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Unionizing wildlife: Pawers, Placers and Patters Local 308
Grass is always greener...
Don GardnerColor
Don Gardner is a University of Georgia Extension agent who lives in Bryan County. - photo by File photo

In my last column, I wrote: “The seeds of longleaf pine have to be exposed to fire before they will germinate.” One of our readers quickly let me know that longleaf pine certainly did not require fire to germinate and he has 25 acres of longleaf that has not seen fire to prove it.  

The paragraphs below come straight from U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, “Agriculture Handbook 654 Silvics of North America:”

“Seedling Development — Longleaf pine differs from other Southern pines in that seeds germinate soon after they are dispersed. Given optimum conditions, seeds germinate in less than a week after they reach the ground. Prompt germination reduces the period of exposure to seed predators, but newly germinated seedlings are susceptible to damage or loss from animals, diseases and weather uncertainties, which may include high fall temperatures, drought or extreme cold with a risk of frost heaving in heavy soils (11).

“Seeds require contact with mineral soil for satisfactory germination and establishment. Longleaf seeds, with their large wings, cannot easily reach mineral soil through a heavy cover of grass and litter. The accumulated material must be removed before seedfall, either mechanically or by burning. Burning within a year of seedfall normally provides an adequate seedbed. Lack of seedbed preparation can result in a regeneration failure.”

So the reader is right. Longleaf does not have to have fire for its seeds to germinate. Fire is just the easiest way for Mother Nature to prepare the seedbed over the 93 million acres that longleaf pine once dominated across the Southeastern United States.

The alternative was teaching 50 million deer to paw at the ground to clear a spot so a squirrel could plant the seed in the paw mark, followed by a beaver to pat the soil down with his tail to get good seed to soil contact. It’s a union contract: Pawers, Placers and Patters Local 308.

People do not have to live in the comfortable Southeast. The Inuit people (Eskimos to the P.C. resistant among you) proved that people can live their entire lives north of the Arctic Circle. Yes, they can. It’s just not the lifestyle most of us prefer. Cabo comes to mind.

None of this changes the point I was trying to make. Cultivating the longleaf pine on military posts within the original range of longleaf pine makes excellent sense, to the point of being a “Duh!”

All we have to put up with is a little smoke from time to time. If that is too much for you to endure, try getting deer, squirrels and beavers to cooperate on just about anything. It’s like herding cats.


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Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port
GardenCityTerminal
The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

The Georgia Ports Authority's busiest April ever pushed its fiscal year-to-date totals to more than 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 8.8 percent, or 280,000 TEUs, compared to the first 10 months of fiscal 2017.

"We're on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "We're also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs."

April volumes reached 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units, up 7.1 percent or 23,700 units. As the fastest growing containerport in the nation, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent a year over the past decade.

"As reported in the recent economic impact study by UGA's Terry College of Business, trade through Georgia's deepwater ports translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater productivity," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "In every region of Georgia, employers rely on the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to help them become more competitive on the global stage."

To strengthen the Port of Savannah's ability to support the state's future economic growth, the GPA Board approved $66 million in terminal upgrades, including $24 million for the purchase of 10 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes.  

"The authority is committed to building additional capacity ahead of demand to ensure the Port of Savannah remains a trusted link in the supply chain serving Georgia and the Southeast," Lynch said.

The crane purchase will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal to 156 RTGs. The new cranes will support three new container rows, which the board approved in March. The additional container rows will increase annual capacity at the Port of Savannah by 150,000 TEUs.

The RTGs will work over stacks that are five containers high and six deep, with a truck lane running alongside the stacks. Capable of running on electricity, the cranes will have a lift capacity of 50 metric tons.

The cranes will arrive in two batches of five in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2019.

 Also at Monday's meeting, the GPA Board elected its officers, with Jimmy Allgood as chairman, Will McKnight taking the position of vice chairman and Joel Wooten elected as the next secretary/treasurer.

For more information, visit gaports.com, or contact GPA Senior Director of Corporate Communications Robert Morris at (912) 964-3855 or rmorris@gaports.com.

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