By RAY WYCHE
 Staff Writer

Linda and Jimmy Brown could have done what most landowners do with their woodlands once the trees have been removed.

They could have let nature take its course by allowing the winged, lightweight pine seeds blow onto their cut-over land and, hopefully, land in exposed mineral soil, take root and in a few years produce pulpwood and sawlogs.

Allowing nature to reseed a forest is a hit-or-miss proposition; the airborne seed stand no chance of sprouting unless they land in spots where the ground-covering straw and debris have been removed to expose the soil. Even then, it’s an iffy situation. A harvestable tree may or may not result.

The Browns in their reforesting efforts followed a plan recommended by the N.C. Forest Service and Georgia-Pacific, both of which guided the Browns in their efforts to obtain maximum benefit from tree-farming.

Jimmy Brown says some of the land was formerly farm land that needed no preparation before tree-setting began; other tracts (the Browns have four parcels totaling 77-plus acres) had to be cleared of natural growth trees — including some “weed” trees less valuable than yellow pine — and “chopped” to destroy debris to make the tract more accessible for machinery. The land was made into rows to enhance the survivability and speed up the growth of the seedlings.

Brown says he followed recommendations by planting the trees in rows, like a field crop, to facilitate harvesting. Following the professionals’ recommendations, each fifth row of pines was cut for pulpwood at intervals of 15 to 20 years, and about half the remaining trees were harvested to provide growing room for those surviving.

“I started planting in 1973 and harvesting in the 1990s,” he says. The good management practices the Browns followed in their tree-farming increased the value of their crops.

“Space is the key,” Brown says. “You gain 60 percent by thinning twice. You’ve got to get some trees out to let the crown (topmost limbs of pines) spread out. You’ve got to give it space.”

Income from the tree farm since the first harvest has been much greater than it would have been if the Browns had depended on natural reseeding.

The Browns followed other suggested practices, doing controlled burns in their timberland to remove fuel (fallen straw and limbs) to lessen damages in case of wildfire and to destroy worthless understory growth such as myrtle and gallberry bushes.

The next and final harvesting takes place 33 or 34 years after planting when “ply logs,” trees with a diameter of at least 16 inches, are cut and sold for lumber or veneer to make plywood.

Then the Browns start the process anew, beginning with a control burn and then replanting.

Jimmy Brown knew, from his experience as a logger, timber buyer and farmer, that timber growing according to the latest management practices can produce a more profitable harvest than the old hit-or-miss methods.

To the Browns, tree-farming is truly farming.