Foresters start over with good fire'

By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
Aug. 30, 2002
Using a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel, five forestry workers used torches Thursday to set fire to 80 acres of 16th Section Land on Allen Swamp Road.
Bowles said the land was harvested two years ago and that the forestry workers burned the land to prepare it for hand-planting Loblolly pine.
Money from the last harvest will pay for the new seedlings.
In 10 to 15 years, the forestry department will thin the growth out. In 30 to 35 years, the trees will have 12-inch diameters and will be ready to harvest.
After that, he said, the forestry department will burn the land again.
Bowles said in the South, pine trees evolved through fire ecology and have a thick bark that does not burn easily. In the West, he said, the forest service does not use controlled burns to cut down on litter, needle, sticks and dead leaf build-up.
Weather conditions and a north wind made it a good day for a controlled burn.