Committee on Organization and 

 Policy 1976, Wade 1975 unpubl.). 



Note the phrase, "to help people 

 help themselves. " This has been 

 the core of extension's philosophy 

 and approach. Extension's first 

 concern has been the welfare of 

 the individual client, client family, 

 or client firm. Its societal welfare 

 model has been that of Adam 

 Smith — that society will be best 

 served by the aggregate impact of 

 each individual seeking to optimize 

 his own situation. In agriculture, 

 the result of this approach has 

 been a food-production system that 

 is the envy of the world — one in 

 which the major problem is dealing 

 with surpluses, not shortages. 



Extension people, then, have been 

 "people-people," not "thing- 

 people. " Though he did not use 

 my terms, Robert Keniston (1975) 

 spoke to the need for such an 

 approach. 



There is an implicit 

 assumption that every 

 tract of woodland can be 

 made to produce the 

 wood crops it is capable 

 of as soon as foresters 

 succeed in pointing out to 

 the owner the error of his 

 ways. Then since he 

 presumably accepts the 

 silvicultural ideal, or 

 thinks and feels as the 

 "economic man" should, 

 he will "see the light" 

 and practice constructive 



timber forestry. The 

 optimum allocation of all 

 resources (including 

 human) [italics mine] from 

 an economic or social 

 point of view is evidently 

 disregarded. 



What is best for forestry 

 is not necessarily best for 

 the individual, or for the 

 nation. 



Organization and Relationships 



As stated earlier. Cooperative 

 Extension has been a three-way 

 partnership of the USDA, the State 

 land-grant universities, and county 

 governmental units, with funding 

 from all three. This partnership has 

 required that local people be 

 involved in program planning and 

 that State and national needs also 

 be considered. Nationally, 

 Cooperative Extension has served, 

 in part, as USDA's lead 

 educational agency (Extension 

 Committee on Organization and 

 Policy 1976, Wade 1975 unpubl.). 



The grass roots line unit is the 

 county extension staff and 

 program. Until recently, there have 

 been few professional foresters in 

 county positions or in multicounty 

 or area agent positions. Most 

 county staff have had agricultural, 

 home economics, or community 

 development backgrounds. 



Forestry and forest-products 

 professionals have been in State or 



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