New Kent County
New Kent Forestry Center: Fifty Years of Excellence

So much of forest management hinges on the production of quality seedlings that it cannot be overlooked. This has been the mission of the New Kent Forestry Center since it was established in 1952. This year the Forestry Center celebrates its fiftieth anniversary as a world premier forest nursery and research station operated by the Virginia Department of Forestry. This is its story.
By Dennis Gaston
August 23, 2002

The Beginning

In 1914, under the Governor Henry C. Stuart, the Virginia General Assembly created the Office of the State Forester. The mission of this newly created office was to reforest cutover lands, encourage private landowners to grow timber for commercial purposes, manage forests according to scientific principles, conservation of watersheds and prevent the destruction of forests by fire. This was a daunting task given the heavy logging during the industrial revolution. Lumber production had peaked in 1909 at more than twice today's production rates and was sharply declining due to over-cutting. Virginia was following this same trend that had already started in the Lake States and was moving south. It was clear that we could not keep supplies in balance with the demand.

You cannot plant cutover lands without the seedlings. So, the first state nursery was established in December 1916 at Lambeth Field in Charlottesville. The first seed, collected from the wild, was sown in the spring of 1917. Loblolly pine comprised the majority of the seedlings but other species included shortleaf pine, white pine and Norway spruce. To help jump-start the first nursery, Mr. J.P. Taylor, a landowner in Orange County Landowner, donated $500. Mr. Taylor subsequently planted 650 acres. Those trees have, of course, been harvested since but Mr. Taylor kept planting trees well into the 1930s. Subsequent family members kept up the forest management tradition and actively thinned the pine plantations. Today much of the property still remains in the family.

In the next few years World War I made it very difficult to secure labor but the nursery production continued and by 1919 the total inventory numbered 25,730 seedlings. Expansion continued at a rapid pace and by 1923 the inventory was recorded at 61,000 seedlings, although only 28,546 were actually distributed. The species selection had also expanded. The nursery was struggling to discover it's role and the current wisdom in forest management of the time included the use of various non-native species that were popular in Europe. As a result, only two thousand of these trees were loblolly pine. About half the inventory was Scotch pine and other species included white pine, Norway spruce, douglas fir, Japanese larch, catalpa and locust among others. By 1925 common sense prevailed and the species selection reverted back to mostly native species.

By 1928 the site at Lambeth Field reached maximum capacity and it was necessary to move the nursery operations to increase production. A site was chosen at what is now Scott Stadium and expectations were set at production of 250,000 seedlings for 1929. However, before this first crop was harvested it became necessary to move the entire operation again due to the construction of Scott Stadium. The move was made rather hurriedly and all the growing stock was loaded on shallow flats and reset on the new site at what is presently the Central Office for the Virginia Department of Forestry. Even with the move, the inventory came in at 275,611. The greatest part of this production was back to loblolly pine, but the list now included: arbor vitae, Austrian pine, Scotch pine, white pine, Norway spruce, ash, locust, white oak, slash pine, redwood, red pine bald cypress, and longleaf pine.

This new site was to be home for the nursery for the next 22 years and finally offered the Virginia Forest Service a place to expand and grow. The man in charge of the nursery at this time was known as J.O."Hap" Hazard. His position was called Associate Forester. Hap resigned this position in 1930 to become the State Forester of Tennessee. His replacement was R.S. Maddox, who, as it turns out, had resigned as the State Forester of Tennessee. It was literally an exchange of positions.

The early development of the Virginia Forest Service Nursery owes a great debt to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) beyond the practical assistance in building modern facilities at the new nursery. With the CCC came a conservation movement within the country that increased the rate of reforestation and increased the demand for seedlings. By 1939 the production rate hit the one million mark. Two years later it increased by 2.5 times to 2,500,000 seedlings. But WWII had a negative affect on production until 1945 when it fell back to half million.

It became apparent in 1941 that the limit of seedling production at the nursery had been reach. Immediately after the war, demand grew sharply again, especially with the advent of planting machines which made it easier to convert abandoned fields into productive timberland. But funds for the acquisition of a new nursery site were non-existent. To fix this problem, an agreement was forged with the U.S. Navy at Camp Peary near Williamsburg and a second nursery was established there in 1947 with Wally Custard as the Nursery Superintendent and Bill W. King as his assistant. The two nurseries had a combined production of two and one half million seedlings in 1948. Production rates nearly doubled every year for the next few years until the nurseries were distributing 9 million seedlings in 1952.

