (that came 2 years later). An 800-acre area 

had been clearcut several years earlier. Without seed trees 

to restock the site, it was treeless and covered with a heavy 

stand of native grasses. Jake thought that if the area was 

burned to reduce the grasses and fenced to exclude grazing 

the area might be ideal for direct seeding. Loblolly pine 

cones were collected and seed extracted and dried. Johnson 

believed scarification of the site would enhance germination 

and survival. So, a crew of employees with mules and 

farm plows turned shallow 

furrows about 8 feet apart. After 

harrowing the furrow berms to 

reduce soil clods, 10 loblolly pine 

seeds were sown every 6 feet 

within the furrow. The seeding 

was a success: at age 1, the stand 

averaged about 3,000 trees per 

acre. This stand became the 

Nation’s earliest industrial direct 

seeding. 

Johnson established a one-halfacre pine nursery in 1921-22 

across from the city hall in 

Bogalusa, LA—believed to be the 

first pine nursery in the South. 

Other nurseries followed, and 

under the leadership of Johnson, 

about 30,000 acres were fenced 

and reforested. For planting, 

Jake initially used a Model T 

Ford axle shaft. Although he had 

success, others thought a better tool should be developed. 

So, Jake and his staff designed the present day “dibble” for 

planting of nursery seedlings.

One of Johnson’s major roles was to “sell” reforestation 

to the local community. Protecting the seedlings from fire 

was a greater challenge than growing the planting stock. 

Open land was typically burned every year to improve 

open grazing, reduce insect problems, facilitate collection 

of ”lighter” pine knots, and so forth. He believed that the 

company had to “change people’s minds about setting fire 

Jake Johnson was considered to be the first industrial 

forester in the South, if not the Nation.

Great Southern Lumber Company’s forest tree nursery established in 1921-22 across from the city hall in 

Bogalusa, LA. This probably was the earliest tree nursery established in the South.
15

to the woodlands.” He pointed out that “we’d never have 

trees again after the big mill cuts ‘em unless we stopped the 

fires.” Jake spent time in the schools (he was a school board 

member) to discuss the issues, and he felt that the idea of 

reforestation would “take root in the rising generation—and 

it has, too.”

In the mid-1950s, Gaylord Container Corporation, the 

successor to Great Southern, had about 100,000 acres of 

pine plantations. This reforestation success is attributed to 

Johnson and his farsighted policy of pine plantations that 

was developed in the early 1920s. In his advanced years, 

Johnson said, “I consider my greatest accomplishment of my 

forestry career in the country was that of helping create a 

condition favorable to the growing of trees. The big thing is 

to protect them into maturity. This, in the old days, was the 

biggest job.” 

In appreciation of Johnson’s contributions to the early 

development of reforestation practices, Philip Wakeley 

of the Southern Station led an effort to name a tract of 

the Palustris Experiment Forest, a part of the Kisatchie 

National Forest near Alexandria, LA, in honor of Johnson. 

This designation was done to recognize the contributions of 

this pioneer forestry practitioner to the reforestation of the 

South’s forest lands.

References

Campbell, T.E. 1976. The Nation’s oldest industrial direct seeding. Forests & 

People. 26(3): 22-24.

Garrison, P.M. 1952. Building an industry on cutover land. Journal of Forestry. 

50(3): 185-187.

Landry, B. 1953. Jake Johnson. Forests & People. 3(3): 28-31, 45.

The First Forest Survey 

of the South

The establishment of the Forest Survey in the South was 

a major accomplishment, a catalyst for developing forest 

industry throughout the entire area. Second-growth forests 

were the pride of early foresters, but their nature, usefulness 

and location were in question. The Forest Survey was 

undertaken to answer the questions of those interested in 

investing in forestry.

The Forest Survey was remarkable in many aspects. The 

plan was well thought out, and the first survey of the entire 

South was finished in 4 years.

The structure of the survey developed in the early 1930s 

is still used today. The Forest Survey remains one of the 

important functions of the Forest Service. 

inman F. (CaP) eldredge

In the late 1920s, some timberland owners and managers 

began to understand that second-growth pine forests 

beginning to develop across the South could be profitable. 

A number of pioneers began to promote reforestation 

of cutover forests. Much of the initial effort was due to 

individuals like Henry Hardtner at Urania Lumber Company, 

Col. W.H. Sullivan at Great Southern Lumber Company, and 

Austin Cary of the Forest Service. However, products that 

could be profitably made from young pine trees were needed. 

Charles H. Herty, a noted chemist in Georgia, demonstrated 

that newsprint could be made from young southern pines and 

began a promotional effort to convince southern landowners 

that there was value in these young stands. The next step 

was to determine if there was sufficient raw material to 

support constructing paper mills.

The Forest Service, Southern Station assigned I.F. (Cap) 

Eldredge the task of surveying the South to determine 

the extent of pine forests suitable for forest industry. 

Eldredge was fully capable of leading this monumental 

effort. He attended Clemson University for a while, studying 

engineering, but in 1903 he entered the forestry program at 

Biltmore Forest School. Eldredge was hired by the Forest 

Service in 1906 and worked in the West for a few years. In 

1909, he was temporarily assigned to the newly created 

national forests in Florida. In the absence of the named 

supervisor, Eldredge served in that capacity for 8 years 

administering about a half million acres of timberland.

I.F. “Cap” Eldredge was very effective in 

advocating the value of the forest survey.
16

In 1917, at the outbreak of World War I, Eldredge was 

commissioned and served in the Army as captain in the 10th

Engineers (Forestry), a pioneer forestry unit, in southern 

France. Here he got his nickname “Cap” that was used the 

rest of his life.

For a period beginning in 1926, Eldredge was employed to 

purchase and manage the Suwannee Forest in the longleaf 

pine region of southeast Georgia. This 208,000-acre tract 

was owned by the Superior Pine Products Company of 

Fargo, GA. The town of Fargo was abandoned by the 

previous owner and was purchased by Eldredge’s company. 

It had become a sump into which all the hard characters 

of Florida and Georgia ended up when pursued by the law. 

Fargo had no law enforcement and was known as “Bad Man’s 

Fargo.” Most of the employees worked in naval stores or 

turpentine chipping camps and were a tough lot. 

However, under Eldredge’s guidance, Fargo was tamed and 

the Suwannee Forest became a proving ground for many 

forest practices including planting, thinning, and prescribed 

burning. Eldredge was quoted as saying, “Turpentine 

operators were the greatest, ablest, and most energetic set of 

wood-burners that the Lord has ever smiled upon.”

After several years, Eldredge returned to the Forest Service, 

and in 1932 he was selected to head the Southern Forest 

Survey. The survey was more than a gigantic timber cruise. 

As important as data on total wood volume by individual 

species, was information on industrial use, mortality, and net 

growth. For the first time, there was information for each 

State on the ratio of growth to drain. Industry for the first 

time had factual data pertaining to the timber resource.

Conducting the survey was a massive undertaking. A system 

of compass lines ran 10 miles apart across each State from 

Tennessee southward to the tip of Florida. At every 660 

feet on these lines, plots were established and a great deal of 

information was taken. Fortunately for the Research Station, 

many of the best timber men in the South were available to 

work on the survey because of the Great Depression. The 

survey started at the Atlantic coast and ended in the prairies 

of Texas. The field effort was completed in 4 years, although 

analysis and publication of the data took longer.

The survey was carried out ably and vigorously under 

difficult conditions. For example, it was reported that 

swamps near Grand Lake and Morgan City, LA, were 

traversed generally on hands and knees. Releases on results 

were eagerly sought and survey’s reputation was made and 

that of the Southern Station greatly enhanced.

The Forest Survey began just as interest in forestry was 

developing and forest industries became the survey’s best 

supporters. The Forest Survey probably had more to do with 

the rapid expansion of southern forestry in the 1930s than 

any other project. 

Eldredge had a remarkable ability for understanding and 

knowing how to work with people on all levels. A native 

of South Carolina he spoke the language of southerners, 

Eldredge was one of few southerners who at the time had 

gone into forestry. Most foresters in the South at the time 

were from the North. Eldredge knew Southern customs and 

way of life, and he was a technical forester with a national 

reputation. However, Wakeley noted that Eldredge had a 

devilish sense of humor. As acting station director, Eldredge 

sent Wakeley to Washington, DC, on a $3 per diem (the 

cheapest hotel room was $3.50), while Eldredge toured small 

towns in the South on a $5 per diem in connection with the 

Forest Survey.

PHiliP r. (PHil) WHeeler

While Eldredge oversaw the first Forest Survey, he did 

not have the training or expertise to develop plans for the 

survey nor for analysis of the data collected. It was Philip R. 

Wheeler who led aspects of this important undertaking.

Wheeler, a native of Grand Rapids, MI, and 1930 graduate 

of the University of Michigan, provided the Southern 

Station with the capability to produce products that forestry 

investors needed to make decisions. When Wheeler arrived 

at the Station in 1931, he joined the group planning the 

survey. Another in the planning group was Roy Chapman, 

who provided guidance on sampling techniques and analytic 

procedures. However, it was Wheeler who developed 

the practical field techniques and effective analysis and 

dissemination of results. 

Phil Wheeler (right) with Dr. R.S. Campbell, 

range scientist.
17

Wheeler pioneered the use of computers in analysis of the 

data from the survey and led development of the forest 

survey technology following World War II. During the 

war, he served in important Coast Guard commands such 

as Captain of the Port of New Orleans and overseas duty 

in the Pacific. In 1947, he was appointed Chief, Division of 

Forest Management Research, and in 1952 was promoted to 

Chief of the Division of Forest Economics for the Southern 

Station.

Wheeler was energetic, tenacious, and thorough in the 

projects that came his way. Tall, thin, and brisk of speech, 

he gained wide respect for his leadership. He received the 

Department of Agriculture Superior Service Award, the 

Schlich Medal, and Fellow status by the Society of American 

Foresters.

After retirement from the Forest Service in 1962, Wheeler 

worked for the Southern Pine Association as analyst for 

the Southern Forest Resource Committee. In this role, he 

led development of the famous document entitled, "The 

South’s Third Forest." This report laid out what has been 

described as the most ambitious program for timber resource 

development in history.

The Third Forest report called for doubling timber growth 

in the South prior to the year 2000 to meet anticipated 

needs for forest products, recreation, and other essentials. 

The report resulted in incentives and assistance for small 

landowners, who hold 70 percent of the region’s forest land.

Wheeler played an important role in providing data through 

effective analysis and dissemination which fostered the 

development of forest industry in the South.

References 

Anon. 1963. Inman F. Eldredge (1883-1963). Journal of Forestry. 61(6): 470.

Anon. 1970. Faces of Forestry—Philip R. Wheeler. Forests & People. 20(1): 

33-34.

Maunder, E.R. 1977. Voices from the South: recollections of four foresters; 

Inman F. Eldredge, Elwood L. Demmon, Walter H. Damtoft, Clinton H. 

Coulter. Santa Cruz, CA: Forest History Society, Inc. 252 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 73160.

ADMINISTRATION

Administrators of early forestry organizations were notable 

by their strong will and personality. Most had advantage of 

some level of formal education. This probably gave them the 

incentive to take on major responsibilities.

Some of these administrators were determined to maximize 

profits and move on to other challenges. Others had the same 

drive to accomplish success, but understood that they should 

be compassionate to their employees and built meaningful 

collaborative efforts.

Great Southern Lumber Company

William H. (Col. bill) sullivan

William H. (Col. Bill) Sullivan, the vice-president and general 

manager of Great Southern, was born in St. Catherine, 

Ontario, in 1864. Soon after graduating in 1884 from the 

Bryant and Stratton Business School, Sullivan met Frank and 

Charles Goodyear of Buffalo, NY. The Goodyear brothers 

were so impressed with Sullivan they hired him on the 

spot and gave him the responsibility of perfecting plans 

for and constructing a huge sawmill complex in Louisiana. 

Meanwhile, the Goodyears turned their attention to finances 

and to plans for the city of Bogalusa, LA that was to 

eventually house 15,000 people.

Credit for conceiving the plan of converting a lumber camp 

into a self-governing city is due to Sullivan, its designer and 

builder, and to the liberal-mindedness of Frank and Charles 

Goodyear. Aided with wise counsel and generosity, they 

approved the initial expenditures by the company to make the 

idea effective. 

Sullivan moved to Bogalusa, LA in 1907 with his wife, 

Elizabeth Calkins, of Buffalo, NY. Under his supervision, 

the Great Southern erected the first mill in the World 

constructed of steel. It was also the world’s largest with a 

24-hour capacity of 1 million board feet of lumber. The mill 

began operation in 1908. 

Col. W.H. Sullivan was a remarkable leader and 

visionary. He led the development of one of the 

largest sawmills in the South.
18

This mammoth plant was the basis for building the attractive 

city of Bogalusa, LA. Sullivan extended the business to 

paper making which assured continued growth through 

diversified manufacturing. Sullivan was the first and longterm mayor of the city, and he worked aggressively to 

develop economic possibilities for the region. Proposed 

and developed were a canning factory, culture of Satsuma 

oranges, planting of Tung tree orchards for the production 

of Tung oil, and numerous other programs that provided 

economic stability. However, development of the Great 

Southern’s massive reforestation effort was the program that 

brought national and international recognition. 

It is not clear whether Sullivan conceived or merely executed 

the early forestry activities of the company. At any rate, he 

was in charge of those historic accomplishments. In 1920, 

the historic reforestation program was initiated. Inspired by 

Henry Hardtner’s pioneering work at Urania, the company 

decided to plant 800 acres of cutover land immediately 

adjacent to Bogalusa, LA. Unable to obtain seedlings, the 

company decided to direct seed the area with loblolly pine. 

Seeds were sown on ridges made with mule teams and plows. 

The effort was successful and is believed to be the first large 

scale commercial establishment of forest species in the 

United States. 

This success led the company to begin an aggressive 

reforestation program. Key to its success was development 

of nursery and planting technology. Sullivan hired a forester 

(J.K. (Jake) Johnson) and ranger (F.O. (Red) Bateman) to 

oversee this effort. He provided the resources to make the 

program successful. 

In 1924, a collaborative effort was established with the Forest 

Service, Southern Station to develop reforestation technology. 

At Sullivan’s direction, Great Southern planted thousands of 

acres of pine seedlings. As a result of experimentation and 

observation made during the progress of this vast project, much 

general knowledge on artificial reforestation was accumulated. 

Much of the information published in Philip Wakeley’s 1954 

classic "Planting the Southern Pines" was developed as a 

result of this joint operational research effort.

Sullivan died in 1929. The Great Southern sawmill closed 

in 1938 as a result of the economic problems resulting from 

the Great Depression and insufficient old-growth forests 

remaining to maintain its operation. However, Sullivan’s 

vision in diversifying the company resulted in the 1937 

merger into the Gaylord Container Corporation paper mill 

and its continued operation as a forestry enterprise. 

In 1954, the Gaylord Container Corporation, successor to 

Great Southern, planted its 100 millionth pine seedling in its 

110,500-acre forest. This became the largest privately owned 

man-made forest in North America, and the first planted 

forest in the country of sufficient size to reach merchantable 

age. This forest is a lasting testimony to Sullivan’s vision 

and the energy and dedication to carry out his vision in a 

practical way. 

In 1920, Great Southern Lumber Company reforestation efforts began with this direct seeding of loblolly pine on seed beds created by plowing berms with 

mules. This was the first successful large-scale effort.
19

References

Anon. 1954. Out of the pages of history steps a new man-made forest. Forests 

& People. 4(2): 32-34, 38.

Garrison, P.M. 1952. Building an industry on cutover land. Journal of Forestry. 

50(3): 185-187. 

Heyward, F. 1963. Col. W.H. Sullivan—Paul Bunyan of Louisiana forestry. 

Forests & People. 13(1): 20.

Goodyear, C.W. 1950. Bogalusa Story. Buffalo, NY. Privately printed. {http://

freepages.genealogy. rootsweb.com/~mcclendon/Bogalusa/Bogalusa Story/

index.html}.

Southern Forest Experiment Station

When the Forest Service established the Southern Station in 

New Orleans in 1921, there were only a few professionally 

trained foresters in the South. With the exception of the 

Biltmore Forest School in North Carolina, which consisted 

of 1 year of practical training, there was only one forestry 

school in the South, established in 1906 at the University 

of Georgia. Also, by then the Biltmore Forest School 

had been closed for 8 years. So, staffing of the Southern 

Station, and the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station that 

was established at the same time in Asheville, NC, was a 

challenge. Fortunately, several universities in the North had 

established forestry programs, for example, Cornell, Yale, 

Minnesota, and Michigan.

The Southern Station originally was responsible for research 

in the southern pine types. This included all Coastal 

Plain areas in Georgia and South Carolina; all of Florida, 

Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; Texas and Oklahoma 

as far west as the pine types went; and Arkansas south of 

the Arkansas River. So, the early employees had a huge area 

of responsibility. It was not until 1946 that the boundaries 

of the Experiment Stations were realigned and the 

Southeastern Forest Experiment Station created to replace 

the Appalachian Station with its emphasis on mountainous 

hardwood species.

reginald d. (reggie) Forbes

Soon after Reginald D. (Reggie) Forbes graduated from 

the Yale University School of Forestry in 1913, he was 

hired as Louisiana’s first State forester. The Department 

of Conservation established a forestry division and named 

Forbes as State forester in October, 1917. Forbes charted 

his program needs into three categories: (1) fire patrol, (2) 

railroad fire prevention, and (3) publicity and education.

As forestry efforts expanded, Forbes found need for an 

assistant and the Department of Conservation approved 

hiring V.H. Sonderegger as the first assistant State forester. 

Sonderegger was a graduate of the Biltmore Forest School 

and was hired in November 1920. In the following year, 

nine of the proposed ranger positions were filled. During 

the period of Forbes’ tenure, great strides were made in 

establishing a sound and sensible program in forestry. 

In July 1921, Forbes resigned as State forester and became 

the first director of the Southern Station. Others who were 

named to the technical staff of the Experiment Station were 

Lenthal Wyman and W.R. (Billy) Hine. Hine had graduated 

from Cornell University. He left the station in 1925 to 

become Louisiana’s State forester.

By 1924, several additional foresters were added to the staff, 

and the Station had established five major areas of research. 

These were (1) growth and yield tables for second-growth 

stands, (2) influence of fire, (3) naval stores, (4) reproduction 

cuttings, and (5) reforestation.

At Forbes’ own request, he was transferred to Pennsylvania 

in 1927 to become the director of the newly established 

Allegheny Forest Experiment Station. He was replaced as 

director of the Southern Station by E.L. Demmon, who had 

been assigned to the station 2 years earlier.

Forbes left the Southern Station as it was beginning to gain 

respect for its contributions to the early development of 

forestry practices in the South. He played a major role in 

establishing effective forestry programs at both the State 

and Federal level. Late in his career he wrote the "Forestry 

Handbook" that was developed by the Society of American 

Foresters. The 1955 publication was a major reference 

book designed for the use of all who had a professional or 

R.D. Forbes had the distinction of being the first 

State forester of Louisiana and Station Director 

of the Southern Forest Experiment Station.
20

commercial interest in the forest lands and crops of North 

America. It was a fitting compilation of his contributions 

to forestry.

After Forbes retired from the Forest Service, he taught 

English. He was noted for dressing well and being 

straitlaced and honest.

elWood l. (demmie) demmon

Elwood (Demmie) Demmon was born in 1892. He was 

assigned to the Southern Station in 1925. A graduate with 

an AB degree in 1914 and an MSF degree in 1916 from 

Michigan University’s School of Forestry, he had worked for 

more than 6 years in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, in tropical 

forestry—primarily related to management of rubber 

plantations. Tired of this work, Demmon returned to the 

United States in 1923 and obtained a temporary job with the 

Lake States Forest Experiment Station in St. Paul, MN. 

When he obtained a permanent position, Elwood was offered 

a job with the Southern Station in New Orleans, LA. His 

initial assignment was related to conducting what were 

called “extensive surveys.” This effort was to obtain general 

information on the growth of timber, effect of fire, and 

other problems dealing with southern forestry. With the 

departure of R.D. Forbes in 1927, Demmon was made 

director of the Southern Station. He served in this capacity 

until the summer of 1944. 

During Demmon’s period of leadership at the Southern 

Station, remarkable progress was made in a number of areas. 

One of the first was the publication in 1929 of the "Volume, 

Yield, and Stand Tables for Second-Growth Southern Pines," 

which became known to field foresters as Misc. Pub. 50. 

This document did much to demonstrate the productivity of 

second-growth forests.

Another significant accomplishment was the improvement 

in resin yields through naval stores research at Starke, FL. 

Lenthall Wyman, working on the problem, did a thoroughly 

sound and practical job by reducing the streak size from 

1 inch high and deep to half of an inch. This and other 

techniques improved resin yields and increased profits.

Ralph M. Lindgren’s work on blue stain of lumber gained 

the Southern Station national attention. Blue stain was 

a major economic problem for lumbermen. Fungi would 

discolor the sap wood of pine and reduce lumber value. 

Lindgren found a chemical that when added to water made 

an effective dip that controlled the problem.

The Southern Forest Survey was another early 

accomplishment that gained the Southern Station invaluable 

support. The survey data—the actual survey unit stands, 

growth, and yield figures—began coming out and the pulp 

and paper industry used this information to bring new 

industry to the South.

Demmon transferred from the Southern Station in 1944 

to assume the director position in the Lake States Forest 

Experiment Station. After a number of years there, he 

became the director of the Southeastern Research Station 

in Asheville, NC. Demmon was a highly respected forestry 

research leader. He was elected chair of both the Society 

of American Foresters and of the American Forestry 

Association.

References

Demmon, E.L. 1942. Twenty years of forest research in the Lower South, 

1921-1941. Journal of Forestry. 40(1): 33-36.

Maunder, E.R. 1977. Voices from the South: recollections of four foresters; 

Inman F. Eldredge, Elwood L. Demmon, Walter H. Damtoft, Clinton H. 

Coulter. Santa Cruz, CA: Forest History Society, Inc. 252 p. 

U.S. Forest Service. 1929. Volume, yield, and stand tables for second-growth 

southern pines. Misc. Pub. 50. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service. 202 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360. 

Wakeley, P.C. 1978. The adolescence of forestry research in the South. Journal 

of Forest History. 22(7): 135-145.

E.L. Demmon was a noted economist and 

administrator for the Forest Service.
21

Kisatchie National Forest’s 

Longest Serving Supervisor

HugH s. redding

Hugh Redding served as supervisor for the Kisatchie 

National Forest (Kisatchie) for more than 12 years, from 

1945 to 1957, twice as long as any other supervisor. His 

other experiences on the Kisatchie included serving as 

district ranger in 1934 and as assistant supervisor from 1935 

to 1945. This period was particularly difficult due to great 

reforestation need, few employees during World War II, and 

restructuring the forest after the war. Although Redding 

was a real character, he was admirably suited for the tasks at 

hand.

Born in North Carolina the son of a “peckerwood” mill 

owner, he soon moved to Montana and was driving logs 

down rivers before he was 15 years old. Although he 

obtained a degree in forest engineering from the University 

of Montana, he would rather tell you about the days of his 

experiences in logging camps when he carried his “turkey,” or 

bedding roll, on his back from one logging camp to another. 

