University of Virginia Library

Harvesting Forest Fibers

Not only the fields but also the forests of Albemarle were made
to contribute to winning the war. Sixty farmers cooperated with
the Thomas Jefferson Farm Forestry Project operated in conjunction
with the Thomas Jefferson Soil Conservation District in Albemarle,
Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, and Nelson counties. During the year
preceding June, 1944, they cut 448,000 cubic feet of pulpwood and
815,000 board feet of sawlogs, all of which went to the war effort.
Because they harvested this lumber in accordance with good forestry
practices, continued production was assured in the years to come.
The same areas would produce the same amount of wood every year.
In the fall of 1944 a power-driven, labor saving saw was introduced
into the county as a result of the acute labor shortage and the importance
of lumber and its derivatives in war industries. Within a
given time this new equipment could accomplish the work of about
ten men. Farmers were urged in the winter of 1944 to use their
spare time until spring for the harvesting of pulpwood on their lands.
The condition of the pulpwood industry was critical, and pulp and
paper mills were faced with the possibility of closing unless production
was increased. In April, 1945, it was estimated that 2,000
cords of pulpwood were being shipped out of the county each month,
thirty-five to forty per cent of which were being contributed by individual,
non-commercial harvesters. War materials made from wood
fiber—besides all varieties of paper and paper containers—included
aviators vests, bomb rings, camouflage nets, first-aid kits, gas mask
filters, hospital wadding, maps, photographic film, smokeless powder,
and supply parachutes. Arrangements were made through Ellis L.
Lyon, farm forester of the Virginia Forest Service, in cooperation
with the Albemarle County Pulpwood Committee to move wood
to market in trucks.

The Forest Fire Fighters Service was created by the local Civilian
Defense Council to assist the fire control forces of state and Federal
forest protection agencies, which were finding it difficult to employ
fire fighters. Cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was
promised in obtaining evidence for the prosecution of any fire law
violations which threatened or damaged war facilities or Federal
property. As forest products were critical war materials, forest fires

not only sabotaged war production but drew manpower away from
farms and essential industries. Federal sabotage laws as well as state
fire prevention statutes were invoked against persons responsible for
them. It was estimated that $13,861 worth of marketable timber
was burned in Albemarle County during the six-year period preceding
1946. Twenty-four boys of the Scottsville High School completed
the training course required for membership in the Forest Fire
Fighters Service and were entitled to wear the badge showing the
outline of a tree in red on a triangular background of white and blue.
The boys were organized in fire fighting crews, with leaders and
assistant leaders, and were ready to respond to the calls of state forest
wardens to fight fires when other manpower was not readily available.
Tools and transportation were furnished by the Virginia Forest
Service, and the boys were to be paid the same wages as other
fire fighters.[47]