But by 1950, it was apparent that Camp Peary would not be able to continue as a nursery much longer and the Charlottesville Nursery was only a fraction of what it used to be. It had been turned into more of a warehouse facility and mechanics shop. The Korean Conflict was escalating and the military base could not offer what it could during peaceful times. This threat of losing the use of the base with little notice and the need for more space to cultivate required that the Division seek alternatives. So, initial steps were taken in 1951 to acquire an old Game Farm that had been abandoned by the Game Commission in New Kent County. Early references called it the Windsor Nursery since that portion of New Kent County was called Windsor Shades. Now the property is known as the New Kent Forestry Center (NKFC).

New Kent Forestry Center Is Born

Between the years 1919 to 1920 the Virginia Game Commission acquired a total of 856 acres of land along the Chickahominy River in New Kent County. The acquisition came in four separate deed transactions from private landowners. This property was operated as a game farm and they raised quail to be introduced into the natural environment of Virginia. In 1944, the City of Newport News purchased from the Federal Government a perpetual easement to flood a portion of land above the Walker Dam Project to provide drinking water for the city. This condemnation of the land included 429 acres of the Game Farm. Indeed, when Walkers Dam was built, the low-lying land was flooded and came to be known as the Game Farm Marsh. Today this marsh has developed into a cypress swamp.

Quail production at the Game Farm was nearly discontinued by 1952 and most of the land was idle. The Game Commission had run into insurmountable problems in rearing the young birds and even greater problems with survival after distributing them in the field. It was the perfect location for the much needed nursery expansion that the Virginia Forest Service required.

John Heltzel was the Reforestation Chief at this time in Charlottesville and recognized the suitability of the property. So the deal was forged and the deed signed July 1, 1952. The Game Commission kept title to the 429 acres below the high water mark and the Virginia Forest Service took control of 428 acres of high ground. The soils were perfect for growing trees. They were excessively sandy soils that would make it easier to lift the seedlings out of the ground without tearing the roots when it came time to harvest them. It was noted at the time that the new nursery site being established is capable of expansion to almost any volume of production likely to be necessary. Three full time employees ran the operation at the NKFC in the early years along with a host of part-time local people.

Bill W. King started on as the first Nursery Superintendent. Bill had started with Wally Custard at the Camp Peary Nursery and was in charge of the whole operation by 1952. He had a Forestry degree from Penn State but it is widely appreciated that his strong attributes were practical application, common sense and mechanics. He's been described by a former employee of his as an engineer disguised as a forester. He spent many a long hour himself on the bulldozer clearing fields and building facilities. Mr. King stayed on in this position for 33 years until he retired in 1985. The success of NKFC was due to a large degree to Mr. King's tenacity and stubborn resolve to get the job done. The other two charter members of the team included: John A. Rudisill, a local man from Charles City County, who worked as the Foreman and Tom Stewart, a local from New Kent was the main mechanic. Tom started at Camp Peary with Bill King and stayed on the job for 44 years years until he retired in 1992.

Incidentally, legislation in 1948 designated the agency as the Virginia Division of Forestry. Old habits are hard to change and it wasn't until 1955 that the legal agency name was forceably used on letterheads and memos to push out the old name "Virginia Forest Service".

The development of NKFC developed rapidly with construction of an office, packinghouse, seed extractory, water system and necessary sheds as well as clearing land for the nursery beds. There was a house on the property but other than that one structure, the facilities and mechanisms were all designed and built by Mr. King and his workers. The King Family lived at the residence on the property until the early 1960s. Bill and Betty King raised two children here, Jack and Jane. Jack was ten when they moved to New Kent. It was virtually a kingdom for a child of ten. He spent many days roaming the property and he fished the Chickahominy River from one end to the other. He says, "I can remember many many nights taking my bath and going to bed and my father was still up in the shop working. " He remembers fondly about the times when the place came alive with hundreds of laborers working in the fields and facilities and he developed a close relationship with many of the full time workers. He says, "They always had a bright and positive attitude and I hope that I learned a lot from them about life." Jack King attended NC State for Forestry and went on to become the President of Chesapeake Forest Products Company and Chesapeake Building Products.

