ABSTRACT
Our concern in this chapter is reforestation, the establishment of forest trees on lands that earlier had supported stands of arboreal vegetation. Afforestation, the conversion to woodlands of sites that never produced trees, is also considered. In the South, however, afforestation would be limited to the dunes along shore lines and the calcareous black belts of Alabama and Texas, but the latter locales are too valuable for agriculture to warrant the effort. Sand dunes do receive some afforestation. Some may suggest that the reclamation of surface-mined lands, severely eroded sites, and the acid-drenched Copper Basin of southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia calls for afforestation, but these are tracts that once supported fine stands of timber. Essentially, afforestation was required following the 1880–1930s cut-and-get-out harvesting practices across the South from Virginia to Texas. Vast acreages without a seed source were subsequently covered by weedy vegetation, while artificial regeneration was necessary on millions of acres. Restocking of many sites such as this awaited the coming of foresters to manage the reclamation of these lands to highly productive forests. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429104336/0e9b37f2-83f7-4bb9-a934-78da2053703b/content/fig5_1.jpg"/>
