If you are reading this column before supper, you still have time to rush out to the Southeastern North Carolina Agricultural Center and Farmers Market to enjoy the Annual Awards and Recognition Banquet which is being presented tonight by the Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and the Robeson County Crop Promotion Association. If you are reading this column after supper, it's too late. But don't worry, I will provide information in this column next week about who won what awards.

I would like to remind you that free pine seedlings will be available tomorrow from 9 a.m. until 12 noon at the Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service which is located in the O. P. Owens Agriculture Center, Highway 72 West, Lumberton. These seedlings are compliments of International Paper Company Tree Nursery for people who need just a few seedlings to plant around the yard or barnyard. If you need a large number of seedlings, please contact the tree nursery directly.

There is still a lot of questions from farmers and landowners about possibilities for alternative income from their farm operations. Many landowners want to continue their traditional production but also want to generate additional income from their farmland. I still feel there is potential for a lot of additional income for local landowners by better management of their forestlands.

I would like to remind you that a Forestry Management Workshop will be provided at the Extension Center from 2 until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 7. This workshop would be especially beneficial for landowners who rent their farms for crop production but do nothing about forest management. For more information about this workshop, please call my office at 910- 671-3276.

While we are dealing with forestry topics, let me share this information with you. "Wood" you believe this? To grow a pound of wood, a healthy tree typically uses a pound and a half of carbon dioxide and gives off more than a pound of oxygen. But this process reverses itself in an old forest with a lot of decaying wood such as some of the storm-damaged woodlands in Robeson County. Then for every pound of wood that decays, a pound of oxygen is used and nearly a pound and a half of carbon dioxide is released into the air. On an average, every American uses the equivalent of one tree that is 18 inches in diameter and 100 feet tall, every year. That's 80 cubic feet of wood.

In 1995, over 1.6 billion seedlings were planted in the United States. This is more than five trees for every person. The forest products industry planted 43 percent of these seedlings, the government planted 15 percent, and private individuals planted 42 percent.

Wood is the only building material that comes from a renewable resource. Most other building materials come from nonrenewable resources such as petrochemicals used in plastics and ores used in aluminum and iron.

In 1920, more than twice as much timber was harvested as was replanted. But we have made a lot of progress since then. By 1986, more than 3.5 times as many trees were being planted as in 1920.

Forest products are recyclable and biodegradable. In 1993, nearly one million tons of wood were recovered for recycling and reused in products ranging from particleboard and paper to garden mulch. More than 95 percent of the bark and wood residues generated from producing lumber and plywood are used for energy and other products.

The annual growth of wood in our forests exceeds harvests and losses to insects by 33 percent each year. So we are making a lot of progress in replanting one of our most valuable resources--our forests. But more than that, landowners are seeing the potential for income and profits from forest products and are taking advantage of this opportunity. What about you?

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 4/26/01