Before he went to college he described himself as an expert 

in “flatheadin’, tie hackin’, skiddin’, sleigh haulin’, chutin’, 

flumin’, river drivin’, crusin’, scalin’, and any other doggone 

thing.” 

Redding was employed by the Forest Service in 1922 and 

worked in Washington, Montana, and Idaho, before moving 

to the Kisatchie National Forest in 1934. While Redding was 

described as one of the Forest Service’s choice products and 

most enthusiastic adherents to its aims and objectives, he 

seemed difficult to discipline. He became known as the Forest 

Service’s “Peck’s Bad Boy” after a popular newspaper fictional 

series describing a mischievous lad who loved to play sneaky 

pranks on others. The “Peck’s Bad Boy” tag was a popular 

term for any incorrigible rule-breaker.

The land purchased for Kisatchie consisted primarily of 

cutover areas devoid of standing timber. Redding had 

submitted so many requests for funding for reforestation 

that his supervisor in Atlanta said that “there couldn’t be 

that much cutover land in Southwest Louisiana as you say.” 

In an opportunity to show the Atlanta supervisor the forest 

lands, Redding put his point across by planning a route on 

the Kisatchie so that they did not “see a stick of timber” in 5 

hours of travel. At 7 o’clock that night, the visitor exclaimed, 

“My God, Redding, let me see one tree before I go back to 

Atlanta?” 

Some of his coworkers recalled that “Uncle Hugh” could 

spend an evening when out of town drinking water glasses 

full of spirits, but he would always be up the next morning 

at 6 a.m., whistling and singing, apparently with no ill 

effects! Redding took his responsibility as administrator of 

Kisatchie’s forests very seriously, firmly believing that forests 

cannot be separated from people. Hugh was several decades 

ahead of his time in realizing the importance of input from 

the public. He stated, “Forests are not a resource that can 

be enclosed behind a big fence and managed for a single 

purpose.... Unless the public generally knows and feels that it 

is participating in the activities which are necessary to make 

forests productive, they not only refuse to cooperate and 

assist, but they actually hinder the efforts..., because they 

were not considered in the formulation of the plans which 

concerned them at least directly.”

The time of Redding’s service was a period of transition 

from the Great Depression through World War II, to 

peace and the return to civilian life of millions of former 

servicemen. The reforestation efforts from the 1930s through 

the 1950s resulted in one of the most productive forests in 

the South. The leadership of Redding helped prepare the 

forest for the great demand of wood products that began 

during the 1960s and 1970s as the economy of the country 

expanded greatly.

Many who knew Redding would echo the summation voiced 

by one employee: “Hugh Redding—that was a good guy.”

References

Burns, A.C. 1982. The Kisatchie story: a history of Louisiana’s only national 

forest. Lafayette, LA: University of Southwestern Louisiana. Ph.D. 

dissertation.

Kerr, E.; Morgan, E.1995. The people’s forest. Forests & People. 5(4): 8-19.

Hugh Redding led the Kisatchie National Forest 

through the turbulent years of World War II and 

into the 1950s when the demand for wood products 

grew rapidly.
22

Legendary Ranger of 

Winn Ranger District

george m. tanneHill, Jr.

George M. Tannehill served as the Winn District ranger for 

38 years, the longest tenure of any ranger on the Kisatchie 

National Forest and the second to only one ranger in the 

entire Forest Service. Tannehill was reared in Urania, LA 

and was a member of the Tannehill family that was closely 

connected for many years to the historic Urania Lumber 

Company. George came from a forestry family and was 

reared in a forestry community, so it is not surprising that he 

grew up to be a professional forester. 

As a youth, he traveled to California, and in 1929 began to 

work for the Forest Service. After a few months, he returned to 

Louisiana and enrolled in Louisiana State University’s School 

of Forestry. Upon graduating in 1932, he returned to work for 

the Forest Service, accepting a position on Ouachita National 

Forest. In 1935, he came to Winnfield to accept the position 

as ranger of the Winn District. Although he was responsible 

for the timber program, recreation, fire control, and road 

construction and repair, his biggest challenge was supervising 

an extensive reforestation program. Today, more than 100,000 

district acres have been planted.

It was Tannehill’s choice to remain in the Winn District 

until retirement, although the Forest Service wanted to 

transfer and promote him many times. He refused to leave 

the district because he believed that he could do more good 

on the Winn District than anywhere else. If pushed to 

transfer, George would call “Cousin Allen,” Senator Allen 

Ellender who was President pro tem of the Senate, who could 

cut through a lot of bureaucracy. George also had a close 

relationship with Senator Russell Long. These friendships 

helped protect George’s position in an Agency that typically 

moved employees every few years.

Tannehill had a very good relationship with coworkers 

and citizens of the community. He was held in great 

respect for his professionalism—he was among the earliest 

graduate foresters on the Kisatchie—and his fellow citizens 

demonstrated love for “Mr. George.” The many “Mr. 

George” stories show the high regard with which he was 

held. Perhaps the secret of Tannehill’s success was that 

“he treated the lowest man on the job the same as someone 

from the Supervisor’s office.”

Friends and colleagues had reason to believe Tannehill was 

a millionaire and the wealthiest ranger in the Forest Service. 

If so, this wealth must have come from his family’s forestry 

enterprise. Certainly, he did not flaunt his wealth. In fact, 

one would never know it from the old automobile he drove. 

According to one of his supervisors, George gave away “two 

or three fortunes” because he was a “sucker for a sob story.” 

He kept his charity secret, usually sending help through a 

third party.

Tannehill believed in taking care of the forest. A colleague 

remembers him as “different from any other ranger I ever 

worked for—a business type didn’t carry on any foolishness. 

If he promised something, he’d work hard to try to get it 

done.” Others remember him as always being immaculate. 

When in civilian clothes, he dressed with shirt and tie, 

looking as if he had “just stepped out of a band box.” 

He developed a unique relationship with the public by using 

unconventional methods. The arson problem common to 

all districts was reduced on the Winn District when he 

reduced the number of fires by hiring the woods burners. In 

those early days it was critical to win over the local citizens 

who for years had done as they pleased with stock, timber 

trespass, hunting, and fire on what had become government 

land.

Tannehill was described as the “type that would not tell you 

any more than he had to, letting you go your merry way and 

get yourself into trouble.” When two fire inspectors came 

from the Atlanta office, they thought that Tannehill should 

keep his fire towers manned at night because the wind had 

not died down. After dark, they called him from their hotel 

with an “I-told-you-so” tone, and told him the whole country 

was burning—they could see the glow in the sky. George 

drove the men out to Sparta, LA where a gas well flare was 

burning, lighting up the sky just as it did every night.

Tannehill is remembered fondly by those who worked for 

him as one of the smartest foresters they ever knew, “a man 

with a lot of horse sense as well as college sense.” He was 

respected greatly by employees, colleagues, and the general 

public. 

George Tannehill on his horse and well dressed as usual. Tannehill’s 

saddle is still prominently displayed in the Winn Ranger District offices.
23

References

Anon. 1970. George M. Tannehill. Forests & People. 20(3): 27, 42.

Burns, A.C. 1982. The Kisatchie story: a history of Louisiana’s only national 

forest. Lafayette, LA: University of Southwestern Louisiana. Ph.D. 

dissertation.

Hillman, L.L. 1978. George M. Tannehill Jr. and the Winn Ranger District: a 

success story on Kisatchie. Forests & People. 28(1): 16-17, 34.

Louisiana Forestry Commission

I focus on the Louisiana Forestry Commission as a State 

forestry agency because it was one of the earliest in the 

South and because its leadership is most familiar to me. 

Many such State agencies have had a tenuous existence early 

in their establishment. The Louisiana Forestry Commission 

is no exception. It has had periods of outstanding 

professional leadership and other periods that were seriously 

affected by politics.

Although Hans Enghardt did not have significant 

administrative responsibility, his inclusion in the profiles 

demonstrates the collaborative nature of the interorganizational efforts existing after World War II.

viCtor Hugo sonderegger

Victor Hugo Sonderegger, a native of Winnfield, LA and 

two-time State forester, may have been named for the French 

playwright who was the champion of the people, but his time 

in office was more characterized by a man alone at the top. 

There were accomplishments during the 14 years he served, 

but it was a reform movement that sounded the end of his 

career. 

Sonderegger graduated in 1911 from the Biltmore Forest 

School which provided 1 year of practical forestry training. 

When R.D. Forbes became the State forester of Louisiana 

in 1918, he hired Sonderegger as his first assistant. 

Sonderegger had worked for the Mansfield Lumber Company 

in Winnfield prior to this position. In 1921, when Forbes left 

to become the first director of the Forest Service’s Southern 

Station, Sonderegger was elevated to State forester. He did 

not fill the assistant State forester position, and remained the 

only professionally trained forester in the organization.

As State forester, Sonderegger carried out a number of 

projects that Forbes had initiated: fire patrols, railroad fire 

prevention, publicity, and education. 

On the firefighting front, Sonderegger divided the State into 

two areas with a chief ranger in charge of each. Recruitment 

of patrolmen and fire wardens followed. In 1922 and 

1923, two fire towers were constructed. One was on Great 

Southern’s land and the other was at Urania.

His administration was active in proposing forestry 

legislation. Notable accomplishments were: (1) penalties 

for setting fire to State land, (2) provision for establishing 

national forests, (3) acceptance of lands donated for State 

forests, (4) establishment of Arbor Day in schools, and (5) a 

comprehensive seed-tree law. 

In 1923, 2,200 acres of land from H.S. Burrowes were 

acquired by Louisiana for a State forest. The area near 

Lecompte was officially named the M.L. Alexander 

Memorial State Forest in honor of Alexander who served 

as Commissioner of Conservation from 1912 to 1923. 

Additional land was added to the property and today it 

comprises 8,000 acres.

Funds became available under the Federal Clarke-McNary 

law to establish a nursery on the State forest site in 1925. 

Charles and Luther Delaney were in charge of the nursery 

program. Within 3 years, they were able to grow and 

distribute more than a million seedlings. 

Progress was made on the information and education front 

by appointing Caroline C. Dormon as instructor of forestry 

in late1920. She proved during her stay until 1923 to have 

a genuine love of forestry and did much to establish an 

education program in schools. She was an outstanding 

authority on dendrology and became the first woman elected 

to membership in the Society of American Foresters.

V.H. Sonderegger, a native of Winnfield, LA, 

served as State forester during two difficult 

economic times.
24

The first regime of Sonderegger ended on October 1, 1925. 

One of the problems he had faced was keeping competent 

employees. His management style was not one that resulted 

in a stable workforce. 

But this was not the end of his involvement in State forestry. 

He was succeeded as State forester by W.R. (Billy) Hine, a 

graduate of Cornell University, who had worked with the 

Southern Station. Hine did a remarkable job of improving 

the fire protection organization, constructing an additional 

13 lookout towers, rehiring Caroline Dormon as assistant 

in public relations, and beginning a training program for 

employees. 

Hine recruited Nathan D. Canterbury as assistant forester 

in charge of the nursery program. Canterbury received 

his master of forestry degree in 1922 from Yale and was 

very capable. He was one of a few students who received a 

master’s degree without first receiving a bachelor’s degree. 

The nursery program expanded rapidly, and Canterbury led 

the development of other programs.

However, politics began to overshadow the developing 

forestry programs. Huey Long was elected Governor and 

planned to oust the Commissioner of Conservation and his 

staff. State forester Hine had an opportunity to take a Forest 

Service position and resigned before Long became Governor. 

V.K. Irion, the Commissioner of Conservation, named 

Canterbury State forester telling him, “it probably won’t 

last long, but at least you can say you were once the State 

forester.” Irion’s words were true—Canterbury was in office 

only a month and a day. However, he moved on to a long and 

illustrious forestry career.

Huey Long dismissed personnel of the Department of 

Conservation en masse. Canterbury stayed over a day to 

orient the new State forester. He was introduced to the 

familiar V.H. Sonderegger who was from the same hometown 

as Governor Long. Canterbury stayed long enough to 

glimpse how new employees were hired. Each new employee 

came with a slip of paper signed by the new Commissioner 

of Conservation specifying the amount of salary the 

employee would receive—no mention of what position the 

employee would hold.

Over time, Sonderegger would rehire many of the employees 

that were fired by Long. Also, he continued much of the 

effort established by previous State forester Billy Hine. 

Sonderegger remained in office until 1940 when a reform 

movement called for a modern and complete forestry 

program. 

The Sonderegger name took on a hint of infamy for two 

notable events. First, the Society of American Foresters 

removed him from its rolls because of questionable political 

activities. Then his name was added to a new pine species. 

H.H. Chapman described a natural hybrid of loblolly and 

longleaf pine and named it Sondergger pine (X Pinus 

sondereggeri Chapman). Some believed, knowing Chapman, 

that it was named more in recognition of the common name, 

bastard pine, than as an honor. During Sonderegger’s two 

terms as State forester, he did not hire a single professional 

forester. Apparently, he did not want competition from 

college-trained foresters.

Sonderegger’s second regime faced many challenges as 

he served during the Depression. He was responsible for 

establishing 20 Civilian Conservation Corps camps in 

Louisiana. These camps made remarkable contributions to 

the State. 

Sonderegger served during a difficult time and had no 

ulterior motives. He had the interest of the organization at 

heart. Although wrong in strategy at times, he did what he 

thought was right for forestry.

James e. (Jim) mixon

He was described as looking like a modern-day West Texas 

sheriff: tall and slim, cordial and affable with a quick mind—

and a black string tie to top it off. His parents had named 

him James E. Mixon. That name did not really fit, and he 

was known by all as Jim Mixon. Mixon’s father was a Navy 

man, and Mixon moved to 13 different schools getting an 

education. He was born in New Orleans, LA and returned to 

Louisiana to obtain a forestry degree from Louisiana State 

University in 1936. 

Mixon worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps for a 

year and then was hired by the Florida Forestry Service as a 

nurseryman. In 1940, Jim was named forest superintendent 

for the Louisiana Forestry Commission’s State forest at 

Woodworth, LA. Forestry in Louisiana at the time was in 

Nathan Canterbury was Louisiana State forester 

for a month and a day.
25

doldrums; virgin forests had been cut out and reforestation 

just started. With the advent of World War II, only four 

foresters remained in the Agency. Jim was discharged from 

the U.S. Army because of a medical problem. 

Jim Mixon was named State forester by Louisiana’s Board 

of Forestry Commissioners in 1947. This was a positive 

move since the Governor had previously appointed the 

State forester. At the time, Louisiana had one of the worst 

forest fire records in the South. Previous State forester, 

Massey Anderson had few resources, neither personnel nor 

equipment, for providing fire protection.

Mixon was to remain State forester for 29 years, outlasting 

the administrations of seven Governors. Under his 

leadership the fire problem was reduced to manageable 

proportions, Forestry Commission nursery seedling 

production was greatly increased, public education efforts 

to alert the citizenry to forestry’s needs and potential were 

expanded, and the Forestry Commission became a model 

State agency. 

Achieving what he accomplished required tremendous 

determination and dedication, Mixon had strong views on 

fire causes and they became nationally known in the mid1950s when he dared to name arsonists as the real cause of 

the South’s devastating forest fire problem. Law enforcement 

was all the arsonists would understand, he believed, and that 

is what he gave them.

The Forestry Commission acquired new equipment 

appropriate for fire protection. To improve the public 

perception of the agency, Mixon established his annual 

“100 point inspection.” He was a son of a career Navy man 

and had a spit-and-polish philosophy about equipment 

maintenance. Every piece of equipment belonging to the 

Forestry Commission was subjected to an inspection so 

exacting that one employee fainted at the scene.

Mixon gained widespread respect from how he handled 

recurring political pressures. The way Mixon worded it, “I 

promised them whatever they wanted and then did what I 

wanted.” He told the story: “Earl Long called me up one time 

and said, ’Jim, I’m a little red in the face about something 

that has happened—you know, one of my relatives on the fire 

crew in Winn Parish was fired. How am I going to explain 

this to my kinfolks?’ I told him, ’Governor, I was concerned 

that you would be embarrassed if I didn’t fire him. He’s a 

drinking man and I was afraid it would get out that one of 

the Governor’s relatives was drunk and on the State payroll, 

supposed to put out fires.’ Earl thought about it for a minute, 

then asked me what I thought he ought to do. I said, ‘Well, I 

thought the highway department would be the right place for 

him.’ The Governor thought that was a good idea, and that’s 

where he put the displaced fellow.”

Another Governor objected strongly to the string ties that 

Mixon wore. Mixon would keep a four-in-hand tie in his desk 

drawer to slip on whenever he was to meet with the chief 

executive. It did not always match the suit he happened to be 

wearing, but the Governor never seemed to notice. Mixon 

was known for his “unaffected and unabashed outspokenness, 

no-nonsense practicality...and a propensity for string ties.” 

Jim Kitchen, who served 11 years as information and 

education chief with the Forestry Commission and moved on 

to major forest industry responsibility, described Mixon: “He 

has rendered outstanding service to the forestry interests of 

Louisiana... by molding a strong professional organization 

with high esprit de corps; he has afforded an excellent 

administration and supervision; and he has managed to do all 

of this in complete cooperation with the changing political 

administrations of public office holders in Louisiana.”

Hans engHardt

Shortly after World War II, Hans Enghardt, a German 

forester from the Black Forest region, arrived in Alexandria 

to help restore Louisiana’s cutover forests. Seems 

incongruous—but true. This begins an interesting story of 

cooperation among governments, agencies, and people.

At the end of World War II, millions of acres of Louisiana 

forest land remained denuded of trees and both State and 

Federal agencies sought ways to overcome the problem 

of this reforestation backlog. In addition to developing 

a functioning State forestry agency to address these 

management issues, the Louisiana Forestry Commission (now 

Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Office 

Jim Mixon was State forester of Louisiana for 29 

years. He was respected by each administration.
26

of Forestry) was given an additional mandate to conduct 

forestry research.

With limited resources, Jim Mixon, newly appointed State 

forester, sought ways to address these issues. Mixon quickly 

developed a close friendship with Bill Mann, leader of the 

Forest Service’s Southern Station program in Alexandria, 

LA. In 1948, a memorandum of understanding between the 

organizations was approved that provided for collaborative 

efforts. Initially, Mixon provided funding to support the 

Southern Station’s research program.

However, in 1955, Mixon agreed to sponsor a forester from 

Germany who would have research responsibility. After 

the war, the United States agreed to allow immigration 

of German citizens whose training and skills were needed 

in the United States. The Department of State approved 

the immigration of Enghardt and his family under the 

sponsorship of the Louisiana Forestry Commission. 

Since the Forestry Commission had no research 

organization, Mixon assigned Enghardt to the Southern 

Station. Enghardt, his wife, small son, and pet dachshund 

arrived in Alexandria, LA in February 1956. Hans 

assignment was to develop silvicultural and management 

recommendations for southern pine plantations.

Under the unique arrangement, Enghardt became an 

integral part of the Southern Station’s research program. 

However, he was always a State employee. During the next 

17 years, Enghardt’s expertise contributed significantly 

to the understanding of pine plantation management. As 

would be expected from Enghardt’s training and nature, 

he was very meticulous and thorough. He developed an 

elaborate color coding system to record certain field data, the 

meaning of which was not made clear to his successor, Don 

Feduccia. This caused considerable consternation.

During WWII, Enghardt had manned an anti-aircraft 

battery in the German army. During a group discussion 

of assignments during the war, it became obvious that 

Enghardt’s anti-aircraft battery shot down an American 

bomber over the Alps flown by Lew Grosenbaugh, a 

Southern Station assistant director. There was a cordial 

laugh about the experience, but it seemed to those present 

that Enghardt was somewhat more pleased about the 

discussion than Lew.

Hans enrolled in the LSU Graduate School’s forestry 

program to improve his knowledge of southern forestry 

practices. He was able to meet most of the course 

requirements by attending LSU-Alexandria. Faculty from 

LSU’s forestry school taught evening courses because there 

were a number of veterans and others who wanted to obtain 

graduate degrees while employed by Federal, State, and 

private forestry organizations. Enghardt graduated with a 

master’s degree in forestry in 1966.

The Enghardt family was incorporated into the local 

community. Michael, the son, was an excellent student. Upon 

graduating from high school, Michael joined the U.S. Navy, 

received his medical school training through a recruitment 

program, and served as a physician in some of the military’s 

most prestigious medical facilities. He retired from the U.S. 

Navy in 1997.

After 17 years working for State and Federal government 

programs in Louisiana, Enghardt became interested in 

returning to Germany. He applied for admission to the 

University of Freiberg. In 1973, Enghardt and his wife 

returned to the university where he had obtained his 

undergraduate training. He received his doctoral degree and 

moved back to Baden-Baden, his hometown. Enghardt was 

hired by Germany’s Federal forestry organization and again 

worked in the Black Forest Mountains, where he became 

internationally recognized for his work on the effect of acid 

rain on Black Forest tree species.

Enghardt’s career shows the value of developing 

relationships—both personally, and also between 

governments, and between Federal, State, and local 

organizations. Enghardt was wise when he realized his 

contributions to Louisiana’s forestry community had peaked. 

He, then, accepted the challenge of returning to his native 

Germany where he trained himself to deal with significant 

problems in the forests of his home country.

Enghardt retired in Baden-Baden. He touched many lives 

and provided knowledge to help resolve significant forestry 

issues. His capacity to adapt to new challenges and meet 

them positively was a hallmark of his career.

Hans Enghardt photo taken in the mid-1960s.
27

References

Anon. 1963. Sonderegger’s regime (1921-1925). Forests & People. 13(1): 25-27.

Anon. 1963. Return of Sonderegger (1929-1940). Forest & People. 13(1): 32-

33.

Anon. 1967. An interview with Jim Mixon. Forests & People. 17(2): 24-25, 37.

Anon. 1977. State forester Jim Mixon—one more salute from his friends. 

Forests & People. 27(1): 40-42.

Barnett, J. 2009. Sonderegger as State forester made quite a name for himself. 

Forests & People. 59(1): 14-15.

Burns, A.C. 1968. A history of the Louisiana Forestry Commission. Louisiana 

Studies Institute Monograph Series. Natchitoches, LA: Northwestern State 

University.

Enghardt, H. 1957. I was a forester in Baden Baden. Forests & People. 7(3): 

36-37, 48-49.

Louisiana Forestry Association

The idea to form a group to promote forestry was first 

developed and organized in Louisiana in 1909. The resulting 

Louisiana Forestry Association was dissolved in the late 

1920s and early 1930s due to membership lapsing when most 

mills discontinued operation.

During a meeting of the Gulf States Section of the Society 

of American Foresters in New Orleans, LA in the fall of 

1940, a reorganization of the association was discussed. 

However, it was in 1947 after World War II that action was 

taken. An effort was undertaken by the North Louisiana 

Group, headed by Lloyd Blackwell, to form a committee 

that would guide the development of an association. In the 

fall of 1947, the committee voted to organize the Louisiana 

Forestry Association. Lloyd Blackwell was appointed as 

acting executive secretary for the organization.

J.H. (Jim) kitCHens, Jr.

Born into a sawmill family in Trout, Louisiana, in 1913, 

James H. Kitchens, Jr. was well oriented in timberlands 

and sawmilling long before he received his forestry degree 

from Louisiana State University in 1937. He pursued a 

law course several years before settling into forestry as a 

career. When he graduated, jobs were scarce so he worked 

on a Soil Conservation Service project funded by the Works 

Projects Administration (WPA) for 18 months. He received 

an appointment with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) 

in 1938 and spent the next 2 years engaged in fire prevention 

activities where he pioneered the art of communicating 

conservation lore to all levels of society. His interests were 

always in public relations, rather than traditional forestry.

