DescripciónAEC-69-8484 FOREST MANAGEMENT OF THE TIMBERLAND –100,000 acres of it –surrounding the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, and the Savannah river Plant, South Carolina, is being put to good use by the Atomic Energy Commission. Over 70,000 acres in Harnwell and Aicon Counties, South Caroline, in over 20,000 acres in Roane and Anderson Counties, Tennessee, have been placed under active forest management programs. Ecologists at ORNL measure tree volume and mark trees with paint for cutting. The logging team (shown) removes timber from the forest management area. As a result of the controlled and selective cutting, the AEC expects to improve the yield and assure a higher quality of lumber for marketing. The annual harvest from both reservations is roughly 20 million board feet of saw timber and 35,000 cords of pulpwood. AEC’s income from such sales has reached the $ 2.5 million mark – a sizable fraction of, and an unexpected return on, the Government’s initial investment in the land. The Savannah River land management program operates under an agreement between the AEC and The U.S. Forest Services. The Oak Ridge Forest management program involves the AEC, Tennessee Valley Authority, the City of Norris, and commercial lumbering concerns. Cutting is prohibited in certain “control” areas which are being used to compare the effectiveness of the management program of to conserve typical Appalachian ridge and Tennessee Valley landscapes. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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