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History of the Ecology in North Georgia
To get a sense of how the area looked before human settlement and development,
see Wesley Woods or the forest
outside the Fernbank
Science Center located about a mile south of Emory. Before European
Americans made such drastic changes in the local ecology, Cherokee and
Creek Native Americans lived in the area and affected the environment
in their own way -- by hunting certain animal species, harvesting the
nuts and fruits of certain plants, clearing land, and leaving debris.
"When the pioneer colonists arrived, the Indians learned new farming skills
and lived in harmony with the pioneers. Then, gold was discovered. Indians
were driven off their land in the great "Trail of Tears" to reservations
in Oklahoma [1835-1840]. Their land was given away in land lotteries.
Gold was mined and almost every stream in north Georgia suffered tremendous
damage from hydraulic mining. But ... the gold ran out and the timber
companies moved in ... In the 1880's, railroads began penetrating the
North Georgia Mountains making timber easier to access. Large landowners
built these railroads. These companies bought much of this mountain land
for as little as $1.00 per acre. Their goal was to cut the timber, sell
the land, and move on to another location. They logged the land for lumber
and for bark of Chestnut, Chestnut Oak and Hemlock trees. Tannic acid
was extracted from the bark, which was used in tanning leather. This was
big industry in those days as almost every household item was leather
or involved leather in its use. Wildfire also took a toll. Sparks from
wood burning trains and skidders ignited thousands of acres. Farmers lost
control of fires they set to clear land, to rid the woods of insects and
snakes and to improve forage for cattle and swine which roamed the woods."
History
of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests by Rachel G. Schneider.
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