Milledgeville, GA |

Here in Baldwin County, these guys are hard at work hand planting pine trees – a crucial step in Georgia’s reforestation process. However, that process isn’t an easy one – in fact it’s a multi-step process that foresters across the state follow closely, starting with clearing out the competition, giving the seedlings the best chance to survive.

“So after a clear cut, you’ve got all this influx of sunlight that’s going to get a lot of things growing that weren’t growing when it wasn’t a forested stand, so you’ve got to get rid of all that competing vegetation or it’s going to outcompete your pine trees, and you’re going to have poor survival. So they do a broadcast chemical treatment that kills all that vegetation and then so you let that chemical work for about two months and then you’re ready to actually put the trees in the ground during the winter time. So the time frame on those steps are, the chemical site treatment is in the summer, you’re going to do your burning in the fall, roughly two months after the chemical treatment, and then you’re going to plant the trees,” says Jason McMullen, Management Forester with the Georgia Forestry Commission.

According to McMullen, once the site is ready, the Winter is the most ideal time of year for planting, as the moist soil allows the seedlings to take root.

“Generally, you know, it’s wet in the winter and it’s cool. You’re going to get the trees in the ground while there’s plenty of moisture, and they have time to start spreading the roots and getting established before it turns dry in the spring and summer. We are planting containerized seedlings here, so they’re going to be more drought resistant versus bare root seedlings, but it just helps them get established before it gets hot and dry in the summer,” says McMullen.

From there, McMullen says management is the key to success, as the ultimate goal is ensuring the trees are able to thrive.

“Our next potential step would be in the spring doing a herbaceous weed control treatment. That’s a follow up chemical treatment to knock back any weeds or competing vegetation that may try to come up this spring. After that, with loblolly pine, you really just let them grow for about fifteen years, and then you’re going to be looking at doing your first commercial thinning operation,” says McMullen.

According to McMullen however, while the timing and technique are important parts of the process, it’s the big picture that matters most to Georgia’s forestry industry, and is one that’s typically misunderstood.

“I have people ask me about are we running out of trees? Why are you cutting down the trees? The trees, they are a crop. They’re planted for the purpose of harvesting. So the bigger issue is if you were to clear cut something and not putting it back. Here, replanting trees, that’s being a good steward of the land; getting the land back in a productive state and helping our thriving timber economy continue to thrive,” says McMullen.

By: John Holcomb