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Upon signing the agreement to reforest only 20 acres of Southern Pine Beetle damaged pines I contacted Joe Tyler Duncan, present Mayor, who was at that time doing contract excavation and bull dozer work. The plan was to circle the 20 acres with a 15-20 ft buffer so that the beetle would not continue to spread. Then, since my neighbor had cattle that had roamed my father's property for years, to fence the 20 acres so that I could replant the area with White Pine trees, resistant to the beetle. Duncan had just entered the race for County Road Commissioner and told me that this would be his last job since he had decided to sell all his equipment so that no one would accuse him of a conflict of interest. Unfortunately for me and Mr. Duncan the plan to fence only 20 acres changed to the fencing of the entire 150 acre tract between my neighbor and myself. This was before I could have the project approved and get the FIP (Forest Improvement Project) money to pay Mr. Duncan for the work he had done. I almost quit the project upon learning this and did leave for about a month before deciding to return and complete the couple of miles of fence required. It took me over a year of fencing. I cut all cedar myself from the property.
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| George Prewitt took plenty of time to help
with my planning. George was the African American - District Soil Conservation Agent stationed in Tazewell for a short time in late 1979. He was replaced by Luther Whitaker during the 1980's then Ed Smith, who presented me with the District Conservation Award in 1982. George D. Prewitt
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| Just First Page
of Examination Report |
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| The Forestry Plan - BMP |
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Ric Walker was primary Forester. He
and I had several differences but we hashed them out.
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Approved Application for Pioneer Tree Farm
- 20 years
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After working several months on piling the timber that I sawed and was able to have piled for what the Forestry Department called a subscribed burn with the promise of their help regarding fire protection I never got them to the property to help me with the burn. As a matter of fact the only help I got came from Ric Walker who unfortunately because of extreme pain to his back decided to end his own life not long after I finished this project. The Tennessee Department of Forestry would have started a backfire to stop a slow ground fire using roads that I had cut late in 2001 had I not luckily caught them and had them work on a firebreak between our property and the adjoining TVA Property.
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Here is the First of a Kind - Trespass
Patrol
I
had intended to
return to the U.S. State Department in 1983 which I did and had done
something that no one else had ever done. Because of timber trespass on
a Government Subsidized piece of property I found a loop hole that
required the State of Tennessee Department of Forestry to Patrol my
property for Trespassing. I had been unable to get TVA, the TBI or
local law enforcement to do much of anything regarding stolen cars
deposited on the property or constant vandalism. Sadly I only stayed
with the Department of State for eight months during 1983 and the
patrol was not required
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I was living in Virginia and would have
started the patrols should I have stayed.
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