In 1940, then Louisiana Gov. Sam Jones revitalized the 

Louisiana Forestry Commission and staffed the organization 

with professional foresters. Kitchens began his tenure as 

chief of information and education with the Louisiana 

Forestry Commission in New Orleans, LA. However, his 

assignment in this capacity was interrupted in 1942 by a 

tour of duty in the U.S. Army that lasted nearly 4 years. For 

11 months of that time, he served in the European Theatre 

with the 95th Infantry Division. He was awarded three Battle 

Stars, the Bronze Star, and the Combat Infantry Badge. His 

army career continued in a reserve capacity until 1957 when 

he retired as a Major with 23 years of service.

Following World War II, Kitchens returned to the Louisiana 

Forestry Commission and was located in Baton Rouge, LA. 

He quickly gained national recognition in forestry education 

circles because of his leadership in the publication of the 

textbook "Ten Lessons in Forestry" and the companion 

teacher manual "Behind the Curtain of Green." He also led 

the organization of information and education chiefs for all 

12 Southern States to coordinate forestry education efforts 

on a regional scale.

Kitchens became executive director of the Louisiana 

Forestry Association in 1951 when he replaced John 

Ferran who had died unexpectedly. He teamed up with the 

Association’s outstanding Editorial Advisory Committee 

to publish the Forests & People magazine. He led the effort 

for 8 years and during that time the magazine twice was 

recognized as the best of its kind in the Nation. Always using 

a positive approach, and working with member-committee 

groups, Kitchens managed the affairs of the Louisiana 

Forestry Association through years which saw basic reforms 

in the forestry environment of Louisiana. These included 

a modern forest tax law, expanded and improved forest fire 

protection, a hog control law, and a comprehensive program 

of forest research. Kitchens was the catalyst, the talent and 

leadership of the association that was in the forefront of a 

movement that pushed forestry among the top industries in 

Louisiana.

Jim Kitchens was an early promoter of forestry 

practices in Louisiana and the South.
28

Kitchens entered the employment of T.L. James & Company, 

Inc., in 1959 as assistant director of their Forestry Division. 

He led the reforestation of over 100,000 acres of cutover 

forest land and implemented extensive forest management 

programs of that company. He also paid a major role in 

inducing capital investments by forest industries and helping 

create thousands of jobs for his fellow citizens.

Kitchens was a gentleman from the old school—a tall, 

lanky son of a sawmill man that used his talents to bring 

forestry into the modern age. Many of the benefits which the 

forestry community in Louisiana enjoys today are due to the 

leadership of this man.

CHarles H. (CHarlie) leWis, Jr.

Charles (Charlie) Lewis, Jr., was born in 1916 in Randolph, 

LA, a sawmill town in Union Parish that disappeared when 

the sawmill closed. He grew up in Natchez, MS and attended 

Louisiana State University on a tennis scholarship. He 

graduated with a degree in forestry in 1939 and began his 

career as a forester for Crosby Lumber and Manufacturing 

Company in Crosby, MS. His employment was interrupted 

by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army 

Air Corps as a fighter pilot. He completed his military 

service in 1945 with the rank of Major and as a Squadron 

Commander.

After the war, Lewis returned to the Crosby Lumber 

Company in the capacity of chief forester for Crosby 

Chemicals in DeRidder, LA. In 1959, he became executive 

director of the Louisiana Forestry Association. As executive 

director, he left an indelible mark on the association and the 

growth of forestry in Louisiana. He was a master of public 

relations and led with a unique style and unflappable attitude. 

In a time when forestry was just expanding, he gained 

support for forestry programs with messages that were 

anything but boring. 

Contemporaries remember his presentations well: he 

could recite the returns on investment in reforestation and 

punctuate it by throwing seedlings into the audience. He had 

his own version of a striptease where he would remove all 

items that were not made from a forest product. In winter 

visits to congressional delegations in Washington, DC, he 

would bring boxes of camellias to soften his entry into every 

office. 

These were attention-getters, but the substance of his 

work was very important. He and the association justified 

expansion of reforestation programs, pushed for research 

and development that resulted in the plywood industry in 

the South, and led the effort to stabilize tax assessments on 

forest land.

After 7 years with the Louisiana Forestry Association, Lewis 

began an association with Georgia Pacific in Conroe, TX, 

where he was instrumental in establishing the regional 

office of Louisiana Pacific. He was also very involved in 

professional organizations, including numerous regional and 

national positions in the Society of American Foresters. He 

retired from Louisiana Pacific in 1974. 

Louis survived three airplane crashes during World War II 

with minor scratches. Then in 1974, he jumped a 3-foot ditch 

in Spain during a golf tournament and ruptured five discs 

in his lower back. He became an invalid for 2 years. Always 

involved in meaningful avocations such as church leadership 

positions, tennis, golf, sailing, and wood working, during his 

recovery he studied hydroponic gardening and developed a 

greenhouse to grow vegetables that he shared with friends 

and neighbors. Always involved, Charlie adhered to his 

motto, “Never Give Up.” Louis died in May 2008.

A resolution by the Louisiana Forestry Association reads 

in part, “Charlie Lewis exemplified the highest moral 

and ethical standards in all his business and professional 

activities..., and this spirited and influential gentleman 

possessed innumerable fine qualities. He shall be remembered 

by those who know him best for his wisdom, strong 

convictions, and leadership.”

References

Anon. 1963. Formation of the Louisiana Forestry Association. Forests & 

People. 13(1): 76. 112-119.

Anon. 1966. Faces of forestry: J.H. Kitchens, Jr. Forests & People. 16(3): 33.

Anon. 1997. Executive directors: a hard message to sell. Forests & People. 

47(2): 9, 14.

Kerr, E. 1975. A salute to Gentleman Jim. Forests & People. 25(2): 24-25.

Tompkins, J. 1997. Jim Kitchens: true forester as leader. Forests & People. 

47(2): 32.

Charlie Lewis, a master of public relations and 

promoter of forestry practices in the South.
29

FOREST MANAGEMENT

Once reforestation became successful, many questions 

arose about how stands should be managed to make 

forests economically sustainable. Fortunately, a number of 

remarkable individuals devoted their careers to developing 

answers to these questions. 

The following profiles reflect the contributions of a number 

of these individuals. Areas of emphasis ranged from 

uneven-aged and even-aged pine silviculture to management 

of hardwood forests that had been generally neglected. 

Supporting these efforts was seed production and direct 

seeding—a needed approach to reforest cutover stands.

Not to be overlooked is the development of statistical 

procedures and mensurational (the branch of mathematics 

dealing with measurements) techniques. This information 

was critical to understanding and developing technology and 

applying it to established forests. 

Uneven-aged Pine Management

russell r. (russ) reynolds

The Crossett Experimental Forest, located south of 

Crossett, AR, and just north of the Louisiana State line, was 

established by the Forest Service, Southern Station in 1933. 

It resulted from a cooperative agreement with the Crossett 

Lumber Company that donated about 1,600 acres to the 

Station with a provision that the forest could be returned 

after 20 years.

Russell R. (Russ) Reynolds, a native of Michigan, graduated 

from the University of Michigan with a B.S. degree and an 

M.S. degree, and joined the Forest Service, Southern Station 

in 1930. Reynolds was assigned to the Crossett Experimental 

Forest when it opened in 1933, and spent the next 34 years 

establishing and directing the research center.

Early in the development of the Crossett Experimental 

Forest, it was decided to establish the Crossett Research 

Center on the forest. This was to become the first Forest 

Service branch research station in the South. Due to lack of 

funds for establishment, the buildings for the center and staff 

housing were constructed with pine logs harvested from the 

forest.

Reynolds and his wife, Geneva, lived in Crossett at the Rose 

Inn while housing was constructed on the experimental 

forest. The Rose Inn was owned by the Crossett Lumber 

Company and provided the only public housing in the town. 

The large Rose Inn dining room, always with sparkling white 

tablecloths, was famous for its good food. For many years, 

men had to wear ties and coats before they were admitted to 

the room. However, to assure that no one was turned away, 

a supply of extra coats and ties was kept outside the room. 

Lodgers paid $30 per month to live and eat at the hotel. 

Russ Reynolds interacting with 4-H students at one of his “Farm Forty Days” on the Crossett Experimental Forest.
30

Reynolds’ research began with the goal of determining 

how to cut the cutover mixed pine-hardwood forests of 

Arkansas and north Louisiana at a profit while at the same 

time maintaining and improving the stand of timber. In 

1937, Reynolds established the famous “Poor” and “Good” 

farm forestry forties. Reynolds and his colleagues evaluated 

whether previously unmanaged, understocked, secondgrowth loblolly-shortleaf stands could be successfully 

rehabilitated and managed using the selection cutting 

(uneven-aged management) technique. 

Meticulous records were kept so that the economics of 

this management could be evaluated. An important aspect 

of management was to remove cull hardwoods. Reynolds 

was fortunate in that the Crossett Lumber Company had a 

“chemical plant” that used very small hardwood material that 

was removed from the stands. 

Although some criticized Reynolds’ success with selection 

cutting by indicating that the needed intensive competition 

control efforts were difficult to apply on a large scale and 

that he had no even-aged management check, Russ’s studies 

did much to convince landowners that forestry was a sound 

business investment.

His “Farm Forty Days” were an outstanding success. 

Reynolds used these to demonstrate the large volume of 

logs, pulpwood, and other products that could be harvested 

annually from second-growth shortleaf-loblolly pine stands 

that were managed on the selection system. With great skill, 

Reynolds converted the poor forty to a good one with profits 

from the stand each year. 

Reynolds spent his career on the Crossett Experimental 

Forest and earned a number of prestigious awards. In 1947, 

he received a Superior Service Award for “accomplishments 

of national significance and value in research on applied 

forestry management." A similar award was given to 

him and his staff in 1959 “for exceptional initiative and 

achievement in developing and disseminating knowledge 

that stimulated landowners to restore millions of depleted 

forest acres and then to manage them for profitable timber 

production.”

Truly, Reynolds made a major contribution in the promotion 

and understanding of forestry to small landowners across 

the South.

References

Anon. 1968. Faces of forestry—Russ Reynolds. Forests & People. 18(1): 26.

Baker, J.B. 1986. The Crossett farm forestry forties after forty-one years of 

selection management. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry. 10(10): 233-237.

Kerr, E. 1962. Twenty-five years on a poor farm forty. Forests & People. 12(4): 4-9.

Reynolds, R.R. 1980. The Crossett story: the beginning of forestry in southern 

Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Gen. Tech. Bull. SO-32. New Orleans: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment 

Station. 40 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360.

Even-aged Pine Silviculture

William F. (bill) mann, Jr.

William F. (Bill) Mann, Jr.’s early years hardly give indication 

that he would one day be recognized as a leading authority 

on the regeneration and management of southern pines. For 

there were relatively few trees in Mann’s environment—

certainly there were no southern pines.

Mann was born in 1916 in New York City’s Bronx borough 

and reared on Long Island. He had no explanation of why 

he entered Pennsylvania State University as a forestry major. 

“I don’t recall in the slightest how I happened to get into 

forestry,” he said.

In 1940, Mann came to work for the Southern Station in 

Oxford, MS, on a flood survey. Mann served in the Navy 

during World War II on the carrier USS Enterprise. Most 

of his time was spent in the Pacific and when discharged 

he returned to the Southern Station in Gulfport, MS. 

He worked there and in Crossett, AR, before coming to 

Alexandria, LA, in 1951.

Mann became the leader of the Southern Station’s even-aged 

pine silviculture research unit, which under his leadership 

gained national recognition. In 1961, the unit received a Unit 

Bill Mann led timber management research 

through a period of major transition.
31

Superior Service award from the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture Secretary of Agriculture “for developing 

successful techniques for direct seeding of southern pines, 

for controlling noxious hardwoods, and for utilizing and 

improving southern forest ranges.”

Mann obtained a master’s degree in forestry from Louisiana 

State University and wrote about 150 publications, 

most dealing with reforestation and management of 

newly established stands of southern pines. He became 

internationally recognized as the authority on direct seeding 

of the southern pines. Mann and his colleagues developed 

the repellent coatings for seeds that made direct seeding 

feasible. As a result of these efforts, more than 280,000 acres 

in Louisiana and one and a half million acres throughout 

the South were reforested. The research made feasible the 

regeneration of the South’s cutover longleaf pine forests 

through aerial seeding and better seed storage techniques. 

Mann planned, organized, and directed a long-term program 

of research that reduced the cost of reforesting the southern 

pinelands by one half. 

Although Mann is largely recognized for his research in 

artificial regeneration, he conducted research and led a 

research program that was much greater in scope. The 

unit program was instrumental in developing techniques 

for controlling unwanted hardwoods in pine stands. In 

particular, the tree injection techniques that became the 

mainstay of controlling undesirable woody competition. 

Mann’s interest also included the management of established 

pine stands. Studies installed by Mann and his colleagues 

dealt with planting spacing, timing of initial thinning, and 

amounts and intervals of thinning. These studies continue 

to provide essential information for the development of 

growth and yield models for southern pines and now are 

the basis for developing an understanding of the effects of 

global climate change. Since much of the cutover land was 

used for cattle grazing, range management was another 

early research emphasis. The unit developed a supplemental 

feeding program for cattle on cutover ranges in the 

longleaf pine belt. This program provided for a doubling 

of calf production with only minor expenditures for feed 

supplements.

Mann was very active in professional organizations and 

societies. He was elected Fellow in the Society of American 

Foresters (SAF), served two terms on the SAF’s national 

governing board, was national chair of the SAF’s Forestry 

Fund, was chair of the Gulf States Section, and was chair 

of the local SAF Chapter. Accomplishments receiving 

recognition included a 1964 commendation from the Gulf 

States Section of SAF, named Forest Conservationist of 

the Year in Louisiana in 1969, and in 1972 received the 

Barrington Moore Award from the SAF for “outstanding 

achievement in biological research contributing to forestry.” 

Mann’s management style was a very authoritative one. He 

was an excellent organizer, but some employees had difficulty 

with the type of intensive and demanding supervision that 

they received.

He helped formulate the programs of the Louisiana Forestry 

Association and served on many of its committees. Mann 

and his close personal friends, James H. (Jim) Kitchens, Jr., 

executive secretary, Louisiana Forestry Association and 

James E. (Jim) Mixon, State forester, Louisiana Forestry 

Commission, became a “forestry triumvirate” that had 

unique ability to shape forestry progress in Louisiana and 

the surrounding States during the late 1950s and 1960s. 

Their efforts to develop political as well as professional and 

lay support resulted in their organizations becoming the 

leading ones at Federal, State, and forest industry levels. 

They provided an example in forestry leadership that was 

truly unique. Through their combined efforts the Southern 

Station research program at Alexandria, LA blossomed. 

The multimillion dollar Alexandria Forestry Center was 

dedicated in 1964, following expansions in development 

of the Palustris Experimental Forest and in numbers of 

research personnel.

Mann was immensely proud of the fact that his and his unit’s 

research could be put into practical use “practically before 

we have it published.” He said, “It is very frustrating to do 

research when no one uses it.” Upon his death in January 

1980, the Louisiana Forestry Association issued a memorial 

resolution that said in part, “We share the fond memory of 

a quiet and dedicated man whose work helped transform the 

fate of our State and the region.”

References

Anon. 1968. Faces of forestry: Bill Mann. Forests & People. 18(1): 24-25.

Anon. 1980. A tribute to a trusted advisor. Forests & People. 30(1): 5.

Direct Seeding

Harold J. derr

Many millions of acres of native forests of the South were 

devastated during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The 

harvests were so complete that few seed sources remained for 

natural stand regeneration. As late as 1955, 1.5 million acres 

of pine forest land in Louisiana alone remained unproductive. 

The job was so immense that it was projected that many 

decades would be required to regenerate the land by planting. 

New approaches to reforestation were needed.

In 1946, the Southern Station of the Forest Service 

established a research center in Alexandria, LA. One of the 

missions of the center was to develop techniques to speed 

the reforestation of cutover forest land. Planting of nursery-
32

grown seedlings was the established technique, but the 

scope of the problem dictated that new approaches to speed 

reforestation be developed, and a concentrated effort began 

to make direct seeding a reality.

Harold Derr joined the Alexandria location of the Southern 

Station in 1946 at the end of World War II. Harold had 

graduated from Iowa State University before entering 

military service and did graduate work at the University 

of Washington after the war. He had entered the Army as 

a Private and retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Lt. 

Colonel in the Medical Corps. His medical experience made 

it appropriate that he was assigned the task of developing 

repellents for direct seeding technology.

The concept for direct seeding was not new. For centuries, 

foresters throughout the world had been intrigued by the 

simplicity of starting stands by sowing limited quantities 

of seed at the right time. But, early attempts clearly showed 

that seed predation by birds and rodents created a great 

obstacle.

The research was aimed primarily at finding a practical 

method of protecting seed from birds, since both resident 

and migratory species are usually numerous when pine 

seeds are sown in the fall. Rodents, though a problem, were 

considered easier to cope with. 

Derr led the effort to find chemicals that would protect the 

seeds from predation. He was assisted by Center Leader 

William F. Mann, Jr. and the assignment of U.S. Fish & 

Wildlife ornithologist Brooke Meanley to help evaluate bird 

responses to chemical treatments. The first breakthrough 

came in 1953 when anthraquinone was found to be an 

effective, nontoxic bird repellent. Anthraquinone is used 

in the manufacture of laxatives, photographic materials, 

and dyes and is very safe to use. Later tests demonstrated 

that thiram, a fungicide commonly used in agriculture, was 

equally effective in protecting seeds from bird predation. 

Longleaf pine seeds were sown in the fall since these 

seeds germinate soon after they are shed from cones, but 

are exposed to serious predation by rodents. To provide 

additional protection a small quantity of Endrin, a 

commercial insecticide, was added to the repellent coating. 

The seed treatment combination of thiram and Endrin with 

a latex sticker to bind the chemicals to the seeds provided 

excellent protection from both bird and rodent predators.

Direct seeding was widely acclaimed during the 1950s and 

1960s. Hundreds of thousands of forest land acres were 

quickly put back into production using this technology, 

and many publications documented the development of 

this technology. This effort, led by Harold Derr, resulted in 

guidelines for successful direct seeding and was published 

as the handbook “Direct seeding pines in the South.” It 

was published in 1971 as U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Agriculture Handbook 391. This research was a basis of the 

group being awarded the Secretary of Agriculture’s Superior 

Service Award. Derr had already received the National 

Civil Service League’s Award for Excellence in 1964 for his 

contributions to southern forestry.

Direct seeding technology was quickly and widely applied 

because it was easier, faster, and cheaper than hand planting. 

Seeding was extensive in Louisiana due to the need for largescale reforestation. The T.L. James Company leased nearly 

100,000 acres of cutover land. In 1957, seeding was used to 

quickly get much of it into commercial forest production.

In about 10 years, Derr and his colleagues developed 

technology to successfully direct seed southern pines—

technology that had eluded foresters for many generations. 

This greatly hastened the reforestation of cutover pine 

forests. More than 400,000 acres of unproductive forest land 

in Louisiana and about 3.5 million acres across the South 

were regenerated by seeding. Seeding was developed to meet 

a specific reforestation need—large areas of cutover land. It 

provided the needed technology to regenerate such land in a 

prompt and economic manner, and its success in meeting this 

reforestation need began its demise. Seeding often resulted in 

stands that were over stocked and it required large quantities 

of seeds. Because of these limitations, planting is again the 

accepted technology since it is better adapted to the current 

need for reforestation. 

Although Derr’s accomplishments are primarily related to 

direct seeding, he contributed significantly in other areas 

of research. He worked to improve nursery production of 

longleaf pine seedlings, to evaluate the effects of pruning 

limbs on wood quality, and conducted pioneering research on 

improving the genetics of longleaf pine.

Harold Derr explaining research results to U.S. 

Senator Allen Ellender.
33

Harold was a warm and gracious individual held in high 

respect by his friends and collaborative scientists. His 

leadership in developing tools to hasten the restoration of 

southern pine forests has had a lasting impact. Hundreds of 

thousands of acres of productive pine forests are a living 

legacy of his contributions to southern forestry.

References

Anon. 1956. Faces of forestry: Brooke Meanley. Forests & People. 6(1): 54.

Derr, H.J.; Mann, W.F., Jr. 1971. Direct seeding pines in the South. Agric. 

Handb. 391. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. 

Statistics and Mensurational Techniques

Early foresters assigned to the Southern Station to conduct 

research stressed search, observation, and description 

as an approach to produce sound results. Statistics and 

mensurational techniques had not yet been developed. 

Limitations in the application of replication and controls 

characterized this early research. Phil Wakeley commented 

that the arrival of Roy Chapman on a permanent basis 

in 1929 saved the Station’s statistical reputation. The 

assignment of Lew Grosenbaugh almost two decades later 

continued to make the Southern Station a leader in this field.

Attached to the Southern Station between these two 

outstanding mensurationists was Frank Freese. In a period 

when there were few foresters who had 

statistical training, Freese provided practical 

and simple publications that allowed foresters 

to use statistics in their experimentation.

roy a. CHaPman

Roy Chapman was recruited as a temporary 

field assistant by the Southern Station in 

1926 and given a permanent appointment 

in 1929. Chapman graduated from the 

University of Minnesota in 1927 and worked 

for a while for the Forest Service in the 

Rockies and Minnesota. Always ready with 

a good story or amusing comment, when 

transferred to the Southern Station, it was 

40 °F below zero when he left a cruising 

camp in Minnesota; when he arrived in 

New Orleans, the temperature was 85 °F. 

Chapman was quoted as saying he “nearly 

got up and took off his long underwear right 

in the dining car.”

Chapman was a very independent but a most generously 

helpful man. He was a statistician and an intensely practical 

one. Phil Wakeley describes his first 2 1⁄2 years on the staff 

as a strong and stimulating influence in mensurational 

techniques, experimental design, and analytical procedures. 

In 1931, he was detailed to Washington to train under 

Francis X. Schumacher. The assignment lasted for a full 

3 years. During the period, Chapman met and formed a 

friendship with R.A. (later Sir Ronald) Fisher, the father of 

modern statistics whose published works related to statistics 

and experimental design did much to shape Chapman’s own 

later career.

Chapman returned to the Southern Station when a number 

of new studies and projects were getting underway as a 

result of President Roosevelt’s depression relief financing. 

By enthusiasm, know-how, and personality, he incorporated 

sound statistical procedures in this new research. Wakeley 

states that the Southern Station was one of the foremost 

in incorporating statistics on such a scale. Chapman was 

described as the Southern Station’s real director for scientific 

work during this period.

Chapman’s influence on forestry research was much broader 

than for the Southern Station. Publications such as "Sampling 

Methods in Forestry and Range Management" by F.X. 

Schumacher and himself did much to bring forestry research 

into a new era of competence.

