1418 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



against tree-killing barkbeetles in the West have been gradually 

 cheapened and made more effective. With other insects it has been 

 found feasible to prevent their destructive activities by methods 

 applied in the management of the stand. Research is also necessary 

 to use beneficial insects to the best advantage. It has been demon- 

 strated to be quite feasible to import beneficial insects from one 

 country or section of a country to another, establish them, and obtain 

 effective control through their activities. 



A great deal of experimental work is needed to perfect methods of 

 combating defoliating insects. At the present time the use of poison 

 dust distributed from airplanes seems to be the most practical means 

 of control but too little has been done in this line to speak with any 

 authority. Satisfactory poisons have not been developed nor has 

 the mechanical application over forested areas been perfected. Here 

 again the spending of large sums of money on work that is not care- 

 fully planned and is lacking in definite objectives is open to question. 

 Research must often proceed slowly, following the promising leads 

 as they are uncovered and carefully checking results before they are 

 given out. This type of work, therefore, offers the greatest possibili- 

 ties lor the discovery of new methods and short cuts to effective han- 

 dling of the problem, and therefore deserves high priority in the 

 future development of a balanced program. 



The first appropriation specifically designated for research in forest 

 entomology was made in 1902 to the Bureau of Entomology. It was 

 $5,800. Since then gradual increases have been made to a maximum 

 of $139,000 for the fiscal year 1931. (This does not include $104,530 

 expended on the gipsy moth project, which was combined with forest 

 insect investigations about this time.) In that part of the appropria- 

 tion applied strictly to forest insects some 50 percent is expended for 

 extending service in control work to other Federal agencies and on 

 intermingled private lands. 



The needs for the satisfactory expansion of research in this field 

 have been authorized by Congress in section 4 of the McSweeney- 

 McNary Act of May 22, 1928 (45 Stat., 699). This provides for a 

 gradual increase to a total of $250,000 which would take care of the 

 most imperative studies for which some 5 years to come. 



4. An educational program to make more effective objectives 1 and 2. 



Although the Bureau of Entomology assumes responsibility for the 

 decision as to when control is necessary and for the methods to be 

 applied, it is obvious that the more thoroughly the local administra- 

 tive officers understand these matters the better will be the results 

 obtained. For this reason, the Bureau of Entomology has been 

 devoting some effort to educational work among the field men of 

 various agencies administering Federal lands. This field personnel 

 in close contact with local conditions should be able to recognize 

 insect outbreaks in the incipient stage and report to those competent 

 to judge the seriousness of the situation. Consequently entomologists 

 have been dispatched to many of the district ranger camps maintained 

 by the Forest Service and to the instruction meetings of the National 

 Park Service. Leaflets of instructions and reports have been pre- 

 pared and disseminated through the administrative personnel, and 

 many local contacts have been made with the field men of other 

 agencies. There is need of much greater expansion of this work, and 

 there should be available men specially designated to handle arid 

 enlarge this educational and extension work. 



