Before Europeans arrived in America, fire was used by humans to manage the pine forests in the Southeast. The practice was later adopted by the newly arrived farmers, but was discouraged as timber interests began to campaign against woods burning. In 1924 Herbert Stoddard endorsed the use of fire in the quail woods of the Red Hills of Georgia for both timber and quail management. His publication in 1931 "The Bobwhite Quail..." detailed his research. While Aldo Leopold is considered by many to be the father of wildlife management, he acknowledged later in life that it was Herbert Stoddard who was among the first of the game management pioneers because of his work in recognizing the importance of controlled burning in the wire grass and longleaf forests of SW Georgia. According to Leopold: "Herbert Stoddard, in Georgia, started the first management of wildlife based on research." The longleaf pine evolved to withstand and flourish after natural fires were caused by lightning strikes. Fire is critical for the survival of longleaf pines as it removes forest litter which impedes the growth of longleaf seedlings, removes fire intolerant competing pines and controls blight which can sicken the longleaf pine. Gil