Roy Chapman was an early statistician and did much to improve the Southern Forest 

Experiment Station’s research program.
34

Frank Freese

A graduate of Yale University and survivor of the World 

War II’s Battle of the Bulge, Frank Freese was assigned to 

the Southern Station for several years following the war. He 

is distinguished by the publication of several short books 

that unraveled the complexity of statistics. The first, called 

"A Textbook for Statistical Transients," was meant to teach 

the basics in a readable and simple style. This text was so 

popular with those who had little statistical training that 

he wrote two additional understandable and easy to read 

publications.

These classic publications that made forestry statistics 

understandable are "Elementary Forest Sampling" and 

"Elementary Statistical Methods for Foresters." In an era 

when statistics and experimental design were rarely taught 

in forestry schools, Freese’s books were invaluable to 

foresters involved in any research activity. Not only did they 

convey in simple language the nature and use of statistics, 

they provided examples on how to conduct statistical 

analyses.

In this time of modern unreadable statistical texts, Freese 

is fondly remembered by those who used his books. He 

always had a modesty and genuine respect for people that 

came through in his writing. His books have been reprinted 

numerous times and are still available in many university 

bookstores. 

Freese moved on to the Madison, WI, Forest Products 

Laboratory where he spent the latter part of his career. He 

never married and refused to have a phone in his house. A 

different thinker was Frank Freese.

leWis r. (leW) grosenbaugH

Lewis R. Grosenbaugh earned a degree from Dartmouth 

College in 1934 and received a master of forestry degree 

from Yale University in 1936. He began work with the 

Forest Service’s National Forests in Arkansas. In 1946, he 

was reassigned to the Southern Station in New Orleans, 

LA where he served as a silviculturist, mensurationist, and 

finally from 1951 to 1960 as chief of the Division of Forest 

Management Research. 

While with the Southern Station, Grosenbaugh received 

the Superior Service Award of the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture. The award was given in 1959 in recognition 

of his notable contributions in forest management and 

mensuration, and for excellent leadership in the conduct of 

forest management research.

Three of his major accomplishments were: (1) developing the 

point-sampling technique for measuring timber stands, which 

eliminates the need for laboriously measuring and marking 

plot boundaries; (2) publishing a revolutionary concept 

of determining volumes of standing trees by measuring 

the length of the bole between changes in diameter; and 

(3) devising a system of sample tree measurement, which 

can multiply the efficiency of field foresters on such work 

threefold.

Grosenbaugh was so brilliant that most foresters had 

difficulty in understanding his new technology. A common 

joke at forestry group meetings was “you cannot understand 

his forestry ideas until he has three beers.” 

Frank Freese’s publications did much to improve 

study design and analysis. (Photo from John Bell 

Web site)

Les Grosenbaugh was a very creative scientist 

and did much to simplify stand measurements.
35

At a presentation in Grosenbaugh’s honor in 1954, 

Philip A Briegleb, President of the Society of American 

Foresters, spoke of Grosenbaugh saying that “...his 

creative contributions to forest management are in daily 

use throughout the profession. The prestige of American 

forestry, at home and aboard, has been heightened by his 

accomplishments. In forest mensuration it would be difficult 

to name an individual whose work has had greater impact.”

In 1961, Grosenbaugh was transferred to the Pacific 

Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station in 

Berkeley to head the Forest Service’s first pioneering unit in 

mensuration. The unit was moved to Atlanta, GA in 1968. 

Grosenbaugh retired in 1974 as chief mensurationist. Upon 

his retirement he moved to Gainesville, FL, where he became 

an adjunct professor of the University of Florida’s School of 

Forest Resources and Conservation. 

Grosenbaugh received awards too numerous to mention. 

One of his supervisors, Charles A. Connaughton who was 

regional forester of Pacific Southwest and Southern Regions, 

said of Grosenbaugh: “Along with Lew’s ability to ‘think 

ahead,’ he has almost limitless mental and physical energy. 

I’m concerned at times because Lew is spoken of only as 

a mensurationist. He’s a well-rounded forester in field and 

office skills alike. In addition to the outstanding traits which 

I’ve described without many superlatives which are justified, 

Lew is a ‘regular’ fellow. He’s liked by his associates and his 

company is sought after when the day is done and relaxation 

takes the place of business.”

References

Anon. 1959. Forests and People salutes Lew Grosenbaugh. Forests & People. 

9(3): 21.

Bell, J. 1998. It’s the people...Frank Freese. http://www.proaxis.

com/~johnbell/itp/itpfreese.htm. [Date accessed: August 11, 2008].

Bell, J. 1995. It’s the people...Lewis R. Grosenbaugh. http://www.proaxis.

com/~johnbell/itp/itpgros.htm [Date accessed: August 11, 2008].

Burkhart, H.E. Remembering Walter Bitterlich. Journal of Forestry. 106(2): 61.

Freese, F. 1956. A guidebook for statistical transients. New Orleans: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment 

Station. 77 p.

Freese, F. 1967. Elementary statistical methods for foresters. Agric. Handb. 

317. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Forest Product Laboratory. 87 p.

Freese, F. 1962. Elementary forest sampling. Agric. Handb. 232. Washington, 

DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest 

Experiment Station. 91 p.

Grosenbaugh, L.R. 1952. Plotless timber estimates—new, fast, easy. Journal of 

Forestry. 50: 32-37.

Schumacher, F.X.; Chapman, R.A. 1942. Sampling methods in forestry and 

range management. Bulletin 7. Durham, NC: School of Forestry, Duke 

University. 213 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360.

Control of Upland Hardwoods

Fred a. Peevy

Much of the South’s cutover pine forest land developed 

scrub stands of low-grade hardwoods that impeded pine 

reforestation efforts. It became obvious that this hardwood 

material needed to be removed if productivity of new pine 

forests was to be optimized. 

In 1945, Fred A. Peevy was recruited by the Southern Station 

and assigned the task of conducting research on cutover 

pinelands of the South. His initial assignments were to 

develop better forage for livestock grazing in the cutover 

land and to find methods of killing undesirable trees and 

shrubs. Scrub hardwood growth was the exception to the 

common saying, “One can stand in Central Louisiana and see 

nothing but tree stumps all the way to Texas.”

Peevy graduated from Louisiana State University and when 

hired by the Forest Service he was working for the Louisiana 

Agricultural Experiment Station in Baton Rouge, LA. He 

was transferred to Alexandria, LA in 1946 and became the 

first professional employee assigned to the Southern Station’s 

Alexandria Research Center. 

Although Peevy’s initial assignment involved forage 

research for livestock, he quickly was occupied full time 

with controlling low-quality woody plants. His was the 

pioneering effort to develop methodologies to reduce woody 

plant competition on sites being reforested to pines. His early 

research provided guidelines for the control of this material; 

he installed hundreds of studies to evaluate chemicals and 

application techniques. Early developments included the 

”hack and squirt” approach. This involved using an axe to cut 

Fred Peevy was a pioneer in the development of herbicides and 

application techniques for controlling competing low-quality 

hardwoods.
36

openings in tree stems and squirt a chemical such as Ammate 

into the cuts or hacks. 

These early efforts were hazardous to apply and chemicals 

lacked much effectiveness. Peevy worked with chemical 

companies to evaluate new products. Gradually, his research 

led to effective products and means of application. One 

of the widely accepted methods involved use of the tree 

injector. The tree injector consisted of a steel pipe with a 

cutting blade on one end. The other end had an opening 

to allow filling with a chemical. Within the blade was an 

opening through which the chemical was released when the 

blade was jabbed into a tree. Chemicals such as 2,4-D and 

2,4,5-T were commonly used with the approach. Use of the 

injector was very labor intensive. Injections had to be made 

continuously around the tree stem. Maintaining crews to 

apply this technology was difficult—most workers soon 

realized that there had to be an easier way of making money.

Peevy continued working with new chemicals and found 

that some could be sprayed on small trees and scrub with 

good success. Also, certain chemicals could be applied 

to the soil and would kill hardwood species without 

hurting pines. Others picked up his developments and 

continued to refine them. But, Peevy pioneered control of 

undesirable and cull woody plants. By the end of his career, 

chemical control of undesirable woody plants was highly 

effective and widely applied across the South. His work 

facilitated the reforestation of pine forests across the South.

In recognition of his research, Peevy was part of a 

team that was awarded the Secretary of Agriculture’s 

Award for Superior Service “for developing successful 

techniques to regenerate southern pines and for controlling 

undesirable woody plants.” Fred’s research was critical 

to the reforestation efforts that changed the face of the 

South. He was a kind and gentle individual who will be long 

remembered by those who had the privilege of knowing him.

References

Peevy, F.A.; Campbell, R.S. 1948. Poisoning southern upland weed trees. Journal 

of Forestry. 47(6): 443-447.

Peevy, F.A. 1953. Fertilizing and seeding forage on forest range in Louisiana. 

Agronomy Journal. 45: 164-166.

Peevy, F.A.; Brady, H.A. 1868. Mist blowing versus other methods of foliar 

sprayers for hardwood control. Weed Science. 16(4): 425-428.

Tree injector for injecting herbicides into undesirable woody plants. Commonly used throughout the South for decades.
37

Hardwood Management

JoHn a. (Put) Putnam

John (Put) Putnam was born in Michigan, raised in Iowa, 

and went to school at the University of Michigan. He 

began work with the Southern Station in New Orleans, 

LA in 1928 as a field assistant on a bottomland hardwoods 

reconnaissance. He came with unique and valuable 

experience acquired in logging hardwood tracts owned by 

his family. He received a permanent appointment in 1931. 

Although established in 1921, the Southern Station did not 

allow any funds to be spent on bottomland hardwoods. It 

was not until 1927 that some funds were allocated to survey 

Delta hardwood resources. The Louisiana Department of 

Forestry contributed some $5,000 for a survey of the Delta’s 

hardwood resources, conditions, and utilization in the State. 

G.H. Lentz and John Putnam began the survey in the spring 

of 1928. Lentz, a recent graduate from the New York State 

College of Forestry at Syracuse, was an intensely practical 

man, bursting with energy and self confidence. Putnam was 

a hardwood enthusiast and even in 1928, probably knew the 

bottomland types better than any other professional forester 

in the South. They were an excellent team to undertake this 

survey.

Lentz’s and Putnam’s report on the hardwood survey along 

with some other information was published in 1932 as "The 

trees of the bottomlands of the Mississippi River Delta 

Region." This publication won the admiration of a wide 

and varied audience. Certain master copies were beautifully 

illustrated with photographs. It was republished by the 

Station as Occasional Paper No. 27 and began the noted 

Occasional Paper publication series. Although numbered 

27, it was the first issue of the Occasional Paper series—

even then, the field of public relations was understood. The 

Hardwood Survey of 1928 led to the establishment of the 

Southern Station’s bottomland hardwood research center at 

Stoneville, MS. 

In an effort to relocate some cypress plots that had been 

established in 1914, Lentz and Putman were led by a local 

character named Captain Forgery of the Jeanerette Lumber 

Company into a swamp area in south Louisiana’s St. Martin 

Parish. The water was high in the bottoms; for quite a bit 

of the way, it was waist deep to Lentz, which meant it was 

nearly arm-pit deep on Putman. Forgery who knew the 

ground well and was fairly sure where the plots lay, said, 

“You gennelmen come over thisaway. There’s a high, dry 

ridge that’ll take us right to the place, and it’ll be easier 

going.” They followed and the going was easier, wading up 

to their knees. Putnam finally asked: “Where’s that high, dry 

ridge you were going to take us to?” The answer was: “Why, 

Mister, you’re on it right now!”

Not until the early 1950s did the economic value of 

Putnam’s work begin to be recognized. Putnam and his 

colleagues demonstrated on the Delta Experimental Forest 

at Stoneville, MS that depleted hardwood stands could make 

a quick comeback if they are supplied with fire protection 

and a minimum of management. After 1951, more than 40 

companies added foresters to their staffs to carry out the 

management programs recommended by Putnam and his 

staff.

Near the end of his career, Putnam was awarded for his 

exceptional service. Director Philip Briegleb of the Southern 

Station commended Putnam “for exceptional service in 

determining and demonstrating the opportunities for profit 

in growing hardwoods, thereby stimulating the management 

of hardwood forests on private and public lands throughout 

the South.”

Putnam was continuously associated with hardwood forestry 

for more than 36 years. Millions of acres of public and 

private hardwood land are now managed according to his 

recommendations. It is appropriate that he became known as 

“Mr. Hardwoods.”

References

Kerr, E. 1958. History of forestry in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana 

Forestry Commission. 55 p. 

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360.

John Putnam, expert on southern bottomland hardwoods, became known as 

“Mr. Hardwoods.”
38

Forest Seed Production

HoWell C. Cobb

With the rapidly increasing use of artificial regeneration 

to reforest vast acreages of cutover land in the early 1950s, 

availability of seeds became a limiting factor. Howell Cobb, 

a forester with the Louisiana Forestry Commission, saw 

an opportunity to address this need and organized the 

American Forest Seed Company, Inc. of Alexandria, LA. 

Cobb, a native of Lutcher, LA, obtained a degree in forestry 

from Louisiana State University in 1937. Prior to World 

War II, he worked for short periods on land acquisition 

and appraisals for Masonite Corporation, administering 

farm loans for muskrat trappers for the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, and making forest product surveys for 

American Creosoting Company. 

Cobb entered the U.S. Navy in 1942, was commissioned an 

officer, and served with amphibious forces in the Pacific. He 

was assigned as a training officer afloat in Maryland and 

then returned to the western Pacific before his discharge 

in 1946. He twice won the Silver Star while serving as 

commanding officer of landing craft in combat operations.

Upon his release from the Navy, Cobb became chief and first 

forester for a 500,000-acre tract owned by Southwestern 

Settlement and Development Corporation (later TempleInland Forest Products) of Jasper, TX. In 1950, he returned 

to Louisiana as district forester for Louisiana Forestry 

Commission in Natchitoches.

In 1956, Cobb saw the potential of providing pine seeds 

for the growing planting and direct seeding programs and 

organized the American Forest Seed Company. The primary 

species of interest was longleaf pine; at the time its seeds 

could not be successfully stored from one year to another. 

The traditional means of processing cones and seeds was to 

place the cones on racks in barns or warehouses, turn heaters 

on, and try to circulate hot air through the area. The method 

could take as much as 3 months to open cones.

Cobb’s idea was to provide a quicker and more effective 

method of opening cones and extracting seeds. He decided 

to adapt and modify the process used on hybrid seed corn to 

longleaf pine cones. Basically, the process involved placing 

cones on racks in compartments in a closed building, forcing 

air heated to 105 °F into one end, controlling air movement 

through all racks, and letting the cooled air exit at the other 

end.

This process resulted in seed extracting in about 3 days and 

allowed quantities of cones processed to expand dramatically. 

Once the method was demonstrated to work with longleaf 

pine seeds, other species were quickly adapted to the process 

since they are less difficult to process successfully. This 

process provided the capacity to support developing direct 

seeding technology that speeded reforestation of southern 

pine forests.

As Cobb began his business, he hired L. Derwood Delaney, 

Jr., a recent graduate of Louisiana State University, to 

become his plant manager. Derwood’s father, Luther Delaney, 

was the first State nurseryman in the South, beginning 

Louisiana’s nursery program in 1925. 

Howell Cobb, developer of modern tree seed 

processing technology. (Photo from Derwood 

Delaney)

Derwood Delaney, President of the Louisiana 

Forest Seed Company in Woodworth. (Photo from 

Derwood Delaney)
39

The American Forest Seed Company was a definite success 

and expanded with new plants to meet the needs of 

developing reforestation programs. With Howell Cobb’s 

untimely death in the early 1970s, the company’s ownership 

changed a couple of times. However, Derwood Delaney 

remained as the plant manager throughout this process. In 

1983, Derwood formed the Louisiana Forest Seed Company. 

The Louisiana Forest Seed Company became a Delaney 

family business with two sons involved. This has allowed the 

company to expand its services by collecting, processing, and 

storing over 200 species of tree and shrub seeds in addition 

to the southern pines. The company is now the premier 

provider of forest seeds in the nation and supplies seeds of 

many species to a number of other countries.

Cobb’s idea of improving quality and expanding production 

of southern pine seeds has come a long way with the help of 

his plant manager, Derwood Delaney. Louisiana Forest Seed 

Company now sets the standard for efficiency of production 

and seed quality.

References

Anon. 1958. A new industry is born. Forests & People. 8(3): 32-33.

Anon. 1966. The faces of forestry: Howell C. Cobb. Forests & People. 16(2): 

24-25.

Camp, P. 1972. Cobb’s cone kiln—an international business. Forests & People. 

22(1): 14-16, 36.

Consulting Forestry

The use of consultants in forestry is nearly as historic as the 

practice of forestry itself—certainly this is the case in the 

South. Once early foresters convinced landowners that there 

was an economic future in practicing forestry, many needed 

to hire professional expertise. Two of the individuals who 

worked across the South were Austin Cary and I.F. (Cap) 

Eldredge (see earlier profiles). Both had gained recognition 

in their positions, and when they retired they were asked to 

assist landowners in developing forest management plans.

They became recognized for their expertise in different areas 

of forestry. Cary was a promoter of the practice of forest 

management and the economic potential of cutover forest 

lands. On the other hand, Eldredge, through his leadership 

of the first forest survey, understood where sufficient forest 

resources were present to establish successful processing 

facilities. This dichotomy in landowner needs continues 

today. 

The following two individuals contributed significantly 

in developing programs of consulting forestry that are 

particularly noteworthy.

leslie k. (les) Pomeroy

Leslie Pomeroy was born in Hub City, WI, in 1896. 

He entered the University of Wisconsin to study civil 

engineering and worked part time in timber testing at the 

U.S. Forest Products Laboratory with a fellow student, 

Eugene P. Conner. Pomeroy and his friend Conner dropped 

out of school to enlist in the armed services during the 

onset of World War I. Neither was accepted due to physical 

problems. They returned to the Forest Products Laboratory 

and engaged in research devoted to kiln drying of timber 

products. Conner finished his engineering degree, but 

Pomeroy did not.

After the war ended in 1918, Pomeroy conceived the idea 

of making a trip around the world to study forestry and 

related matters in foreign lands. With letters of introduction, 

Pomeroy and Conner departed in 1919, bound for Japan. 

They managed to find work doing dry kiln consulting and 

worked as seamen on an adventure that took them to Japan, 

Philippines, China, Egypt, India, Siberia, and Italy. They then 

went across Europe to do forestry research in France and 

England. 

Pomeroy and Conner returned to the United States and were 

offered jobs by Edward J. Young, president of three southern 

lumber companies. They were sent to learn to cruise timber 

and other tasks related to the manufacture of lumber. After 

2 years of training, they were given administrative jobs. 

During a sales trip, Pomeroy called on Herman Kessler, 

the owner of the Stoughton Wagon Company, maker of 

wagon wheels. He wanted to sell a small Arkansas sawmill in 

Wilmar, AR.

In 1925, Pomeroy and Conner moved to Arkansas to 

become owners of the abandoned sawmill in the ghost 

town of Wilmar that had neither electricity nor running 

water. They started Ozark Badger Lumber Company which 

Early photo of Les Pomeroy, a premier forestry 

consultant. (Photo from Mike Pomeroy)
40

included 160 acres of cutover timberland. At the time, 

lumber companies had clearcut and hauled timber out by 

railroad and moved away. These cutover tracts had scant 

timber left to cut. By selectively marking a few trees per 

acre to cut, the land became productive enough for Pomeroy 

and Conner to allow periodic timber cutting while the forest 

regenerated. 

Pomeroy began timber management by surveying the 

land into 40-acre parcels, cruising the standing timber, 

establishing the number of board feet per acre, and 

formulating a cutting plan to be carried out on 5-year 

rotations. Thus, he became the ”father of sustained 

yield.” His management plan was so impressive that H.H. 

Chapman and Yale University forestry students who came 

to Hardtner’s nearby Urania Lumber Company each year 

studied his methods. The Ozark Badger Lumber Company 

now owned a number of small tracts of timber. They 

became the first to use trucks rather than trains to move 

timber to the mill.

In the late 1930s, Pomeroy was asked to evaluate the W.T. 

Smith Lumber Company of Chapman, AL, to survey their 

situation. The owner, J. Greeley McGowin, a successful 

lumberman and owner of 190,000 acres of timberland 

recognized that they were approaching the end of their 

timber supply. Shortly before his death, he told his sons to 

give up the mill and organize a wholesale lumber business. 

However, after his death his sons called upon Pomeroy for his 

recommendations. 

Pomeroy recommended: “If you will acquire 10,000 acres 

of adjoining timberland, let me divide it into ten operating 

units, and buy some logs for the next 3 years, you can soon 

be on a permanent 10-year operating cycle, dividing this 

200,000 acres of land into 10 cutting units each of which 

you will log every 10 years. After you get through, you start 

around again. You’ll have timber forever.” This was contrary 

to prevailing thought, but with open minds they followed 

his recommendations. The McGowins became the first 

large-scale operators in the South to put that sustained-yield 

principle into effect.

So successful was this collaboration that in 1938, Pomeroy 

joined forces with Julian F. McGowin to form Pomeroy 

and McGowin Consulting Foresters based in Monticello, 

AR. During the next 50 years, the company served as 

consultants to owners of more than 50 million timbered 

acres in all Southern States and several foreign countries. 

One of Pomeroy’s significant achievements, with the aid 

of McGowin and Jim Girard of the Forest Service, was 

the development of volume tables for measuring standing 

timber.

Pomeroy died in 1976, but the company continues as Larson 

and McGowin, Inc. headed by L. Keville Larson. Larson 

comes from the same tradition of talented lumbermen and 

professional foresters. His mother was Estelle, from the 

McGowin family, and sister of Julian, Earl, Floyd, and Nick 

McGowin. The continued success of this consulting group 

is influenced by the quality of early employees such as: Don 

Harper, Zeb White, Bill and Ed Gandy, Roy Morgan, Robie 

Scott, John Wood, Don Sampson, and of course, Julian 

McGowin.

Zebulon W. (Zeb) WHite

Zebulon (Zeb) White was born in Baltimore, MD, in 1915, 

but grew up in New London, CT where he attended the 

Buckley School. He graduated from Dartmouth College 

and later served on the Dartmouth Alumni Council. 

White then attended Yale University School of Forestry. 

Graduating in 1938, he got his first job with the Works 

Project Administration’s forest survey in Ohio. What he 

described as his first “real job” was working as a compass 

man with Pomeroy and McGowin Consulting Foresters firm 

in Monticello, AR. 

His career in 1940 began with a salary of $3.50 a day 

plus expenses, which he was very glad to get. During 

the following 18 years with Pomeroy and McGowin, he 

was involved in every phase of the operation, including 

partnership in the firm. “I’ve cruised every pine county west 

of the Georgia line,” he boasted.

In 1958, he was invited to be Professor of Industrial 

Forestry at Yale University School of Forestry. He was 

named Clifton R. Musser Professor in 1961 and became 

associate dean and director of profession studies in 1965. 

One responsibility was to organize seminars for middle 

management workers in forest products industries and 

southern forest management fieldwork for students each 

spring. 

Zeb White, an outstanding educator and consulting 

forester.
41

White took up consulting again in the South again in 1972 

when he established his own firm in Hammond, LA. In this 

position, he worked for every pulp and paper company in this 

region, as well as most lumber companies. His professional 

expertise included designing inventory studies, conducting 

resource studies for new plants, and even serving as an 

executive head hunter. He retired from his consulting firm 

in 1990, but continued both professional and community 

involvement.

