Semi-regeneration Era (c. 1920-70)

Around the 1920s, an era of forest semi-regeneration began. This era would also witness a growing appreciation of a wider suite of ecosystem services provided by southern forests, including watershed protection and recreation.

Four factors in particular fueled semi-regeneration of southern forests. First, farmers abandoned marginal cropland and pastures due to soil erosion; a financial crisis that hit the agricultural sector in the 1920s; and the rise of urban jobs. Furthermore, the spread of crop pests such as the boll weevil, which adversely affected cotton growers, started to take their toll on farmers.¹ The rate of land abandonment and subsequent succession to forest was especially high during the Great Depression and World War II.

Second, the region started adopting electricity and transportation fuels that were not wood-based. In the early 1930s, less than 15 percent of rural southern households had electricity; by 1955, however, rural electrification had reached 94 percent of the population.² This and other energy transitions reduced pressure on forests for fuelwood.

Third, private sector investment in forest management increased during this era. Forest product companies replanted forests and encouraged tree planting on other private lands. Companies, in collaboration with universities and government agencies, invested in research to improve forest productivity and land management practices.

Fourth, in response to growing concern, the U.S. government started to strengthen forest resource management and introduce incentives for reforestation. One development was the establishment of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905. Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service’s mission was, and still is, to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Forest Service also took charge of newly created national forests, many of which were established to ensure long-term supplies of timber and to protect watersheds from erosion and sedimentation of waterways.

Congress established the South’s first national forest—the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and Oklahoma—in 1907. The federal government continued to purchase land in every southern state through 1961. Many of the South’s national forests were established on cut-over woodland or degraded farmland and subsequently reforested.

Several government incentive programs also helped spur forest recovery in the region. For example, the Civilian Conservation Corps carried out natural resource conservation activities such as tree planting on national, state, and municipal lands. As part of the Soil Bank Act legislation, the government initiated the Conservation Reserve Program—commonly referred to as the “Soil Bank Program”—in 1956 and provided subsidies for shifting cropland to forest cover.

Thanks to these and other efforts, southern forest extent made a partial comeback. Relatively dense forest cover became particularly prevalent in Arkansas, Louisiana, the mountainous interior of the region, and the Gulf Coast (Figure 3.7). Recovery of forest area peaked in the early 1960s at approximately 228 million acres.³