With the "Plant More Trees" campaign sponsored by the Virginia Forests Inc. (Now Virginia Forestry Association), the demand steadily rose until by 1961 production rates topped at 32 million seedlings. During the 1960s the Charlottesville nursery ceased to exist since the construction of Interstate 64 cut directly through where all the seedbeds had been. NKFC was now the only forest tree nursery in the state. The next few years saw the development of other nurseries by paper companies and an interest in direct seeding and consequently production fell a little but it was back on the rise soon. From Day one, the philosophy at the nursery was that it had to be an operation that paid for itself. That philosophy still runs the operation today.

Expansion

All of these seedlings were still being harvested essentially by hand. This was an extremely labor intensive and slow process. First a tractor would loosen the soil by pulling an undercutting blade under the seedbeds. Then an army of workers would hand pull the trees and place them on trailers pulled by tractors. These tractors transported the trees to the grading building where they were packed. When asked how many people it would take the patent answer from the old-timers still working here was, " As many as you could get." Usually between 80 and 100 people were used in the field harvesting trees. There are only a handful of native residents of New Kent or Charles City Counties over 50 years old who did not work in these fields or at the facility somewhere.

While the day to day operations at NKFC provided much-needed jobs for local residents, the labor market was still limited. It was increasingly apparent that something had to be done to reduce the labor needs required by this job. The talents of the agency were brought together to design and build a machine that would harvest the seedlings from the field and reduce labor. Bill King, Oscar Bellamy, Leroy Collins and Billy Eppard, Mechanics, and John Heltzel, all rose to the occasion.

Between 1967 and 1969, they built and perfected a lifting machine that could harvest one million seedlings in an 8-hour day a whole seedling bed at a time. While it was based on a single row lifter that had been produced by a manufacturer in New York, it was revolutionary. Representatives from 15 states and 3 foreign countries visited the Nursery at New Kent to inspect the machine. The Forest Service made a complete set of mechanical drawings that were widely distributed. It ushered in a new age of nursery production. By 1969 production at NKFC was up to over 53 million loblolly pine trees. By now, it was generally recognized that NKFC was the largest single species nursery in the world. In the early 1970s the Division of Forestry joined the Auburn Nursery Co-op in order to share information on the most modern nursery techniques and challenges. They still belong to this Co-op today.

In 1966, the Virginia General Assembly provided funds to purchase 186 acres north of Waynesboro for the establishment of a nursery. This nursery would focus mainly on the production of species other than loblolly pine and would greatly enhance the species diversity offered for reforestation purposes. Today the Department of Forestry offers 52 different species for sale. The list includes species for reforestation, for Christmas tree production, wildlife and erosion control or riparian areas. In 1987 a system was established whereby a person could purchase a small order (as few as 25 trees) and have them delivered by UPS to their door. And by 1991 seedlings sales were offered over the Internet.

The NKFC had been designed to produce 35-40 million seedlings per year. It was thought that this production would meet any Virginia demand. But the need for expansion loomed heavy once again as production rates ran steady in the 50 millions all through the 1970s to meet the demand. Good land management practices, labor supply and other factors necessitated reducing production. And a search for a third nursery facility began. John Heltzel made an exhaustive search through the southeast for suitable sites. Tom Dierauf, Research Chief, screened and evaluated the sites according to soil suitability and settled on one best site belonging to Gray Lumber Company in Sussex County. The state Forester, Wally Custard persisted in trying to get the capital outlay for the acquisition and in 1981 it happened. The first crop of loblolly pine came off the Garland Gray Nursery in 1984 allowing the soils at NKFC a much-deserved rest. Production at New Kent was cut in half and still remains at 20 million today. To date the New Kent Forestry Center has produced over 1.6 billion seedlings.

Bill King retired in 1985 and later passed away in 1989 while attending the 75th anniversary of the Virginia Department of Forestry. He had given a large chunk of his life to public service and his leaving left big shoes to fill. But he had set the groundwork firmly in place. Ron Jenkins, Tree Improvement Forester at NKFC, fell into those shoes quite easily. Today, Dwight Stallard manages the nursery operation of all three state nurseries from his office at Garland Gray Nursery in Sussex County.

The Age of Enlightenment

The need for research on tree growth had been realized early. Plans for implementing a research branch began as early as 1952. In 1954 R.L. 'Ray' Marler, District Management Chief in Richmond, was temporarily assigned to study the growth rates and monetary returns from pine plantings. As a result of this work, Marler was transferred permanently to the Division headquarters in Charlottesville to head up applied practical research.