In what he called his fourth career, White became vicepresident of EAI Resource Investments, Inc. which served 

as a consulting firm that invested pension funds for the 

Equitable Life Insurance Society Timberfund. In this 

position, White said, “I’m using my experience to good 

advantage. I most like going to large tracts and evaluating 

the timber and investment opportunities for non-forestry 

people and knowing I’m judging correctly.”

Throughout his career, White maintained many professional, 

civic, and community affiliations and directorships. An 

Eagle Scout as a youth, he served as scoutmaster both in 

Monticello, AR, and Woodbridge, CT. A member of Rotary 

International for most of his career, he was also a literacy 

volunteer, management consultant, and tutor in southeastern 

Louisiana. He was elected Fellow of the Society of American 

Foresters. White felt a commitment to his community 

regardless of where he lived.

White died in 2001. According to him, he had an ordered 

life, one full of “White luck” that brought him to his position 

in life. He made significant contributions to the forestry 

profession, particularly in the South where he spent much of 

his career. Always a fun-loving person, he influenced many 

both within and outside his profession.

References

Anon. 1986. Faces of forestry: a good case of White luck. Forests & People. 

36(1): 26-27.

Camp, M. 2008. Leslie Klett (Les) Pomeroy (1896-1976). The encyclopedia 

of Arkansas history and culture. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/

encyclopedia. Date accessed: December 8, 2008].

Lubell, S.; Pollard, A. 1939. Pine tree bankers. American Forests. 44: 594-596.

McGowin, J.F. 1938. The lumberman’s viewpoint on the forestry program for 

the South. Journal of Forestry. 36(6): 572-575.

Walsh, C.S. 1994. Member profile: L. Keville Larson, first among his peers. The 

Consultant. 39(4): 33-35.

EDUCATION

Although the Nation’s first forestry school was established 

in North Carolina at the Vanderbilt Estate, it lasted only 

15 years, and it provided practical training in forestry. 

Foresters who were needed to develop forestry in the South 

came largely from northern universities. In the early 1900s, 

forestry schools were established at Yale, Cornell, Michigan, 

and Minnesota Universities. The earliest forestry school 

in the South was established at the University of Georgia 

in 1906. Graduates from all these universities provided 

leadership and expertise in developing forestry practices 

throughout the South. Other forestry programs followed 

quickly. However, graduates from the University of Michigan 

were frequently heard to tout their number and prominence 

in southern forestry.

Some of the individuals who were important in bringing 

forest education to the South are discussed in the following 

profiles.

Biltmore Forest School

Carl a. sCHenCk

Carl A. Schenck was hired by George Vanderbilt to restore 

and manage the degraded forests and soils on his large 

Biltmore Estate near Asheville, NC. Schenck was born in 

Germany and graduated in 1894 with a Ph.D. degree in 

forestry. In addition to managing the estate’s forest lands, 

Schenck established the Biltmore Forest School in 1898. He 

served as the school’s director and teacher until the school 

closed in 1913. Schenck was the first scientifically trained 

forester employed in the United States, and the Biltmore 

Forest School is considered the Nation’s first forestry school. 

Cornell University’s 4-year forestry program was established 

a short time later.

Dr. Carl A. Schenck (left) with Henry Hardtner 

during Schenck’s visit to the Urania Lumber 

Company.
42

The Biltmore Forest School exposed its students to not only 

classroom lectures but also practical work experience in 

the outdoor laboratory of the 120,000 acre Pisgah Forest. 

Students were instructed in a field-based course of study 

that included “hands-on” learning. Students devoted an 

intensive 12 months to forestry in the field, first on a site 

at the Biltmore Estate, later in active logging areas across 

the United States and Europe. Following course work, 

Schenck’s “Biltmore boys” were allowed to graduate only 

after completing an internship on the Biltmore Estate or 

elsewhere in the timber industry. One of the school’s alumni 

was V.L. Sonderegger who served as Louisiana’s State 

forester in two different administrations.

The school’s students initially were sons of wealthy lumber 

and timber barons, but over the 15 years of the school’s 

existence nearly 400 forestry students were introduced to 

scientific forestry methods throughout North America. By 

the time the school closed in 1913, it had produced more 

than 70 percent of all forestry graduates in the Nation. 

Schenck’s school provided momentum for established 

universities such as Cornell, Minnesota, and Yale to develop 

forestry schools of their own.

Graduates of the school described Dr. Schenck as autocratic. 

He had been raised in a military atmosphere in Germany 

and did not get along well with the independent mountain 

folks on the estate. His discipline was pretty harsh, but the 

students liked him because he was fair. Schenck was tall, 

slender, and with a large mustache and wore a uniform from 

one of the German forest services he had been in before 

coming to the United States. He owned two horses and 

always rode at full gallop. In fact, students were required to 

have a horse to ride for their practical training.

Schenck was held in high esteem by his students. He was an 

excellent teacher and developed a close relationship with the 

students—they worked together 6 days a week. The students 

were considered a lusty group, and their exploits in the 

local bars were loud and long. After repeatedly bailing out 

students who were thrown in jail, Schenck started Sanger 

fests—singing and drinking sessions. His thought was “if 

you’re going to do your drinking, let’s all do it together.” 

Schenck would provide two kegs of beer and they would 

sing the school’s alma mater, “Down under the Hill,” and 

other drinking songs in school spaces. The words to “Down 

under the Hill” were written by Douglas S. Rodman, a 

student in 1902:

Down under the hill there is a little still, 

And the smoke goes curling to the sky, 

You can easily tell by the sniffle and smell, 

There’s good liquor in the air close by, 

For it fills the air with a perfume so rare; 

That’s only known to a few, 

So wrinkle up your lip and take a little sip, 

Of good old mountain dew. 

The Biltmore Forest School closed in 1913 due to declining 

interest in the program and to Schenck’s quick temper 

that resulted in conflict with George Vanderbilt. However, 

Schenck’s influence continued to shape forestry in America.

Schenck retained his German citizenship and was recalled 

in 1914 to serve as an officer in the German army on the 

Russian front during WWI. He returned to forestry after the 

war and traveled in the United States and Europe promoting 

forest management. He was forced to return to his home 

again in 1939 with the onslaught of WWII. He resumed his 

work in the 1940s and was appointed by the U.S. military 

government as chief forester of the German State of Hesse.

In 1968, the U.S. Congress established the Cradle of 

Forestry in America National Historic Site to commemorate 

the Biltmore Forest School. At the site, rehabilitated and 

reconstructed buildings form part of a living history exhibit 

dedicated to the school and its programs.

Schenck was one for the foremost pioneers of forestry in the 

United States and Europe. At the end of his farewell message 

to the graduates of the Biltmore Forest School, he would 

always conclude with “Good bye! God bless you, and the 

United States, and all the workers in her forests.” 

References

Maunder, E.R. 1977. Voices from the South: recollections of four foresters; 

Inman F. Eldredge, Elwood L. Demmon, Walter H. Damtoft, Clinton H. 

Coulter. Santa Cruz, CA: Forest History Society, Inc. 252 p. 

Teacher, Artist, Conservationist, 

and “Mother of the Kisatchie 

National Forest”

Caroline C. dormon

In the 1910s, Caroline Dormon experienced the joy of 

walking though the magnificent old-growth pine forests 

in the rolling Kisatchie Hills of northern Louisiana. Her 

father, a small-town lawyer in Arcadia, LA owned a tract 

of old-growth longleaf pine timber which the family called 

Briarwood. This timber and the surrounding forests were 

the inspiration for the love of mature trees and native flora 

that shaped her life. Saving and preserving them became her 

obsession. 

Seeing the rapid harvest of the old-growth pine forests, 

Dormon became determined to save some of these forests. 

She had graduated from Judson College, in Alabama, 

returned to Louisiana to teach school, and then returned 

to her Briarwood home near Saline, LA. Her dream was to 

preserve an area of virgin pine and establish a national forest 

in the Kisatchie Hills. She and her sister traveled throughout 

central Louisiana in a Model T Ford identifying areas to 

suggest as a future national forest. 
43

When Dormon read there was to be a Southern Forestry 

Congress held in New Orleans in 1918, she attended and 

proposed preservation of some of the virgin forests. Soon 

afterward, Dormon attended a forestry meeting in Jackson, 

MS, where she met and discussed her concerns with Col. 

William B. Greeley, Chief of the Forest Service. Greeley 

sent W.W. Ashe to meet Dormon in Natchitoches. 

Ashe and other Forest Service foresters met with Dormon 

and traveled on several occasions through the vast area 

included in the Kisatchie Hills, but Louisiana did not have an 

Enabling Act that would allow the government to purchase 

land in the State. Dormon became frustrated with the lack of 

progress because more and more of the old-growth timber 

was being harvested. 

With the help of her lawyer brother, she wrote an Enabling 

Act. This she sent to Henry Hardtner, then State Senator, 

who included it in a forestry bill he was presenting. It passed 

and become law. In 1928, the first unit of the Kisatchie 

National Forest was purchased. One of her great regrets 

was that most of the virgin timber was harvested before the 

Kisatchie National Forest could be created.

Meanwhile, Dormon became acquainted with Mrs. A.F. 

Storm, President of the Louisiana Federation of Women’s 

Clubs, and served as her State chair of conservation. 

Dormon gave countless lectures to clubs, schools, churches, 

Scouts, and other youth and adult groups. In 1921, she 

was appointed by M.L. Alexander, Commissioner of 

Conservation, to handle publicity of that department.

Dormon then accepted a position as chair of publicity and 

education with the Forestry Division in 1927. In this role she 

prepared Arbor Day programs, wrote tree books, conducted 

teacher workshops, prepared bulletins and art work, and 

established long-lasting programs in conservation across the 

State.

Because of her significant contribution to forestry, Dormon 

was the first woman to be elected associate member of 

the Society of American Foresters. In a letter urging her 

acceptance by this organization, W.W. Ashe stated: “Miss 

Dormon was the first and most persistent worker for 

National Forests in Louisiana...Without question, her efforts 

have helped shape Louisiana opinion on this policy.” She has 

been called the “Mother of the Kisatchie National Forest” 

because of these unique contributions.

Although her efforts in the forestry area were notable, 

Dormon distinguished herself in many other areas. A 

favorite activity was testing, propagating, and hybridizing 

plants, particularly the native Louisiana iris. Her plant 

paintings have been described as “scientifically accurate and 

incredible in detail.” These have been exhibited in numerous 

art galleries and museums.

She is the author of several books; the most notable is "Wild 

Flowers of Louisiana," now a collector’s item. Six other 

major publications deal mostly with native iris species. She 

received four medals from the American Iris Society for 

developing outstanding hybrids of Louisiana irises. In 1965, 

in recognition of her lifetime achievements, Louisiana State 

University conferred on her an honorary doctor of science 

degree.

Shortly before her death, friends suggested that she will her 

Briarwood estate to a foundation that would become a center 

for educational purposes in conservation. Today Briarwood, 

near Saline, is a nature preserve honoring Dormon’s 

remarkable contributions to conservation. Now, it is open to 

visitors on weekends in the summertime.

References

Anon. 1963. Caroline Dormon, queen of a forest kingdom. Forests & People. 

13(1): 36.

Crittenden, B. 1980. Miss Caroline’s dream became Louisiana’s national forest. 

Forests & People. 30(3): 25-26, 28-29.

Johnson, F.H. 1990. The gift of the wild things: the life of Caroline Dormon. 

Lafayette, LA: University of Southwestern Louisiana Press. 166 p.

Robinson, V.E. 1966. Miss Caroline, Prima Donna of the plant world. Forests & 

People. 16(3): 30-31.

Yale University Forestry Training 

at Urania

H.H. (CHaPPy) CHaPman

H.H. (Herman Haupt) (Chappy) Chapman was a long-time 

faculty member of Yale University’s School of Forestry who 

made significant contributions to understanding the practices 

needed to restore the South’s longleaf pine ecosystem. 

Chapman graduated from the University of Minnesota in the 

early 1900s. He established a research plantation with red, 

white, jack, and Scotch pines at the University’s experimental 

Caroline Dormon was noted for her expertise 

with a wide group of native plants as well as her 

forestry education efforts.
44

farm in 1900—probably the oldest 

in the Nation. According to his 

colleagues at Yale, Chapman originally 

trained as a poultry scientist and 

was so boisterous about it that he 

became known as “Chicken Chapman.” 

Described variously as dynamic, 

dogmatic, charismatic, and impressive 

and intimidating by students and 

colleagues, he was known as “Chappy” 

to his friends. His strong personality 

had a lasting impact on his students. 

Chapman began leading Yale’s 

summer forestry students into the 

South early in the 1900s. He and 

students would spend 3 or 4 months 

annually studying southern forestry 

conditions. An early host was the 

Thompson Lumber Company near 

Trinity, TX. Henry Hardtner of 

Urania Lumber Company invited 

Chapman and the Yale program to 

work at Urania and developed a camp 

that facilitated a long-term connection 

between Urania and Yale. Beginning 

in 1917 and continuing for several 

decades, Chapman led students to 

install studies in northern Louisiana 

and southern Arkansas that evaluated 

reforestation, thinning, effects of fire, 

and ecology of southern pines.

He pioneered such novel concepts 

as determining growth possibilities, 

evaluating the relation of fire to 

establishment of longleaf pine, and 

recommending periodic controlled 

burns as a means of suppressing 

hardwood competition. Chapman 

published more than 20 papers 

between 1909 and the early 1940s 

dealing with southern pines and their 

relationship to fire. His work showed 

that most winter fires do not kill all 

longleaf pine seedlings; rather, they 

helped establish stands, suppress pine 

and hardwood competitors, reduce 

hazardous fuel accumulation, and 

control brown-spot disease. Chapman 

recommended use of fire in longleaf 

pine stands every 3 years. He has 

been termed the “father of controlled 

burning for silvicultural purposes.”

Professor H.H. Chapman of Yale University led 

forestry students to Urania for student training for 

many years.

The 1917 class of Yale University’s School of Forestry at Urania Lumber Company’s summer camp site. H.H. Chapman 

and Henry Hardtner (from left) are seated in the second row.
45

Chapman’s recommendation of the use of controlled 

burning in longleaf pine reforestation ran counter to the 

prevailing understanding at the time. This led to a lengthy 

conflict between Chapman and Forest Service specialists. 

In the1920s, the Forest Service published a technical 

bulletin that stressed the evils of fire in any form or for any 

purpose. Chapman responded with articles that described 

the importance of burning in the management of longleaf 

pine. Eventually, the Forest Service agreed that Chapman’s 

recommendations for longleaf pine management were 

appropriate.

Although his work with controlled fire was particularly 

noteworthy, other studies were also very good. One was 

the description of a natural hybrid of longleaf and loblolly 

pine. Locals had long recognized this distinctive tree that 

assumed the worst characteristics of each parent and called 

it “bastard” pine. Chappy did critical evaluation of the nature 

of this cross and in 1922 published a careful botanical 

description. Since he described the hybrid, he was allowed to 

name the species. He named the hybrid Sonderegger pine (X 

Pinus sondereggerii Chapm.) after the Louisiana State forester 

at the time. V.L. Sonderegger was a graduate of the Biltmore 

Forestry School and served as State forester on two separate 

appointments. He and Chapman disagreed on a number of 

issues and folklore has it that the naming was not one of 

honor, but recognition of the local descriptive name of the 

cross.

In the 1930s, Chapman initiated studies on the effects of 

thinning on loblolly pine stand development. His studies 

showed that yield for normal thinning increased stand yields 

by about 20 percent due to faster rates of diameter growth. 

These studies emphasized the advantages of applying 

thinning techniques to stands of timber. His work also led 

to numerous studies that refined thinning guidelines and 

improved yields from plantation establishment. 

Chapman’s leadership in studying southern pine forestry 

not only contributed greatly to the development of modern 

forestry practices, but also resulted in training of numerous 

foresters, many of whom returned to the South in leadership 

positions. His efforts made a significant impact on the 

restoration of forests across the South.

References

Chapman, H.H. 1922. A new hybrid pine (Pinus palustris x Pinus taeda). Journal 

of Forestry. 20: 22-24.

Chapman, H.H. 1926. Factors determining natural reproduction of longleaf 

pine on cutover lands in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. Bull. 16. New Haven, CT: 

Yale University School of Forestry. 44 p.

Louisiana State University 

School of Forestry

Henry Hardtner of Urania Lumber Company and William 

Sullivan of Great Southern led the development of forestry 

in Louisiana and the South in the early 1900s. However, 

there were only a few foresters in the South in the 1920s and 

1930s to expand and apply this developing technology. With 

exception of the Biltmore Forest School in North Carolina, 

which functioned as a private academy to provide training 

in practical forestry, collegiate forestry programs were 

established in only a few northern universities and in the 

South at the University of Georgia.

The need for forestry training in Louisiana was recognized 

as early as 1911 when the first forestry course was taught at 

Louisiana State University in cooperation with the Louisiana 

Conservation Commission, Division of Forestry. In 1923, a 

2-year forestry curriculum was offered, but it was not until 

1925 that a 4-year program was established. Major J.G. Lee, 

Sr. headed the program and Ralph W. Hayes was one of those 

added to the faculty in 1926. The Louisiana State University 

program was the second forestry school in the South—the 

first was a program at the University of Georgia in 1906.

In 1946, a second school of forestry was established at what 

is now Louisiana Tech University. It was designed to provide 

students well suited for employment in forest industry.

maJor J.g. lee, sr.

Major J.G. Lee, Sr., was born in Farmerville, LA, on 

December 17, 1863. He received a B.S. degree from Louisiana 

State University (LSU) in 1988, and served as assistant 

director of the North Louisiana Agricultural Experiment 

Station during the next 8 years. 

Lee, whose nephew was the late Dean Lee of the LSU 

College of Agriculture, next served as state commissioner of 

Agriculture and Immigration from 1898 to 1906. 

Lee was the first professor of forestry at LSU, appointed in 

1910. As early as 1921, he began taking his students into 

Louisiana forests for first-hand study of forestry in the 

summer months. The first summer camp was held in 1925 on 

lands of Great Southern near Bogalusa, LA. In 1927, Great 

Southern donated 1,012 acres to Louisiana State University 

for use in connection with the School of Forestry. This area 

is now known as the Lee Memorial Forest and is the School 

of Renewable Natural Resources’ research forest. 

Lee was a major on the staffs of two governors, Samuel 

D. McEnery and Francis T. Nicholls. He served twice as 
46

Louisiana Commissioner in charge of State exhibits at the 

Buffalo Exposition and for the West Indies Exposition at 

Charleston, SC, from 1891 to 1892.

He was a trustee of Southwestern Louisiana Institute 

from 1899 to 1904, and was secretary of the Louisiana 

Commission for the St. Louis World Exposition in 1903-04. 

For many years, he served on the forestry advisory boards 

for a number of State organizations, and was a member of 

the Southern Forestry Congress.

Because Lee taught the vision of reforestation and its 

importance to future generations, he was termed a pioneer 

in reforestation and in advanced methods of horticulture. 

Under his leadership the LSU forestry curriculum was 

extended to include a fourth year of study in 1925.

ralPH W. Hayes

Ralph Wesley Hayes completed his forestry training at Iowa 

State University in 1914. He spent the next 10 years in 

private forestry and the Indian Service as supervisor of the 

Chippewa Reservation in Wisconsin and the warm Springs 

Reservation in Oregon. He also opened the first timber sale 

for the Apache Indians in McNary, AZ. In 1924, he returned 

to Iowa State to obtain a master’s degree in forestry. He 

worked for the Forest Service before accepting a position at 

LSU in 1926. In 1929, Hayes moved to North Carolina State 

University to teach in their forestry program. He returned 

to LSU in 1934 to become director of the Forestry School in 

1935. 

Hayes recruited staff members, expanded the curriculum, 

and convinced LSU authorities of a need for better facilities. 

His program measured up to the standards set by the Society 

of American Foresters, and in 1937 LSU became the first 

accredited forestry school in the South.

Hayes was known by his students as “Prof ” Hayes. During 

his 32 years at LSU a total of 678 foresters went forth with 

bachelor’s and master’s degrees. They were well grounded 

in the fundamentals of scientific forestry. Oriented in the 

practical aspects of land management, they were ready 

to undertake their responsibilities of forestry and land 

managers in the southern region.

Hayes was a quiet, sincere person who was not easily 

perturbed. One day one of his forest economics students 

from 20 years earlier visited the school. He complained to 

Hayes that he had received a D grade in the course and felt 

that he should have received a C. Hayes calmly sat down 

beside him, found his old grade book which showed each of 

this student’s grades. Hayes calculated the grade again and 

quietly told the fellow, “Yes, I calculated your grade correctly. 

Your grade still computes to be a D.”

The LSU program trained foresters who served in most 

of the major forestry organizations in Louisiana, and they 

spread across the South and Nation. The training provided 

by Hayes and his faculty was highly respected across the 

country.

As “dean of forestry in Louisiana,” Hayes presented a gruff 

exterior, but was a devout Christian and deeply sincere man. 

His interests and abilities were engrossed in the training and 

success of his students—all else was secondary. When Ralph 

Hayes died at the age of 75, he had built a monument—a 

monument of men. He did not leave a large financial estate, 

but left a monument in the lives of 678 former students.

Major J.G. Lee was the leader who established a 

forestry education program in Louisiana. (Photo 

from LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources)

Ralph Hayes led the development of the LSU 

forestry program for an extended time. (Photo from 

LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources)
47

a. bigler CroW

A. Bigler Crow was born in Warren, PA, in 1910, but 

grew up in Pittsburgh, PA where he developed his love for 

baseball. He often saw major league baseball games and 

became a life-long fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Crow began his forestry education at the former 

Pennsylvania State School at Mont Alto. He attended the 

University of Montana for a year and then transferred to 

North Carolina State University, where he received the B.S.F. 

degree with high honors in 1934. He worked for the Forest 

Service in Missouri and Pennsylvania before entering Yale 

University in 1940, where he received a master’s degree in 

forestry. 

After working for the Soil Conservation Service and the 

American Forestry Association’s Forest Resource Appraisal 

Team, Crow was recruited in 1946 by Ralph Hayes, of 

Louisiana State University, to teach silviculture and forest 

fire protection. He taught these courses for the next 30 

years—until he retired. He also taught two graduate-level 

courses, Advanced Silviculture of the Southern Pines and 

Research Methods in Forestry. Crow’s excellence in teaching 

was appreciated by his students and he was awarded one of 

the first outstanding teacher awards of the LSU College of 

Agriculture.

During sabbatical leaves or summer breaks, Crow frequently 

visited forestry organizations throughout the region to stay 

up-to-date on silvicultural practices in the Southern States. 

Professor Crow was known for his scholarship, his writing 

ability, his careful research data collection, his contagious, 

enthusiastic lectures, and his ability to communicate clearly 

with students.

His students long remember his “cut-and-leave” tests, which 

he gave students in the field. These were used to teach the 

correct method of thinning southern pine stands. His former 

students remember him fondly and with gratitude.

Crow was honored by his peers in the forestry profession 

when in 1975 he was presented the Distinguished Service 

Award by the Gulf States Section, Society of American 

Foresters. He was also elected Fellow in the Society 

of American Foresters and recognized by numerous 

professional and educational organizations. He retired 

from LSU in 1976 having taught 744 young men who were 

graduated as professional foresters.

