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Seventy-five years ago, Lee Lafayette Thorpe, a prominent farmer of the Statesville / Newsoms community, was named the 1949-1950 “Outstanding Tree Farmer” for the eastern district of Virginia.  Virginia Forests, Inc., an organization of farmers and woodlands-based industries interested in the conservation and reproduction of Virginia forestlands, presented the award.  Mr. Thorpe placed second in the state-wide competition.  An award of a $75 savings bond was presented to Mr. Thorpe at a meeting of the Newsoms Ruritan Club by William Cooper, executive director of Virginia Forests, Inc.

A typical five-acre timber tract owned by Mr. Thorpe was entered in the contest.  He removed and sold the crooked, diseased, and mature trees, leaving for later harvest the desirable trees that had not finished growing.    

During the Newsoms Ruritan Club meeting, Mr. Thorpe said, “It is time that more attention be given to the conservation of our natural resources.  Without conservation, profitable production dwindles.  There is a certain time for harvesting any crop, when man may get the greatest returns, whether it be timber, corn, or hay – and still provide seed, or a residue for reproduction.  Each year, in the case of timber, there is a certain amount of growth, which forest economists call increment.  As long as man can live on this increment and provide reproduction of the resource, he is safe.”    

“Conservation”, Mr. Thorpe said, “is man’s control of the natural balance.  Conservation practices must be based on scientific facts, especially with respect to maintaining the natural balance.  Man maintains or destroys that balance by what he does to land, water, plants, and animals.  Land is the pivotal factor.  Water ties plant and animal life to each other and to the land.  If this balance, which is a swinging balance, is destroyed, man eventually is forced off the land.  

For the continuous production of timber, Mr. Thorpe recommended and endorsed the method of selective timber cutting and other practices promoted by the Virginia Forest Service.  On his 350-acre farm, Mr. Thorpe in 1949 cut and sold 1,787,000 board feet of timber, leaving over one million board feet of standing timber for seed trees and a growing forest for future use.  Each year, he set out many seedlings of different species to reforest land suitable for timber growing.  In 1948, Mr. Thorpe was presented with a “Tree Farmer” certificate and sign by American Forest Industries, Inc., of Washington, D.C, for his interest in and contributions to the conservation of our forests.       

Mr. Thorpe was a member of an adult farmers’ evening class at Newsoms High School for more than twenty-four years.  The agriculture teacher conducted that class one evening a week during the winter months.  Members of that group gave serious attention to the topic of “forestry conservation, and, as an outcome of their involvement and following Mr. Thorpe’s lead, many farmers in the community besides Mr. Thorpe began treating timber growth as a farm crop.

CLYDE PARKER is a retired human resources manager for the former Franklin Equipment Co. and a member of the Southampton County Historical Society. His email address is magnolia101@charter.net.