In 1957, interest in genetics and establishing a seed orchard was aroused. Marler was sent to North Caroline to study under Dr. Bruce Zobel and tour the work in the southern states on superior seed sources. Upon his return, a seed orchard was laid out at NKFC and the search for superior trees was initiated. This began the program known today as the Tree Improvement Program. Some preliminary grafting experimentation was done in 1959 and a full-scale effort of grafting was begun in 1960 in an effort to establish the seed orchards of NKFC.

The search for superior trees initially concentrated on four tree species: loblolly pine, Virginia pine, shortleaf pine and white pine. Over 50 loblolly pine trees were identified that, when graded with their surrounding trees, were far better than average. These trees were cross-pollinated in all combinations and their resulting seed tested for growth characteristics. This data was used to select the best 20 crosses.

Other states in the southeast were doing similar work on loblolly pine, but the Division of Forestry had the only vigorous effort going in Virginia. It was essential to Virginia landowners that a Virginia seed source be used to develop the tree improvement program in the state. The Division joined a cooperative research venture sponsored by North Caroline State University in 1964. This co-op was composed of industry, state and federal agencies and was formed to share information on the improvement of loblolly pine. This brought many of the best researchers together to tackle similar goals and has been extremely valuable to Virginia's program. The DOF is still an integral part of the co-op today.

Marler was the person who headed up all the early work in setting up the seed orchards at NKFC and later and Buckingham State Forest. But Marler's office was in Charlottesville and no man works alone in such a large task. There has been a string of individuals working on site at New Kent Forestry Center in the Tree Improvement Program. Glen Gammon was the first one starting in 1958 but he left after only two years and in 1960 Clarke Lantz became the tree improvement person on site in New Kent. He left in1964 to get a Ph.D. from NC State in forest genetics and Ron Wasser replaced him in 1964. Wasser stayed in this position for 16 years until he retired in 1980. Ron Jenkins took the job from 1980 to 1985 until he replaced Bill King as the Nursery Superintendent. Laurie Apgar came on in 1986 to take up the reins and Ones Bitokie accepted the job as of August 2002 to keep the work going.

But further behind the scenes are the full time workers that have been with the program. Bill Apperson worked as a Technician in the program beginning in 1964 and stayed until 1979. Bill is now the Forester in nearby James City County and still works with tangent research projects such as American Chestnut and longleaf pine research and Christmas tree studies among other interests. Paul Reier replaced Apperson in 1979 and still works at NKFC today. A number local people worked for many years with the program as well including: Everett Williams and Ellis Williams in the early 60s, Bernice Meekins, who put in 24 years on the job, Charles Jones had 34 years, James Hampton, 25 years, and Edith Jeffries, 17 years. Janie Harris has 33 years and counting and James Harris, her husband, has been at it for 37 years. These people are the heart and soul of tree improvement at New Kent. Their callused hands performed each graft that has become an orchard tree, picked many of the cones off the orchard and, sifted through the thousands of pounds of seed extracted. Their backs planted each one of those orchard trees and their sinuses put up with the pollen during pollination times.

Ray Marler retired in 1970 and the task of overseeing tree improvement fell upon the shoulders of Tom Dierauf who took the title Chief of Applied Research. Tom had been working in Research since 1958 and had been intimately involved with the entire tree improvement program. Keeping up with tree improvement on four tree species quickly proved to be daunting. The number of potential crosses might as well have been infinity especially since computers were not available during this time. So the program was scaled back to involve only the loblolly pine. The early work on improving the seed for Shortleaf and white pine is still reaping benefits today however since superior tree orchards were established as part of the program.

By the late 1970s the 275 acres of loblolly orchards were producing cone crops and several methods were used to harvest them including prison labor and local labor. None of them seemed to be suited to the task. In 1982 budget restrictions forced the nursery to abandon any hope of using paid labor to harvest the cones so they used full time Division employees from throughout the state. Camp was set up at the Center with J.B. Jarrett and Wayne Garman alternating as cooks. It proved to be a first class solution during those lean budget times and as many as 20,000 bushels of cones have been harvested in a single season. The practice continued for many years until contract labor was reintroduced in 1991. Many a full time Division employee took part in the work camps at New Kent Forestry Center to help bring the come crop in. Genetically improved seed started making it's way into regular seedling sales in 1978 and by 1988, 100% of the seedlings sold were genetically improved.