He addressed the LSU Xi Sigma Pi honorary forestry society 

and gave these thoughtful comments: “We foresters are 

deeply committed to the principle of stewardship, which 

simply means to treat the land, including its soil, water, air, 

plants and animals, in such a fashion as to leave things as 

good or better than we found them.”

Crow died in 1987 in Baton Rouge, LA and a forestry 

scholarship was established in his name to support incoming 

LSU students.

References

Anon. 1966. In memoriam. Forests & People. 16(4): 20.

Blackwell, L.P.; Burns, P.Y. 1963. The beginning of forestry education in 

Louisiana. Forests & People. 13(1): 70-71, 106-107, 114. 

Burns, P.Y. 2003. Brief history of education in the LSU School of Renewable 

Natural Resources 1911-2003. http://rnr.lsu.edu/alumni/brief. [Date 

accessed: November 28, 2008].

Dixon, M. 1953. Pioneer forest school serves the South. Forests & People. 3(1): 

32-36.

Shuman, E. 1963. Major J.G. Lee—the educator. Forests & People. 13(1): 22.

Louisiana Tech University

lloyd P. (blaCk) blaCkWell

Lloyd P. (Black) Blackwell, a Virginia native, graduated 

from Lynchburg College in 1931 with a degree in history. 

After working with the Forest Service in several eastern 

States, he entered Yale University to obtain a master’s 

degree in forestry. While at Yale he was greatly influenced 

by Professor H.H. Chapman who pioneered research with 

southern pines at Urania, LA. After his graduation in 1937, 

Blackwell moved to Urania to become chief forester for 

Urania Lumber Company. He remained in this position until 

he entered in the Navy and served during World War II.

Blackwell soon made an impact on forestry in the State. A 

significant first was his organization in 1941 of the North 

Professor A.B. Crow was highly respected by LSU 

forestry students. (Photo from LSU School of 

Renewable Natural Resources)
48

Louisiana Group, Society of American Foresters. This 

was the first organized group below the regional sections 

of the organization. He served as its chair during most of 

his career. In addition to leading this proactive group to 

deal with issues of interest and importance to foresters, 

Blackwell guided it to initiate a study on Louisiana Forest 

Taxation. This effort led directly to the formation of the 

Louisiana Forestry Association in 1946. It was no surprise 

that Blackwell served as the first executive director until a 

permanent office could be established. Also, he helped write 

the bylaws and organize the association.

Another first for Blackwell was serving as chair of the 

Louisiana Tree Farm Committee, and in that capacity he 

helped formulate a program that has been cited as a model 

throughout the Nation.

It was in 1946 that Blackwell went to Louisiana Polytechnic 

Institute (now Louisiana Tech University) at Ruston to 

organize and head a department of forestry, the position 

he held for 30 years. Under Blackwell’s direction, in 1955 

LA Tech became the second accredited forestry school in 

the Nation offering only undergraduate work, and the first 

program of its kind in the South. 

Endearingly called “Black” by his friends, he shaped and 

inspired many. He took a genuine interest in his students, 

and the LA Tech forestry program was noted for developing 

and producing students ideally suited for working in forest 

industry. Blackwell’s successful formula included three 

simple points: teach them to live with people, make good 

citizens, and make foresters of them.

As an instructor and speaker Blackwell never tried to soften 

his delivery. Those who knew him acknowledged that he 

was opinionated and spoke frankly. He was “a fiery soul and 

a champion for things that he believed in.” His flair for the 

dramatic came from 8 years of speech and drama training in 

high school and college. Aiding him in his speech were his 

arms which he used to gesture avidly. Most grew accustomed 

to his preaching issues he believed in like an old-time circuit 

rider. 

Blackwell’s contributions to the development of forestry and 

the people practicing forestry are innumerable. Edward Kerr, 

speaking about Blackwell, concluded, “Some people dislike 

him, some don’t know whether they do nor not. One thing 

is sure though: Everyone knows him!” None would disagree 

that forestry is a better profession because of the good this 

man has accomplished.

References

Anon. 1968. The faces of forestry: Lloyd Blackwell. Forests & People. 18(2): 24.

Anon. 1987. A tribute to Black. Forests & People. 37(3): 10-11.

Kerr, E.; Morgan, E. 1955. Prince of Yale’s. Forests & People. 5(2): 22-26, 54-55.

University of Arkansas at Monticello

Henry H. (Hank) CHamberlin

Henry (Hank) Chamberlin was born in 1913 and received 

a degree in forestry from Pennsylvania State University. 

He was granted a master’s degree in forestry from 

Yale University in 1940 and became a faculty member 

at Louisiana State University’s School of Forestry in 

1941. In the 1943 issue of the School’s Annual Ring, he is 

mentioned in the report of the 1942 Summer Camp: “Then 

came Dendrology with Prof. Chamberlin. He really put us 

Lloyd (Black) Blackwell, head of Louisiana Tech 

forestry.

Hank Chamberlin at his retirement ceremony. 

(Photo from University of Arkansas, Monticello, 

School of Forestry Web site)
49

through the mill in this course, with some 80 different 

species, leaf mounts and scientific names...The arguments 

of Prof. Chamberlin versus the class on species of oak was 

also very much a part of the course.”

In 1944, Chamberlin was approached about starting a 

forestry program in Arkansas. In 1945, Chamberlin decided 

to leave his position at Louisiana State University to start 

a 2-year forestry program at Arkansas A&M University in 

Monticello, AR but he said that he would stay only one year. 

When he arrived eager to build a 2-year forestry program, 

he found virtually no resources for supporting the program. 

So, he worked with what he had. This meant drawing upon 

his personal qualities to make the unlikely happen.

During his first year, Chamberlin recruited two faculty 

members. He spent long hours in the classroom, ran 

the 10-week summer camp, and served as a combination 

administrator, instructor, fund raiser, and transportation 

director, shuttling students to and from the field in an old 

truck. His students remember the truck, which had a stakesided bed with benches on both sides. Chamberlin maintained 

he had an excellent record as a truck driver, no accidents, but 

tires blew out and a wheel fell off.

Chamberlin was a hard worker, pursued excellence, had a 

sense of urgency, was tenacious, and blended these qualities 

with a sense of humor. Perhaps most of all, he liked his 

students, wanted to teach students, and wanted his students 

to succeed.

With encouragement of students and support of industry, 

the program expanded from the 2-year curriculum to a 

4-year program in 1950. The program continued to grow 

and space remained a problem. In 1957, the program 

moved into a new forestry building. Arkansas A&M became 

the University of Monticello (UAM) when it joined the 

University of Arkansas System in 1971. The forestry 

program was first accredited by the Society of American 

Foresters in 1984, thanks to Chamberlin’s groundwork.

Even after Chamberlin stepped down as head of the UAM’s 

School of Forest Resources in 1972, he continued to teach 

until 1980. From 1945 to 1980, Chamberlin taught all 

586 students who graduated from the Arkansas forestry 

program. He had a tremendous impact on forestry education 

in Arkansas. Many of those students worked in southern 

Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, 

seeing that cutover virgin forest areas were reforested. 

Chamberlin set a good example for these men.

The man who said he would stay but one year stayed a bit 

longer. Chamberlin arrived as a ”pioneer” and retired as a 

”classic” 35 years and 5 presidents later. At his retirement, 

Bob Blackmon, his successor, stated, “Frequently students 

do not realize until years later that a particular professor 

has made a significant contribution to his or her educational 

experience. Not so with Hank Chamberlin. His students 

recognize his special qualities from their first contact and 

soon learn to respect him as a teacher and as a human being.”

References

Anon. 2009. History of the School. School of Forest Resources, University of 

Arkansas at Monticello. http://www.afrc.uamont.edu/sfr/history.htm. [Date 

accessed: June 19, 2009].

FOREST PRODUCTS

To lumbermen, second-growth pine stands seemed to offer 

little promise as a forest resource. The fast growth of these 

young stands produced lumber of significantly different 

quality than the old-growth stands. They saw products from 

such trees as offering little potential in the marketplace. 

However, a cadre of individuals began a campaign to 

demonstrate that there was value in this young material.

One of the leaders of this effort was Charles Herty. Before 

Herty began his crusade to show that newsprint could 

be an important forest product, he had already improved 

techniques to collect resin in naval stores operations. Also, 

he had gained national recognition as a chemist. As Herty 

was working to convince investors of the potential in paper 

making, Ralph Lindgren worked on solving the problem of 

blue stain on lumber.

About three decades later, Peter Koch began to show 

important progress in developing new products from forest 

resources. Profiles of these remarkable scientists follow. 

Mr. Pulp and Paper of the South

CHarles H. Herty

Charles H. Herty, an internationally recognized chemist, 

revolutionized the southern forestry and naval stores 

industry. He was born in Milledgeville, GA, in 1867. He 

earned a bachelor of philosophy degree from the University 

of Georgia in 1886, and a doctorate from John Hopkins 

University in 1890. 

After working in many positions, various universities, 

associations and industries, Herty began an effort to develop 

natural resources of the South. His first approach was to 

study the naval stores industry’s use of longleaf and slash 

pine to produce timber and turpentine. As a staff member 

of the U.S. Bureau of Forestry, he perfected the cup and 

gutter system that became the standard used in the naval 

stores industry. Prior to use of cups and gutters, resin was 

collected from living pines trees in a deep hole called a “box” 
50

chopped into the base of each tree worked. Herty’s method 

replaced the chopped box with a clay cup attached to the tree 

by a single nail. This enabled trees as small as 7 to 8 inches 

in diameter to be worked as compared with a minimum of 

18 to 20 inches with the old box method. By making millions 

of additional trees available to gum producers, the Herty 

system revitalized a sagging industry and naval stores 

became the primary product from the pine forests over much 

of the Southern Coastal Plain.

After a number of years as president of the American 

Chemical Society and in other highly influential positions 

that led to the establishment of the National Institute of 

Health, Herty returned to the South. He envisioned that 

a white paper and newsprint industry could be developed 

using southern pines that could compete with Canadian and 

northern species. The belief was that the high resin content 

of pines made the wood unusable for pulping. Herty was 

convinced that the thousands of acres of new plantations 

presented a resource to grow a major new industry in 

the South. He began working to secure funding for an 

experimental pulp and paper laboratory where he could 

test his theories regarding substituting cheap, fast-growing 

southern pine for expensive, slow-growing northern spruce.

At this time there were a few pulp and paper mills in the 

South (the mill at Bogalusa, LA was one of the first) that 

used groundwood (mechanical pulp) technology. These mills 

could not compete in producing high quality paper products 

because of the high resin content of pine species. 

In 1931, he managed to secure an appropriation from 

the Georgia legislature and a matching grant from the 

Chemical Foundation, for a facility with free power from the 

City of Savannah to house the “Savannah Pulp and Paper 

Laboratory.” There Herty and his staff spent several years 

answering the technical questions that had to be addressed 

before any manufacturer would invest the millions of dollars 

necessary to build the South’s first newsprint mill.

Herty’s work outside the Savannah laboratory was 

demanding. He spent most of his time traveling, addressing 

technical societies, pulp and paper manufacturers, and 

bankers and chambers of commerce to advise them of the 

success of the laboratory. He urged them to invest in a new 

industry that, he predicted, would be only the first step in 

building a “New South.”

Herty was a superb showman with a genius for publicity. 

After he developed confidence in his ability to make 

newsprint from southern pines, he went all over the South 

crusading against wood fires. He pointed out that thousands 

of jobs would be available if a new pine crop was grown for 

the newly developing newsprint industry. His work provided 

the pulp and paper industry with a vast source of fiber, 

and significantly increased the manufacturing base of the 

Southern States.

The Kraft sulphate pulping process was not one of Herty’s 

developments. The one responsibility for this development 

was Ed Mayo who also worked in Savannah, GA. However, 

Herty’s efforts contributed significantly to the expansion of 

the Kraft paper mills.

Tired and exhausted from constant traveling, speech making, 

appearances before State legislatures, as well as running his 

laboratory, Herty died in 1938. He received medals from a 

number of national organizations, plus honorary doctorates 

from Colgate University, Oglethorpe University, University 

of Pittsburgh, University of Georgia, University of North 

Carolina, University of Florida, and Duke University. 

In 1940, the Charles H. Herty Memorial Highway was 

dedicated and in 1943, the Liberty Ship S.S. Charles H. Herty 

was launched. The Herty Medal established by the American 

Chemical Society is the South’s most distinguished award for 

its chemists. Herty revolutionized the southern forestry and 

naval stores industries. Few men have contributed more to 

the development of the South’s forest industries than he. 

References

Heyward, F. 1963. Charles Herty—Mr. Pulp and Paper. Forests & People. 13(1): 

28-29.

Maunder, E.R. 1977. Voices from the South: recollections of four foresters; 

Inman F. Eldredge, Elwood L. Demmon, Walter H. Damtoft, Clinton H. 

Coulter. Santa Cruz, CA: Forest History Society, Inc. 252 p. 

Read, G.M. 1995. Realization of a dream: Charles H. Herty and the South’s 

first newsprint mill. Forest & Conservation History. 39: 4-16. 

Charles Herty’s efforts related to development of 

a paper industry in the South are extraordinary. 

(Photo from Wikipedia Web site)
51

Control of Blue-Stain Fungus

ralPH m. (lindy) lindgren

Ralph M. (Lindy) Lindgren was detailed to the Southern 

Station in New Orleans, LA on August 1, 1928, by the old 

Bureau of Plant Industry after completing his master’s 

degree in plant pathology at the University of Minnesota. 

He was selected for the position because of his ability and 

the subject of his thesis. Lindy was assigned the task of 

coming up with techniques to control blue-stain fungus 

in freshly sawed lumber. Blue stain was a major economic 

problem for lumbermen. Under the conditions of high 

humidity and temperature that is common in the South, 

the sap wood of pine lumber would be severely stained if 

not promptly kiln dried. This staining would significantly 

degrade lumber quality and value.

Lindgren evaluated about 250 potential chemicals on billets 

of sap pine. He placed treated and untreated samples in 

the best “blue-stain environment” he could find, namely 

underneath stacks of green lumber in the yards of a number 

of saw mills. He found several chemicals that showed 

promise and used these results to convince companies in 

Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to try his six 

most promising chemicals on carload lots of green lumber.

After a long drought period where no stain developed, a 

rainy period produced a heavy amount of blue stain. One 

of Lindgren’s chemicals resulted in complete control of 

the stain. The chemical, ethyl mercury chloride, marketed 

under the trade name of Lignasan quickly was accepted 

as a preventive treatment in sawmills. Unheated vats were 

installed in the green-chain of mills to dip lumber in the 

chemical solution. One year after the initial report of its 

effectiveness, the chemical was in use in more than 100 mills. 

Four years from the start, it was in worldwide use. Chapman 

Chemical Company grew out of the findings.

This one research accomplishment, more than any other 

single achievement, gained the Southern Station considerable 

recognition and support.

Lindgren was director of the Station’s Division of Plant 

Pathology when he was transferred in 1952 to head the 

Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, WI. He resigned 

from the laboratory in 1962, as chief of the Division of 

Wood Preservation. 

Lindgren’s imagination, research ability, personality, and 

drive led to this significant accomplishment early in his 

career. 

References

Lindgren, R.M.; Verrall, A.F. 1950. Fungus control in unseasoned forest 

products. Forest Farmer. 9(5): 53-54.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360. 

Wakeley, P.C. 1978. The adolescence of forestry research in the South. Journal 

of Forest History. 22 (7): 135-145.

Timber Harvesting

albert e. (WaCk) WaCkerman

Albert (Wack) Wackerman of Cleveland, OH, earned an 

undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota in 

1921 and a master’s degree from Yale University School of 

Forestry in 1922. He began his professional career in 1923 as 

a junior forester and assistant silviculturist with the Forest 

Service, Lake States Experiment Station. In 1927, he joined 

the Crossett Lumber Company in Arkansas. 

One of the first major jobs for the company was to set up a 

fire protection system and carry out a cruise of two areas 

of older cutover lands. He was to determine the amount of 

second-growth pine and hardwood present, its growth and 

mortality, and the amount of virgin timber remaining. He 

would then prepare possible management and cutting plans. 

Wackerman determined that growth of advance secondgrowth stands would be such that in 10 years hence the 

merchantable volume would have grown back to the original 

amount and another cut could be made. He began the process 

of preparing management and cutting plans for the company. 

However, in 1929, the effects of the great depression were 

being felt by southern pine lumber industry. Reduction 

in his salary of 50 percent was made, but a year later, in 

desperation, the company reduced his salary by another 50 

percent. Ralph Lindgren’s work with blue stain gained the 

Southern Forest Experiment Station much recognition.
52

Wackerman was more than willing to accept on offer of 

employment by the Southern Station, so during 1933 and 

1934 he was with the Station in Crossett, AR. While there, 

he played a major part in arranging cooperation between 

the Crossett Company and the Forest Service, including 

the donation of the Crossett Experimental Forest to the 

Southern Station. He also established the original Crossett 

experiment in all-aged management and launched Reynolds 

on his career.

After leaving the Forest Service, he had short assignments 

with the Southern Pine Association in New Orleans and 

the Seaboard Railroad. In 1938, Wackerman was appointed 

professor of forest utilization at Duke University. During 

World War II, he was an advisor to the Office of Price 

Administration. He served the rest of his career at Duke. 

His most important single accomplishment was the 

publication of “Harvesting Timber Crops” in 1949. 

This textbook was used in forestry schools across the 

United States and even in a number of other countries. A 

second edition with coauthors W.D. Hagenstein and A.S. 

Michell was published in 1966 and quickly went out of 

print. No other text replaced the information provided by 

Wackerman’s book, so it was reprinted in India by a book 

company in 2002 and continues to be distributed worldwide.

He was active professionally, serving as chair of the Gulf 

States Section of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) 

in 1934. In 1950, he was chair of the Appalachian Section of 

the SAF. Wackerman was elected fellow of the SAF in 1961. 

Shortly before his death, he was accorded special recognition 

by the Gulf States Section of SAF for his contributions to 

the forestry profession.

References

Anon. 1980. Obituaries: Albert E. Wackerman. Journal of Forestry. 78: 592. 

Reynolds, R.R. 1980. The Crossett story: the beginning of forestry in southern 

Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Gen. Tech. Rep. SO-32. New Orleans: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment 

Station. 40 p.

Wackerman, A.E. 1949. Harvesting timber crops. New York: McGraw-Hill 

Book Company. 437 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360.

Premier Wood Scientist

Peter koCH

Peter Koch was one of America’s most eminent scientists in 

wood technology and led the development of equipment and 

technology that has become the backbone of modern forest 

industry in the South. 

After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Washington 

in 1954, then 2 years of teaching and research at Michigan 

State University, and 5 years of managing a New England 

lumber company, he wrote the book “Wood Machining 

Processes” based on his development of high-speed chipping 

technology. 

In 1963, Koch was hired to head the new forest products 

utilization laboratory at the Forest Service, Southern 

Station’s facility at Pineville, LA. Here, in 1963, he 

cooperated with two machine manufacturers to develop three 

Albert Wackerman was recognized internationally for 

his work on timber harvesting systems.

Peter Koch’s research program changed the forest 

products industry in the South and influenced 

national efforts.
53

versions of chipping headrigs which made logs square by 

converting the round sides into pulp chips, creating no slabs 

and wasting no material as sawdust. They are now in wide 

industrial use throughout North America and comprise one 

of the major wood-machining advances of the 20th century.

During 1964, as manufacture of southern pine plywood was 

being developed, Koch provided data instrumental to the 

formation of gluing practices for the new industry. Next, 

he developed a system of gluing up single-species wooden 

beams with the most limber laminate in the central and the 

stiffest in the outer, most highly stressed regions. Beams 

thus assembled are stronger, stiffer, and more uniform than 

those arranged conventionally. For these three developments 

he was awarded in 1968 the Superior Service medal of the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. In less than 5 years, Koch’s 

research resulted in technology that made southern forest 

products industry competitive on the world market.

During this period, Koch invented a widely applied method 

of drying southern pine 2 x 4 studs in 24 hours while 

restraining them so they are straight when dry. He also 

led a team effort, in which his personal research played an 

important part, in developing a structural flakeboard from 

mixed southern hardwoods—including 60 percent by weight 

of dense oaks and hickories; start-up of the first commercial 

plant using the process occurred in 1983. This technology 

became the basis of the Oriented Strand Boards plants 

that use low-quality hardwood material that was largely 

underutilized. 

Koch’s widely used two-volume reference text “Utilization 

of the Southern Pines” was published as Agricultural 

Handbook 420 in 1972. These books were a major effort 

by Peter and the staff of his Research Work Unit. Peter 

typically worked long hours—up to 18 per day—and 

assigned chapters for his scientists to produce. It was a 

significant accomplishment that remains today as a source 

for detailed information about southern pine wood resources 

and products.

In 1973, he developed the concept of severing the lateral 

roots of trees, and then pulling them with a central root 

mass intact for use in the production of energy, pulp and 

paper, or naval stores; numerous machines employing the 

concept were put into commercial operation. In 1974, he 

conceived a machine that would clean up logging slash 

comprised of tops and branches, standing culls, and stumps. 

Through his team leadership the concept was brought to 

commercial prototype stage in 1978. 

Also in 1978, a commercial-scale prototype suspension 

burner for wet wood and bark, which Koch co-invented, 

was successfully tested. By 1980, the Abstract Information 

Digest Service of the Forest Products Research Society, 

which he initiated, matured as an economically viable 

computerized information retrieval system for the forest 

products industry.

Koch served as president of the Forest Products Research 

Society; and was elected Fellow in the International Academy 

of Wood Science, and Fellow in the Society of American 

Foresters. Other recognitions of the esteem in which he was 

held by his profession include an honorary doctor of science 

degree from the University of Maine, a John Scott Award, 

a Woodworking Digest Award, and a Society of American 

Foresters’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Upon completion of the three-volume work “Utilization 

of Hardwoods Growing on Southern Pine Sites” in 1982, 

Koch concluded his Forest Service work in the South. This 

work on hardwoods was done with the same thoroughness 

as the earlier work with pine. Koch transferred to the Rocky 

Mountain Research Station in Missoula, MT, to work on 

the wood properties and utilization of lodgepole pine. His 

three-volume "Lodgepole Pine in North America" (1995) 

text provides an accumulation of resource and product 

information for this species.

Koch died in 1998. He left a remarkable list of credits and 

accomplishments. But probably his most gratifying is his 

legacy to the forest industry in the South. Our modern 

forest industry is to a large extent built on accomplishments 

resulting from his ingenuity and hard work.

References

Duffy, I.T. 1975. Faces of forestry—Peter Koch. Forests & People. 25(1): 26-29.

Main, P. 1981. Useful products from an unused resource. Forests & People. 

31(2): 12-16.

FOREST RESOURCES

Early foresters in the South were faced with massive 

reforestation problems, lack of products for second-growth 

forests, and many other issues that required initiative and 

dedication of scarce resources. For example, soil erosion 

was a major problem in hill country where farming had 

been abandoned. Wildfire was a serious concern and control 

was believed to be avoided. Range management was needed 

to limit the losses of new plantations to cattle and hogs. 

These and other issues required study and development of 

technology to restore forest land productivity. 

Fortunately, a number of individuals led the effort to resolve 

these major problems and made remarkable progress limiting 

the negative influence of these on restoration of southern 

forest ecosystems.
54

Soil Erosion and Flood Control

H.g. (maC) meginnis

Harvest of the pine overstory and failure of agriculture on 

the rolling hills of north Mississippi and Tennessee resulted 

in massive erosion and flood problems. A 1930 survey of 

several counties in north Mississippi showed nearly 35 

percent in active gullies, from a foot or two to 80 or 100 feet 

deep. Similar problems occurred in the hill country across 

the South, but usually to a smaller degree.

In 1929, H.G. (Mac) Meginnis was recruited by the 

Southern Station to work on the problems of soil erosion 

and flood control. Due to the scope of the problem in north 

Mississippi, Meginnis established headquarters at Holly 

Springs, MS, and made arrangements for experimental use 

of an old, badly gullied field. He worked largely singlehanded with visits of guidance, advice, and assistance. He 

depended on temporary local labor for help.

His research, which was both basic and applied, was 

exemplary. He devised small plots, surrounded by wide 

strips of galvanized iron with the lower edges sunk into 

the ground, where he obtained data on erosion and run-off 

on several soil types, on several degrees of slope, on bare 

surfaces, and under both grass and tree cover. Meginnis early 

established that soil protected by leaf litter had very little 

erosion and run-off compared to bare soil. These results 

established his reputation and demand for his research 

information.

The magnitude of erosion and flooding problems and 

success of Meginnis’ work resulted in job offers from other 

agencies and universities. Since he was the Forest Service’s 

sole specialist in the South, he was 

promoted from junior forester P-1 

to full silviculturist P-4 to keep him.

Meginnis, with approval, purchased 

a small abandoned chicken house 

for about $5 to place on his site to 

use as a laboratory. It was heavily 

infested with chicken lice. To 

rid the lice, he purchased some 

insecticidal spray for 75 cents. This 

expenditure was disallowed on his 

expense account by the General 

Accounting Office on grounds that 

getting rid of the distracting lice 

was for the personal benefit of the 

employee, not for the benefit of 

the government. How times have 

changed!

At the time of his work, locust 

trees were recommended for 

erosion control plantings. Meginnis’ 

results showed that planting pine 

seedlings was more effective and they would survive, grow 

on a wider array of sites, and provide valuable products. 

His data resulted in establishment of a congressionally 

funded program, the Yazoo-Little Tallahatchie (Y-LT) Flood 

Prevention Project. This program, started in 1948, continued 

for more than 25 years to rehabilitate 835,900 acres of 

highly eroded lands in north Mississippi. It has been called 

the Forest Service’s largest tree-planting project. 

Mac Meginnis standing in a gully formed by 

soil erosion.

“Mac” Meginnis developed techniques to stabilize the highly eroded soils of north Mississippi and 

Tennessee. His work was recognized worldwide.
55

After Meginnis established his guidelines for gully 

restoration, he was transferred to the Appalachian Forest 

Experiment Station in Asheville, NC. There he continued his 

efforts in understanding the effects of forests in controlling 

erosion and flood damage in mountainous terrain. Meginnis 

was highly regarded by his contemporaries and almost 

single-handed developed guidelines for restoring some of 

the South’s most devastated lands. 

References

Meginnis, H.G. 1933. Tree planting to reclaim gullied lands in the South. 

Journal of Forestry. 31: 649-656.

Meginnis, H.G. 1935. Effect of cover on surface run-off and erosion in the 

loessial uplands of Mississippi. Circulator 347. Washington, DC; U.S. 

Department of Agriculture. 15 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360. 

Prescribed Fire

H.H. (CHaPPy) CHaPman

The history of fire in southern forests is a long and vexing 

one. Firing the woods has been a common practice in the 

South. Some described it as natural as honking of migrating 

geese or appearance of crimson foliage on sweet gums 

(Heyward 1958). American Indians had long used fire to 

maintain open forests to facilitate hunting and even used fire 

to drive deer through openings where they were more easily 

harvested.

Settlers used fire to clear land and to “green up” the grass 

in the spring to provide new growth for their grazing 

animals. Such practices were particularly common on the 

cutover forest land that provided open range for their cattle. 

However, early foresters found need to control 

fires if reforestation efforts were to be successful. 

One of the first specific forest practices to be 

undertaken in the South had to do with fire 

protection. The first large-scale attempts to 

control fire were on national forests.

The American Forestry Association awakened 

much interest in early fire protection in 1929 

by sending a caravan of trucks into the South 

to begin a 3-year crusade for fire protection. 

Equipped with moving pictures and literature, 

trucks roved the hinterlands in several States 

where fire problems were severe. Known as 

the “Dixie Crusaders”, these members of fire 

prevention caravans traveled 300,000 miles 

through the Deep South, holding rallies, 

distributing pamphlets, and showing selfproduced movies to some three million people. 

This effort was particularly effective because motion pictures 

were shown in areas where they were not generally available. 

Many meetings were held outdoors because no building was 

usually adequate to hold the crowd. One of the lecturers 

is quoted as saying, “Many of the people who came never 

before had seen a motion picture—some had never heard of 

such a thing.”

 John F. Shea, a psychologist, was hired by the Forest Service 

to study why locals set fires. He reported at the time that 

many of the people craved excitement in “an environment 

otherwise barren of emotional outlets” (Kerr 1958). Maybe 

this was why Dixie Crusaders were successful, their effort 

created a lot of interest because it was so unique for its time.

Fire protection became a moral crusade and early Forest 

Service researchers were generally proponents for complete 

control of fire. However, based on his research with the 

Urania Lumber Company, H.H. (Chappy) Chapman became a 

proponent of controlled use of fire as a means of controlling 

wildfires and, more importantly, stimulating forest 

regeneration of southern pines. In a 1912 article, Chapman 

argued that to keep fire entirely out of southern pine lands 

might result in complete destruction of the forests. Later, 

in 1926, he issued his famous Yale University School of 

Forestry Bulletin 16 which caused controversy among 

southern foresters because he called for the use of fire in 

longleaf pine regeneration (Chapman 1926).

Chapman, who brought the Yale University School of 

Forestry seniors to Urania several months a year for 

decades, became a champion of controlled burning. He 

performed research demonstrating that southern pines 

rely on fire to suppress hardwood competitors, reduce 

hazardous fuel buildup, and control brown-spot disease of 

longleaf pine. Chapman stoutly defended his position in 

letters published in the Journal of Forestry. For a number 

of years, Forest Service foresters rebutted his position.

Professor H.H. Chapman measuring a longleaf seedling affected by fire.
56

In 1928, Phil Wakeley and others of the Southern Station 

began a large study to evaluate Chapman’s contentions. 

With one exception, they found that Chapman’s positions 

were correct. They did conclude that burning did not 

protect longleaf seedlings from brown-spot needle disease 

of longleaf pine. Gradually, foresters accepted Chapman’s 

conclusions and became advocates of controlled or 

prescribed burning.

Chapman was a charismatic but forceful character. He 

published more than 20 papers between 1909 and the early 

1940s dealing with southern pines and their relationship 

to fire. His work showed that most winter fires do not kill 

all longleaf pine seedlings; but they helped establish pine 

stands, suppress pine and other hardwood competitors, 

and reduce hazardous fuel accumulations. Chapman 

recommended use of fire in longleaf pine every 3 years. 

For his pioneering work, he has been termed the “father of 

controlled burning for silvicultural purposes.”

References

Chapman, H.H. 1926. Factors determining natural reproduction of longleaf 

pine on cutover lands in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. Bulletin 16. New Haven, 

Connecticut: Yale University School of Forestry. 44 p.

Clark, T.D. 1984. The greening of the South: the recovery of land and forest. 

Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky. 168 p.

Kerr, Ed. 1958. History of forestry in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana 

Forestry Commission. 55 p. 

Komarek, E.V. 1973. Ancient fires. In: Proceedings Annual Tall Timbers Fire 

Ecology Conference. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 13: 

219-241.

Wildlife Conservation

Issues related to wildlife conservation developed slowly as 

an offshoot of forestry. Initially, the study of animals in 

forest settings was called game management. Emphasis on 

animals centered on those that were commonly harvested 

for food or for sport. With time a number of significant 

species dwindled and both hunters and sportsmen began to 

understand that game management should be broadened 

to understand the interactions of hunting large animals 

and forest practices on a whole array of species and their 

environment.

Wildlife conservation began to focus on species that had 

little interest to the hunter or sportsman. Even small song 

birds were found to become indicators of the health of a 

forest ecosystem. It is noteworthy that our understanding of 

environmental change was led by those studying the habitat 

of wildlife species. Individuals who are profiled here led the 

development of that new understanding.

bryant a. bateman

Bryant Bateman was born in 1900 on a farm near 

Franklinton, LA, and graduated from the public schools 

there. He attended Louisiana State University for a year, 

and then taught in Washington Parish schools for 3 years. 

He returned to LSU in 1923 and graduated in 1926 with 

a degree in forestry. He was likely influenced by his older 

brother, F.O. (Red) Bateman, who without much formal 

education, became ranger for Great Southern and led the 

development of nursery and reforestation practices for that 

company (see profile on Bateman). Bryant was employed by 

Great Southern for a few years after his graduation from 

LSU in 1926. As a forester, he was involved in tree planting, 

timber estimating, fire suppression, growth studies, and land 

surveying. He became a licensed land surveyor. 

Bryant was the first student to graduate from LSU in 

forestry, and after his work experience at Great Southern , he 

joined the forestry faculty in Baton Rouge, LA in 1931 as its 

interim head. He entered graduate school in forestry at Iowa 

State University and received a master’s degree in 1934.

Bateman continued his education at the University of 

Michigan where he earned a doctorate in forestry and game 

management. He was a student during 1937 and 1938 and 

was awarded his degree in 1949. 

During World War II, he assumed the duties of extension 

forester and traveled the State, teaching forest practices to 

rural residents. His research interests were farm forestry, 

upland forest wildlife management, use of fire in silviculture 

and wildlife management. 

Bryant Bateman was the first graduate in forestry 

from Louisiana State University.
57

In 1947, Bateman became the ”father” of LSU’s game 

management (later wildlife) degree program. He was 

instrumental in bringing Leslie Glasgow to the wildlife 

faculty in 1948. Bateman taught forestry in the early days 

of the school, then upland wildlife management. Fishing 

was his hobby, and he introduced fisheries into the school’s 

academic program. Later he helped bring a fisheries 

specialist to the facility. 

Of particular interest was forest management as habitat 

for upland game, woodlot management for timber and pine 

straw, use of fire in forest and wildlife management, and 

feeding habits of wildlife. His interest in use of pine straw 

as mulch in the strawberry growing area near Hammond 

preceded such use as an agroforestry practice. Bateman was, 

also, an early and strong advocate of prescribed burning. 

In 1965, Bateman won both the first Louisiana Governor’s 

State Conservation Award and also the Conservationist of 

the Year Award (Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association). He 

served as an advisor to State legislators in wildlife legislation 

and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on 

the management of bottomland hardwood forests as wildlife 

habitat. In 1972, he was named Alumnus of the Year by the 

LSU Forestry, Wildlife and Forestry Alumni Association. 

He helped organize the Louisiana Wildlife Federation and 

served on its board of directors, as well as a number of 

other professional organizations.

He retired in 1971 and was named Professor Emeritus. 

He died in 1984, and in 2004 the Bryant A. Bateman 

Professorship in Natural Resources was established in the 

school.

Bateman was known, loved, and respected by hundreds of 

fellow teachers, former students, professional colleagues, 

agricultural leaders, farm and forest landowners, and just 

plain people throughout the South. Colleague Prof. A.B. 

Crow states of Bryant Bateman, “His dedication to wise 

land use and harmony of all interests in forest and wildlife 

management was felt by all who came under his kindly spell. 

He was a quiet man, had an unequaled sense of fairness, and 

was strong in conviction but gentle in putting forward his 

views. He was simply, 'a great man.' ”

Claude H. (grits) gresHam

Claude Gresham, born in 1922, was a native of South 

Carolina. He attended Blue Ridge School for Boys and the 

universities of North Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Yale. After 

serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, he 

entered Louisiana State University School of Forestry, 

obtaining a B.S.F. degree in 1949 and an M.S. degree in 

1950, both degrees in game management. 

After graduation, Gresham began work with the Louisiana 

Wildlife and Fisheries Commission where he became chief 

of the Information Education Division of the Louisiana 

Game and Fish Commission. Under his editorship, the 

Louisiana Conservationist magazine was recognized as one of 

the top wildlife magazines in the country. He resigned this 

position in 1956 to enter a partnership to establish Wood’s 

Lodge on Black Lake near Campti, LA. At the time, Black 

Lake was one of the finest fishing spots in the South.

Under the byline of 'Grits Gresham,' he began publishing 

outdoor material in national publications such as Outdoor 

Life, Field & Stream, Sports Illustrated, True, and Fisherman. 

He became known worldwide as a writer, photographer, book 

author, and television personality.

He served as field host and producer for ABC television’s 

"The American Sportsman" series, host of ESPN’s 

"Shooting Sports America," and, for 26 years, shooting editor 

for Sports Afield. He may be best known for his role in the 

series of commercials for Miller Lite Beer. Gresham was the 

fisherman among the athletes who made “Tastes Great, Less 

Filling” marketing buzzwords for more than a decade.

With his trademark driftwood, floppy hat and white 

muttonchops, he traveled the world hunting, shooting, 

and fishing with some of America’s most interesting 

people. He also spent a lifetime championing key outdoor 

and environmental issues. He was one of the first public 

voices bringing attention to the loss of wetlands along 

the Louisiana coastline, an area where he did much of his 

graduate work while at LSU. His title for an early story on 

the problem was ”Kiss the Land Goodbye.”

Gresham received many awards—some are Winchester 

Outdoorsman of the Year, Alumnus of the Year in the LSU 

School of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, and induction 

into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and LSU Hall of 

Gresham became an outdoor icon and pioneer. 

(Photo Alexandria Town Talk)
58

Distinction. Also, he received an award for excellence in 

writing and contributions to conservation from the Outdoor 

Writers Association of America. 

Gresham, who was better know by his nickname, 'Grits,' 

was an American outdoor icon. He was a noted author 

and television personality. He moved his background and 

training in wildlife management into a higher level—a 

remarkable individual who never forgot the basic values from 

which he came. 

References

Anon. 1956. Gresham forms new business. Forests & People. 6(1): 55.

Anon. 1970. Faces of forestry: Bryant A. Bateman. Forests & People. 20(3): 26, 

28.

Burns, P. Y. 2008. Human interest notes about Dr. B.A. Bateman. June 16, 2008. 

Unpublished document. Baton Rouge, LA: On file with: Louisiana State 

University, School of Renewable Natural Resources. 3810 West Lakeshore 

Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. 

Timothy, P. 2008. Outdoor icon 'Grits' Gresham dies at age 85. Alexandria, LA: 

Town Talk, February 19, 2008: A1, A3.

Forest Pathology

george H. HePting

George H. Hepting was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1907. He 

attended Cornell University and received a B.S. degree in 

forestry in 1929 and a Ph.D. in forest pathology in 1933. 

Even before he completed his doctorate, he joined scientists 

in the Department of Agriculture studying the heartrot 

diseases of forest trees. He determined the impact of fire 

scars, basal wounds, and stump sprouts on infection and 

spread of decay in Mississippi Delta hardwoods. He was 

first to describe the remarkable mechanisms by which trees 

restrict the development of decay and discoloration in stems.

With his doctorate in hand, Hepting was assigned to the 

Appalachian Forest Experiment Station—later reorganized 

and renamed the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. 

In 1962, he transferred from the Station’s office in Asheville, 

NC, to the Forest Service’s Washington (DC) Office. He 

retired from the Forest Service in 1971, but remained active 

as a visiting professor at North Carolina State University’s 

Department of Plant Pathology and School of Forest 

Resources. 

Before and during World War II, he studied fungal 

discoloration in felled timber and lumber of southern pines. 

Under Hepting’s direction, his small group shifted the 

emphasis of their work to problems of wood in service. 

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard wanted information on 

the prevention of decay in wooden boats, and they and the 

U.S. Army planned to build wooden airplanes and gliders. 

Furthermore, there were costly wood-decay problems in 

buildings, truck bodies, and bridge timbers. Through the 

efforts of Hepting and his research group, the deterioration 

problems in wood aircraft were corrected early in the war. 

The importance of this valuable contribution to the war 

effort has not been fully recognized. 

Hepting grew up in the city environment of Brooklyn, 

NY but early in his life developed a deep love and scientific 

interest in forestry. He became America’s most skilled 

scientist in the theory and practice of forest pathology.

Hepting studied how long-lived forest trees, unlike most 

plants, cope with the long-term changes in their biological, 

physical, and chemical environments. He devoted his 

career to learning, understanding, and teaching how trees 

survive disease stresses in forest nurseries, as individual 

trees, in young sapling stands, in naturally regenerated and 

planted stands, in old growth forests, and in landscapes and 

watersheds.

Few investigators in forest sciences were able in a lifetime 

to make as many major contributions as Hepting did on a 

diverse range of complex problems. He had the ability to 

identify primary causes of deterioration and insight to devise 

practical approaches for management practices. During his 

career, he became a recognized and influential international 

authority for forestry in a broad sense. 

Hepting’s achievements in science were recognized by many 

honors and awards. In 1969, he became the first forester 

elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He also 

received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Superior 

Service Award and the Society of American Foresters’ 

Henry Hepting, America’s premier forest pathologist.
59

Barrington Moore Award for outstanding achievements in 

forestry research. He was elected Fellow of the Society of 

American Foresters and of the American Phytopathological 

Society.

He was one of the most creative scientists America has 

produced in the field of forest disease research. He was 

willing to speak frankly and critically when he thought the 

occasion demanded. Also, he insisted that his associates 

maintain the same high standards of scientific integrity and 

quality that he demanded in his own research. Hepting died 

in Asheville, NC in 1988.

References

Anon. 1954. G.H. Hepting honored by U.S.D.A. Journal of Forestry. 52(9): 

553-554.

Cowling, E.B.; Kelman, A.; Powers, H.R., Jr. 1999. George Henry Hepting: 

pioneer leader in forest pathology. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 37: 

19-28.

Hepting, G.H. 1935. Decay following fire in young Mississippi Delta 

hardwoods. Tech. Bull. 494. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture. 32 p.

Tree Improvement and Genetics

A major limitation of seedling production in the early 1950s 

was the lack of reliable supplies of high-quality seed from 

desirable sources. Collections tended to be either from felled 

trees or from standing trees that were easy to climb. Philip 

Wakeley’s research with pine plantation forestry set the 

stage for efforts in selecting sources that would improve 

plantation growth and yield. Geographic variation in seed 

sources began to be understood and local seed sources were 

believed to be more appropriate than seed from distant 

sources. But, it was through development of cooperative tree 

improvement programs that genetics of forest trees were 

seriously addressed. Philip Wakeley and Bruce Zobel led the 

initial efforts in what became large-scale, regional programs 

of tree improvement and genetics of southern pines.

PHiliP C. (PHil) Wakeley

Philip Wakeley began his research of southern pine 

plantation forestry when he arrived at the Southern Station’s 

office in New Orleans, LA in 1924. Fresh from his academic 

program at Cornell University, he was assigned to Bogalusa, 

LA, to conduct collaborative research with J.K. (Jake) 

Johnson and F.O. (Red) Bateman of Great Southern. This 

assignment was fortunate. Great Southern was one of the 

largest and most progressive lumber companies in the South. 

Wakeley’s efforts with their staff of Johnson and Bateman 

resulted in development of the basic nursery technology that 

was applied across the South. This technology was further 

refined in the 1930s when Wakeley’s efforts were moved 

to the Forest Service’s Stuart Nursery near Pollock, LA, 

which was established in 1934 with resources of the Civilian 

Conservation Corps (CCC). 

During this period, Wakeley and his colleagues planted, 

with help of CCC employees, about 670,000 seedlings in 

research studies on the Palustris Experimental Forest. 

His research, which led to the major research contribution 

to pine plantation forest in the South, was published in 

1954 as “Planting the Southern Pines.” In this publication, 

Wakeley documented the technology that was applied to 

reforest the South. He also reported a study he installed in 

1926 that evaluated effects of four different seed sources on 

stand productivity. At 15 years in plantation age the local 

source had produced more than twice as much pulpwood per 

acre as either of the two most distant sources. In addition, 

conspicuous and economically important differences in 

resistance to disease appeared among the different sources.

Wakeley’s photographic documentation of the 1926 study’s 

results did much to influence foresters on the importance 

of seed source selection. The developing interest in seed 

source influence on productivity created a lot of interest in 

further studying the effects. One of the first formal steps in 

this direction came in 1951, when a group of foresters met 

in Atlanta, GA to develop a tree improvement strategy for 

the South. This meeting led to the formation of the Southern 

Forest Tree Improvement Committee (SFTIC). One of the 

first important undertakings of SFTIC was to establish the 

Southwide Pine Seed Source Study under the direction of 

Wakeley.

The Southwide Pine Seed Source Study was a gigantic 

undertaking. Thirty three of the studies 57 plantations were 

established during the winter of 1952-53. At each plantation 

site, seedlings of loblolly, shortleaf, slash, and longleaf 

pines, representing a wide geographic range of seedPhil Wakeley (left) discussing reforestation of 

longleaf pine with an English visitor.
60

collection sites, were planted. It was a massive undertaking, 

requiring the cooperation of Federal, State, industrial, and 

university specialists in spreading the costs and dividing the 

labor. This large cooperative effort is one of the landmarks 

in the research on artificial regeneration of southern pines. 

Wakeley’s study proved vital not only to efforts to plant 

“unimproved” seedlings in areas which they were adapted, 

but also to designing future tree improvement programs for 

the region. 

The significance of this study can be understood by its 

description by leading forest pathologists in Washington, 

DC, who called it a “gift from the gods.” They recommended 

that the outplantings be followed to gain understanding of 

the biology of insect and disease pests that could affect pine 

plantation performance.

Results of Wakeley’s Southwide Pine Seed Source Study 

provided the data to develop recommendations for seed 

sources for particular species and locations across the South. 

His results show that performance of plantations could 

be greatly improved by careful selections of seed source. 

Later results demonstrated still more potential for genetic 

improvement.

Wakley’s contributions to the restoration of pine forests 

across the South are truly remarkable. His work, also, set the 

stage for other significant programs in reforestation, tree 

improvement, and genetics. 

bruCe J. Zobel

Bruce J. Zobel was born in California in 1920, the son of a 

fruit and vegetable farmer. He graduated from the University 

of California, Berkeley, in 1943, and was drafted soon 

thereafter into the Marine Corps. This service enabled Zobel 

to return to college under the GI Bill to earn a master’s 

degree and complete doctoral training. 

Results of Wakeley’s geographic seed source study published in 1944 convinced many of the importance of seed selection and 

influenced establishment of the much larger Southwide Pine Seed Source Study and development of major tree improvement 

programs.

Bruce Zobel, a creative scientist and gifted teacher 

of forest tree improvement and genetics. (Photo 

from txforestservice.tamu.edu)
61

In 1951, Zobel was hired by the Texas Forest Service to head 

a new tree-improvement program. The effort, which became 

known as the West Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program, 

was the first cooperative tree improvement program of its 

kind. It was supported by the Texas Forest Service, Texas 

A&M University, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, and 

a number of forest industries. The activities of the cooperative 

concentrated mostly on areas of drought resistance, seed 

orchard management, superior tree selection, and genetics of 

wood specific gravity. 