Prior to the seed orchards, the state was collecting its seed from local entrepreneurs. The Division would offer up to $8 per bushel for green pinecones (1981 prices). Some people made a business out of following loggers in the late summer and fall to collect cones. The cones were accepted at several points in the state and then brought to NKFC for processing. The cones had to be dried and the seed extracted from them. It was another expensive, labor intensive and time consuming project. Warm air was forced through a pallet full of green cones to dry them and then the cones were tumbled in a drum to get the seeds to fall out. More than a gallon of fuel oil was spent to dry each bushel of cones. On average it took about 7 people, working a full 8 hours each day, at least 3 months to complete the job, roughly 1200 man-hours.

In 1980 an experimental solar building was constructed to see if the suns energy could be harnessed for drying the cones. Bud Sheldon, with the Buildings and Grounds Branch, designed the building after inspecting various agricultural facilities. The experiment was a resounding success and a full-scale facility was constructed in 1982 using a federal grant designed for energy conservation projects. Now it takes two or three persons working at the facility periodically to keep it working and the total man-hours is cut to about 250.

Having genetically improved seed does not end the tree improvement project. The whole process of cross-pollinating, evaluating and selecting the best of the best was begun all over again in 1983. This is known as the second generation of super tree production. Where to establish this seed orchard was the next decision.

The seed orchard at New Kent was not without problems. It was continually sustaining frost damage that led to an uncertainty in the production. Since the nursery depended so heavily on the seed supply other sites in southern Virginia were sought. None were found. A twist of events provided an opportunity for Virginia to purchase a tract of land in Georgia where Virginia trees could be grown for the seed. The land, 120 acres was purchased in January 1980 and immediately was stocked with trees grafted at NKFC from the second generation under the watchful eye of Laurie Apgar. Today, second generation orchards are at their peak production and high quality seedlings are being sold.

Early tests indicate that an additional increase in volume of 15 to 20% may be expected on these improved trees that have a very high stem quality. And the process continues still. The selection process for the third generation is completed and the establishment of the orchard is already well underway. Nearly 22 acres of third generation seed orchard trees have been established at New Kent Forestry Center in 2002.

The Crystal Ball

Each year, immediately after harvesting the pine seedling crop, work begins on readying the soil for planting. Soil samples guide the application of limestone, potash and other nutrients. The land is sub-soiled and tilled and the seedbeds are shaped. Loblolly pine seeds are sown in early May using a specially designed seed drill that places seed in eight rows of uniform width. During the growing season, fertilizers and pesticides are carefully applied as needed. The crop is irrigated to insure one inch of water each week. The tops are clipped like grass to ensure an even size and height. And the lateral roots are pruned under the ground to allow the harvesting. The seedlings are harvested beginning in December by a highly specialized machine that lifts all eight rows of seedling out of the ground and shakes the soils off the roots. The seedlings are placed in canvas bags and transported to the grading facility. Here they are graded for quality, the roots are pruned and dipped in a solution to prevent drying and they are packaged by the thousand. They remain in a carefully controlled cold storage unit until they are picked up to be planted in counties all over the state in reforestation projects.

In 1914 the Virginia General Assembly created the Office of State Forester with a mission, among others, to reforest cutover lands. New Kent Forestry Center has done it, is doing it and will continue meeting this charge with advanced techniques, professional quality, and scientifically sound methods.

NKFC does not stop at loblolly pine. Ten different species are commonly grown at the facility now. A variety of research projects are under way including American chestnut, Christmas tree studies, Atlantic white cedar, native warm season grasses and longleaf pine. There is a state of the art greenhouse facility used for grafting, potting and rooting various species. It also has a worker-camper program that offers RV travelers a place to settle in exchange for work. And it maintains a unique nature trail/boardwalk built by local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts through a cypress swamp. The NKFC also hosts deer hunts for the handicapped every hunting season.

The future still holds promise for the nursery. Forest management continues to offer good financial returns for Virginia landowners and planting improved trees holds some responsibility for that. The New Kent Forestry Center plans to develop a small conference center to host meetings and seminars. And an additional greenhouse facility is in the plans to meet the growing demand for plant material and research space. New Kent Forestry Center and the Virginia Department of Forestry are looking back in fond remembrance and respect at there past. But they are also looking forward in great anticipation to the next 50 years.

Last modified 2006-05-31