When Zobel started his seed orchard, scientists did not know 

how to graft pines, how far apart to plant them, or how much 

and what kind of fertilizer to apply. Because there were no 

flowering grafts initially, much of the early work was done 

in the woods on original selections. These were scattered 

over several States. However, many of the techniques tried 

were successful and are still in use today.

Zobel’s achievements attracted the attention of North 

Carolina State College (later North Carolina State 

University), and in 1956, Zobel was asked to establish a 

similar tree improvement program there. This program, too, 

was a cooperative effort between Federal, State, university 

and forest industry professionals. In 1962, Zobel was named 

E.F. Conger Distinguished Professor of Forestry at North 

Carolina State University. In addition to running the tree 

improvement program, Zobel taught courses and advised 

forestry students on forest improvement and genetics.

Zobel’s accomplishments both in research and in 

development of a fully operational program of providing 

better trees for industrial forestry in the South have been 

widely recognized. In 1979, Zobel retired from North 

Carolina State University, but continued to teach part-time 

until 2004. He consulted for international forestry firms 

for several years, and in 1984, he founded Zobel Forestry 

Associates. Here are a few of the awards that he received: In 

1965, Governor’s Award for Conservation in North Carolina; 

in 1968, Barrington Moore Award for biological research 

from the Society of American Foresters, and Fellow of the 

International Academy of Wood Sciences; in 1969, Fellow 

of the Society of American Foresters; in 1973, Fellow and 

the TAPPI Research and Development Award from the 

Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry; and 

in 2004, Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, 

North Carolina State University.

Zobel is described as a creative scientist and gifted teacher 

of a large cadre of graduate students. Above all, he has 

been a professional forester who has contributed greatly to 

improving the economic efficiency of forestry as a means of 

serving his fellow Americans. 

References

Lantz, C.W.; Kraus, J.F. 1987. A guide to southern pine seed sources. Gen. Tech. 

Rep. SE-43. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. 34 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1944. Geographic seed source of loblolly pine seed. Journal of 

Forestry. 42: 23-33. 

Wakeley, P.C. 1954. Planting the southern pines. Agricultural Monograph 18. 

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 233 p.

Wells, O.O.; Wakeley, P.C. 1966. Geographic variation in survival, growth, and 

fusiform rust infection of planted loblolly pine. Forest Science Monographs 

11. 40 p.

Zobel, B.J. 1953. Seed orchards for superior trees. Forest Farmer. 13: 10-12, 20.

PHOTOGRAPHY/HISTORY

Soon after the end of World War II, tremendous strides 

were made in forestry throughout the South. Organizations 

leading the effort to expand forestry practices began to 

develop public relations staffs to educate the public about 

these practices. The responsibility of these groups was to 

capture new developments by photography. Photographs 

were used to strengthen a variety of public relations 

activities, but primarily for use in publications. Excellent 

photographers were either hired or used on a contract basis. 

Organizations such as the Louisiana Forestry Commission 

and the Forest Service developed photographic files that now 

hold unique and irreplaceable information.

Less frequently, historians began to document the 

development of forestry and capture the contributions 

of pioneering organizations and leading individuals. The 

development of forestry in the United States began slowly 

in the early 20th century, so few historians looked at its 

development and influence until the 1960s. Even then, little 

effort went into recording history of forestry organizations. 

Anna Burns’ documentation of the history of the Louisiana 

Forestry Commission was a ground-breaking event. James 

Fickle’s historical work of forestry in Mississippi and the 

South is a contemporary effort (Fickle 2001).

Although photographers and historians were not major 

contributors to the restoration of the South’s forests, they 

were important in documenting the restoration process. 

It is then appropriate that they be recognized. They did 

much to preserve the accomplishments of many pioneering 

individuals.
62

Forestry Photography

Forestry is not a field where you frequently find professional 

photographers. Yet, Louisiana had two who made great 

contributions to helping develop the public understanding 

of forestry and the nature that it represents. Both worked 

for a time with the Louisiana Forest Commission and the 

Louisiana Forestry Association. They also supported efforts 

by the Forest Service’s Southern Station. 

Both contributed to the communication of the condition 

of the State’s forest resources and the need to restore its 

forests to a productive state. They were not, however, limited 

to exercising their talents in forestry applications. Their 

talents went well beyond this narrow scope of interest and 

included capturing on film many of the unique features of 

the Louisiana landscape.

tommy t. koHara

Tommy T. Kohara came from a family of photographers. He 

moved to central Louisiana as a youngster with his family 

in the 1920s when lumber companies were trying to bring 

Midwesterners here to grow truck crops on cutover forest 

land. The farming experiment lasted just 2 years, after 

which they moved to Alexandria, LA where the father, a 

photographer in Iowa, soon had his own studio.

Kohara graduated with a degree in forestry from Louisiana 

State University in 1939. He worked for the Forest Service 

in Mississippi on a temporary assignment until the 

funding ended. But, it was there that he took his first pictures 

of forests. He returned to work in his father’s studio which 

was very busy with companies building the huge army camps 

that ringed the city. 

He entered the U.S. Army in 1941 and served in Europe for 4 

years taking photographs on the front lines in Germany and 

France. Back in Alexandria, LA in 1945, he took a job with 

the Louisiana Forestry Commission and for 10 years traveled 

the State taking pictures and doing public relations for the 

Forestry Commission. 

His direct connection with forestry ended in 1956 when the 

Alexandria Daily Town Talk asked him to be their chief 

photographer. But, his ties with forestry did not end. He 

was often called upon by forestry agencies for skills as a 

photographer. His work documented the development of 

direct seeding technology and many other new forestry 

accomplishments. Often his photographs were used for the 

covers of Forests & People, a magazine of the Louisiana 

Forestry Association.

There are legends about his prowess. One has it that he 

drove with a forester miles out in the woods to get a picture 

on a cloudy day. Kohara took only one exposure, explaining 

to his amazed companion that he was sure he had the picture. 

He did!

Kohara set a standard for quality in forest photography that 

remains today. 

elemore morgan, sr.

Elemore Morgan, Sr.’s interest in photography developed 

late in life. A native of Baton Rouge, LA, Morgan grew 

up in the Depression and worked as a farmer, managed a 

B.F. Goodrich store, and became an oil distributor. While 

working for the Goodrich store, he bought a cheap camera to 

try to sell the Goodrich company on promoting good roads. 

When working as an oil distributor, he developed 

tuberculosis which destroyed his vocal cords. During the 

time that he could not speak, Morgan wrote notes to people. 

During his recovery period, he spent 6 months in Kerrville, 

TX, learning to talk again. His voice became a soft one, 

whisperish in pitch, which gave what he said a confidential 

tone.

Morgan became adept at photography while working for a 

noted Baton Rouge architect, using photographs to show 

clients the type of construction feasible. It was inevitable 

that Morgan would be drawn into forestry. It was an 

outdoorsman’s field where men who knew the soil knew that 

Louisiana must grow from the roots up for lasting prosperity. 

Morgan became known for his images of Louisiana 

Tommy Kohara, early forestry photographer. landscapes, churches, folk culture, and people.
63

Morgan developed a relationship with leaders in forestry 

organizations throughout Louisiana. He worked for Forests 

& People, and his photographs did much to establish it as 

a premier publication. A number of the photographs shot 

for this publication earned major awards. However, he had 

a broader interest in the environment and culture of his 

native State.

Morgan’s early work was included in a 1943 book, “Bayous 

of Louisiana” by Harnett Kane. In 1950, he collaborated 

with Frances Parkinson Keyes on a book project titled “All 

This is Louisiana.” Morgan had no formal training as a 

photographer, but his dramatic photographs became known 

for their style and power. 

He frequently took his son, Elemore, Jr., on his photography 

travels and instilled in him the love for rural Louisiana. 

Elemore, Jr., became noted for his colorful paintings of 

the architecture and panoramic vistas of the prairies of 

southwestern Louisiana. As a professor at University of 

Louisiana, Lafayette, Morgan, Jr., influenced and mentored 

hundreds of artists. 

“Rural Landmarks and Life in Louisiana, 1937-1965” was 

a show of Morgan, Sr.’s work organized by the Alexandria 

Museum of Art. The exhibition was also shown at 

Mississippi State University’s McComas Hall Art Gallery. 

This exhibit describes Morgan, Sr. as the “dean of Louisiana 

landscape” and as “first to recognize that the basis of the 

South was its agrarian culture, and that even then it was 

beginning to disappear.”

Edward Kerr said of Morgan, Sr., “There were no 

discouraging words in Elemore’s vocabulary. He was a ‘can 

do’ photographer who could bring snap to what seemed the 

most ordinary of scenes to untrained eyes. We looked, but 

he saw. And his excitement was so contagious; he eventually 

made us all see as well.” 

References

Derr, H. 1981. Forestry on film: A profile of Tommy Kohara. Forests & People. 

31(4): 19-21.

Kerr, E. 1966. The world of Elemore Morgan. Forests & People. 16(3): 12-13.

Morgan, E. Kerr, E. 1962. The Lower Mississippi Valley: A study in 

photographs and words. Baton Rouge, LA: Claitor’s Book Store. [no 

pagination].

Tompkins, J. 1997. Forestry in black and white. Forests & People. 47(2): 30.

Forestry History

History can be documented in a number of ways. One is 

for trained historians to take a backward look at those who 

contributed to the development of our industry, society, and 

culture. Anna Burns’ work which follows the development of 

forestry in Louisiana is such a traditional approach.

Another approach is one demonstrated by Edward Kerr. He 

documented in journal articles the significant contributions 

of many near the end of their careers or in their obituaries. 

Though not an effort thorough in scope, this approach does 

record much relevant historical information that would 

otherwise be lost. 

edWard F. (ed) kerr, sr.

Edward (Ed) Kerr was born in Baton Rouge, LA , in 1921. 

He obtained degrees in arts from Louisiana State University 

and in journalism from the University of Missouri. His early 

employment was with newspapers in Baton Rouge, LA, but 

he served as press representative for the Louisiana Forestry 

Commission from 1951 to 1959. Here he gained a solid 

Elemore Morgan, Sr., at a book signing of “All 

This is Louisiana.”

Ed Kerr, writer extraordinary.
64

background in forestry operations and personalities 

throughout the State. 

Kerr became assistant executive director of the Louisiana 

Forestry Association in 1959 and assumed the editorial 

responsibility for Forests & People. He served in this capacity 

only 3 years, but during that time he gained national acclaim 

for the excellence of this publication. 

A hallmark of his tenure as editor of Forests & People was 

the emphasis on history of forestry with a focus on those 

individuals who led the restoration of the South’s forests. 

Of particular note was the 1963 issue which focused on 

the 50th anniversary of forestry in Louisiana. Another 

recurring theme was 'Faces of Forestry,' featuring leaders of 

forestry. These emphases did much to document those who 

contributed significantly to the development of forestry in 

the South.

While associated with the Louisiana Forestry Association, 

he partnered with Elemore Morgan, an outstanding 

photographer, to document the nature of forests and 

those individuals who worked in them. Kerr’s words with 

Morgan’s photographs captured the essence of the rural 

South.

After resigning as assistant executive director in 1962, Kerr 

continued as editor of Forests & People until 1964. At this 

time, he accepted a public relations position in the information 

office of the U.S. Department of Interior in Washington, DC. 

Later he was selected as chief of technical publications for 

the U.S. Forest Service’s State and Private Office in Atlanta, 

GA. In 1975, Kerr became chief of the information and 

publications group of the Southern Station in New Orleans, 

LA. 

Kerr was the recipient of numerous regional and national 

awards. He excelled in all his assignments, but writing was 

his forte. He was described as “understanding the depth of 

forestry problems in the South, and having ability to reduce 

complex thoughts to simple, easy to understand language. 

His understanding of people was a tremendous value to the 

organizations for which he worked.”

anna C. burns

Henry Hardtner’s dogged determination to apply forestry 

principles to his land holdings in north Louisiana and to 

Louisiana in general led to the establishment of forestry 

organizations early in the 20th century. A State forestry 

organization was established in principle by Louisiana’s 

legislature in 1904. However, this legislation was far ahead 

of its time. This and foresighted efforts promoted by 

Hardtner established a rich legacy for historians. 

Anna Maria Cannaday Burns accepted the challenge of 

documenting this history. Born in Memphis, TN, she entered 

H. Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans in 1940. When 

her family moved to Baton Rouge, LA she transferred to 

Louisiana State University where she earned a bachelor 

of arts degree in history and a bachelor of science degree 

in library science. After teaching in several public school 

systems, she and her husband, Edmond Burns, moved to 

Alexandria, LA where she became assistant librarian at 

Louisiana State University at Alexandria.

Influenced by her husband’s employment as a staff forester 

with the Louisiana Forestry Commission, Burns entered 

Northwestern State College in Natchitoches to obtain a 

master of arts degree in history. For her thesis, she began 

an effort to document the history of the Louisiana Forestry 

Commission. When conferring with another historian about 

her topic, she was asked, “Why would you want to do that?” 

At the time there was little interest in history of such a State 

forestry organization. 

Burns’ thesis was published as “A History of the Louisiana 

Forestry Commission,” and it gained her recognition as a 

forestry historian. She then began work on a doctorate at 

the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, LA. 

The topic for her dissertation research was history of the 

Kisatchie National Forest. The information she documented 

in these efforts presented opportunities for publishing a 

number of articles that focused on interesting individuals or 

organizations. One of the most noted was her documentation 

of Henry Hardtner’s contributions to forestry.

She has served on the Board of Directors of the Forest 

History Society and now is a director of the Louisiana 

Maneuvers History Museum at Camp Beauregard in 

Pineville, LA. Also, she was a member of the International 

Union of Research Organizations’ History Section, and 

she attended two of the organization’s meetings, one in 

Yugoslavia.

Dr. Anna Burns, librarian at LSU at Alexandria 

and noted forestry historian.
65

Burns retired as librarian of Louisiana State University at 

Alexandria a number of years ago, but she still has interest 

is historic issues related to forestry. Of great interest 

to her are the contributions of Civilian Conservation 

Corps (CCC) projects in Louisiana. She has collected 

information about CCC camps and projects and interviewed 

numerous individuals who worked in the program. A goal 

is to document the contributions of this program to the 

development of forestry in the State. As Burns says, “Efforts 

of CCC boys had a lasting influence on developing forestry 

and economic recovery following the Great Depression.”

Burns has done much to help the public understand the 

richness of our forestry heritage. Through her efforts, 

individuals who have established and developed forestry 

programs have come alive again and their contributions to 

society have not been lost.

References

Burns, A.C. 1968. A history of the Louisiana Forestry Commission. 

Monograph Series, Number One. Natchitoches, LA: Northwestern State 

College, Louisiana Studies Institute. 137 p.

Burns, A.C. 1978. Henry E. Hardtner: Louisiana’s first conservationist. Journal 

of Forest History. 22(2): 79-85.

Burns, A.C.; Couch, R.W. 1994. A history of the Kisatchie National Forest. 

Pineville, LA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern 

Region, Kisatchie National Forest. 83 p.

Kerr, E. 1958. History of forestry in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana 

Forestry Commission. 55 p.

Morgan, E.; Kerr, E. 1962. The Lower Mississippi Valley: a study in 

photographs and words. Baton Rouge, LA: Claitor’s Book Store. [no 

pagination].
66

Virgin pine forests of the South were mostly harvested by 

the late 1920s. Left in their place were ”ghost towns” or 

towns able to maintain only a feeble existence. Both forest 

industry and the Forest Service believed that there was no 

future in southern forestry. In the Clapper Report in 1920, 

the Forest Service made the statement that “in 15 years the 

South will become dependent for its own needs upon large 

importations of lumber from the Pacific Coast” (Heyward 

1958). Gifford Pinchot and other conservationists loudly 

predicted a national timber famine. History had shown 

that removal of forests resulted in severe conditions such 

as major soil erosion, change of climate, and 

droughts that might result in desert conditions.

How did the South avoid the negative results 

that were predicted from the decimation of 

its forests? One factor was the resilience of 

southern pines (MacCleery 2002). If seedlings 

were established, growth was rapid and new 

crops helped sustain the ecology of the region.

Another factor was the rapid development of 

forestry. In about 1900, forestry programs 

began to be established in universities in the 

North—those in the South generally came 

several decades later. Because of the nature 

of forest conditions in the South, forestry 

graduates came to address these serious 

problems. With only a handful of professional 

foresters, and despite little technical support 

and primitive working conditions, forestry in 

the South made tremendous gains. Foresters 

developed reforestation techniques, studied 

and began to understand the role of fire in 

forests, began surveys of the southern forests 

that led to development and expansion of 

forest industries, and learned how to control 

important insect pests and diseases (Barnett 

2004). 

They also developed an understanding of the 

importance of the use of statistical design 

and the value of tree improvement, developed 

methods for controlling soil erosion, and 

improved the efficiency of producing forest 

products.

Within 3 decades, major reforestation efforts 

were underway and a wide array of forestry 

issues was being addressed. After the interruption of World 

War II, forestry blossomed in the 1950s and 1960s. The 

success story of southern pine forestry was facilitated by the 

application of research results generated through cooperative 

work of the Forest Service, southern forestry schools, State 

forestry agencies, and forest industry (Fox and others 2007). 

Productivity was enhanced by contributions of applied 

silviculture in tree improvement, nursery management, site 

preparation, weed control, and fertilization to southern pine 

plantations. The success of pine plantation silviculture has 

turned the South into the wood basket of the United States 

CONCLUSIONS

Stands such as this one are common across the South as the result of the practices developed 

by early foresters. Thanks to the work of these foresters, the South’s forests are again the 

“bread basket of the nation.”
67

(Schultz 1997) and continues to drive the economy of most 

Southern States. Timber production was an early emphasis, 

but management of the entire forest ecosystem became 

an important aspect of the southern forestry enterprise. 

Southern forestry now represents a means of tying the region 

to an unfolding age of science with the bonds of soil, climate, 

and geography that age of King Cotton could never fully 

forge (Clark 1984). The individuals profiled in this document 

did much to achieve the success that has been accomplished. 

How did our early forestry professionals with limited 

resources accomplish so much in a relatively short period 

of time? Dedication, cooperation, and teamwork were 

characteristics of the early forestry program. Not only did 

the individuals support each other’s efforts, they developed 

excellent relationships with individuals in universities and 

other agencies, as well as with those in forest industry and 

State organizations dedicated to solving problems common 

to all organizations. Wakeley (1964) quotes a passage in 

Macaulay’s “Horatius” that describes their attitude:

For Romans in Rome’s quarrel

Spared neither goods nor gold

Nor son nor wife nor limb nor life

In the brave days of old.

Then none was for the party.

Then all were for the State.

Then the rich man helped the poor

And the poor man loved the great.

Then lands were fairly portioned.

Then spoils were fairly sold.

The Romans were like brothers

In the brave days of old.

Louisiana Forestry Association’s Forests & People magazine 

has been a great source of information on those profiled 

in the document. Their early 'Faces of Forestry' series did 

much to provide recognition for those who made major 

contributions to the development of forestry in the South.

Appreciation is due to Tom Kelly, publisher of the Piney 

Woods Journal, who published a number of these profiles 

in his magazine which led to the idea of expanding that 

initiative into this larger project.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
68

Barnett, J.P. 2004. Southern forest resource conditions and management 

practices from 1900–1950: benefits of research. In: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-75. 

Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern 

Research Station: 15-22. Chapter 3. 

Boyd, W. 2001. The forests of the future? Industrial forestry and the southern 

pulp and paper complex. In: Scranton, Philip, ed. The second wave: southern 

industrialization from the 1940s to the 1970s. Athens, GA: University of 

Georgia Press: 168-218.

Chapman, H.H. 1912. Forest fires and forestry in the Southern States. 

American Forestry. 18: 510-517.

Chapman, H.H. 1926. Factors determining natural reproduction of longleaf 

pine on cutover lands in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. Bulletin 16. New Haven, 

CT: Yale University School of Forestry. 44 p

Clark, T.D. 1984. The greening of the South: the recovery of land and forest. 

Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky. 168 p.

Demmon, E.L. 1937. Forests and the economy of the South. Southern 

Economic Journal. 3(4): 369-380.

Fickle, J.E. 2001. Early forestry in the South and Mississippi. Forest History 

Today (Spring/Fall): 11-18.

Forbes, R.D. 1923. The passing of the piney woods. American Forests. 29(351): 

131-136, 185.

Fox, T.R.; Jokela, E.J.; Allen, H.L. 2007. The development of pine plantation 

silviculture in the Southern United States. Journal of Forestry. 105: 337-347.

Heyward, F. 1955. Austin Cary: Yankee peddler in forestry. American Forests. 

61(5): 29-30, 43-44; 61(6): 28-29, 52-53.

Heyward, F. 1958. History of industrial forestry in the South. The Colonel 

William B. Greeley Lectures in industrial forestry. Seattle, WA: University 

of Washington, College of Forestry. 50 p.

Kerr, Ed. 1958. History of forestry in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana 

Forestry Commission. 55 p.

MacCleery, D.W. 2002. American forests: a history of resiliency and recovery. 

Durham, NC: Forest History Society. 58 p.

Reed, G. 1982. Saving the naval stores industry: Charles Holmes Herty’s cup-andgutter experiments 1900–1905. Journal of Forest History. 26(4): 168-175. 

Reed, G.M. 1995. Realization of a dream: Charles H. Herty and the South’s 

first newsprint mill. Forest & Conservation History. 39: 4-16.

Schultz, R.P. 1997. Loblolly pine. The ecology and culture of loblolly pine 

(Pinus taeda L.). Agric. Handb. 713. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service. 493 p.

Wahlenberg, W.G. 1960. Loblolly pine. Its use, ecology, regeneration, 

protection, growth and management. Durham, NC: Duke University. 603 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1954. Planting the southern pines. Agricultural Monograph 18. 

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 233 p.

Wakeley, P.C. 1964. A biased history of the Southern Forest Experiment 

Station through fiscal year 1933. Unpublished document. New Orleans, 

LA: On file with: USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest 

Management Research, Pineville, LA 71360.

Wakeley, Philip C. 1976. F.O. (Red) Bateman, pioneer silviculturist. Journal of 

Forest History. 20(2): 91-99.

Williams, M.1989. Americans and their forests: a historical biography. 

Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press. 599 p.

LITERATURE CITED
Barnett, James P. 2011. Faces from the past: profiles of those who led 

restoration of the South’s forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-133. Asheville, 

NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research 

Station, 68 p.

Early in the 20th century, the forests in the South were devastated by 

aggressive harvesting and many millions of acres of forest land needed 

reforestation. Foresighted individuals began a committed effort to restore this 

land to a productive condition. This effort required dedication, cooperation, 

and leadership. A small cadre of individuals led the restoration of the 

South’s forests that became the basis of the South’s economy. Many of these 

individuals are profiled in this document. 

Keywords: History of forestry research, research scientists, restoration of 

southern forests, significance of forestry to the South, southern pines. 
The Forest Service, United States Department 

of Agriculture (USDA), is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, 

water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry 

research, cooperation with the States and private forest 

owners, and management of the National Forests and 

National Grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service to a growing Nation.

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SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 

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