Shivery utilized State Division of 

 Forestry CCC camp crews to 

 establish cooperative timber-stand 

 improvement demonstrations on 

 the Cumberland Plateau. In 1937, 

 he reported an increase in timber- 

 stand-improvement activity and in 

 forest-tree plantings as a result of 

 the Agricultural Conservation 

 Program's cost-sharing provisions 

 (Maughan 1939). 



In 1937, the Norris-Doxey 

 Cooperative Farm Forestry Act 

 was passed to strengthen 

 cooperation with the States in farm 

 forestry extension and provide 

 intensive technical assistance to 

 farmers in forest management, 

 harvesting, and marketing. The 

 technical assistance phase was 

 initially under the Soil 

 Conservation Service. Under this 

 act. Federal funding for farm 

 forestry extension nearly doubled. 

 Nationally the act allowed 31 

 States to add a second professional 

 to extension forestry programs 

 (Clepper 1971, Wade 1975 

 unpubl.). 



In 1943 and 1945, the USDA 

 Forest Service took over from the 

 Soil Conservation Service the 

 technical assistance phase, initially 

 conducting technical assistance 

 through either State forestry 

 organizations or State agricultural 

 extension services. In States such 

 as Alabama, Louisiana, and North 

 Carolina, where the State 

 extension service served this role, 

 six to eight farm foresters were 



added to the extension forestry 

 staffs. These people each provided 

 one-on-one timber marking, 

 estimating, and marketing services 

 to forest landowners in three to 

 four counties. 



Extension was written out of this 

 program by the Cooperative Forest 

 Management Act of 1950, which 

 specifically directed the Secretary 

 of Agriculture to cooperate with 

 State foresters in providing 

 technical services to forest 

 landowners and primary timber 

 processors (Extension Committee 

 on Organization and Policy 1976). 

 But Norris-Doxey had some very 

 positive effects. It created an 

 increased awareness of forest 

 values. In effect, it put the dollar 

 sign into forestry in the minds of 

 many landowners. It created an 

 appreciation of the value of 

 professional forestry assistance and 

 service, thus opening doors for 

 State service forestry and 

 consulting forestry. It 

 demonstrated that harvesting 

 timber (other than through 

 clearcutting to a 10-, 12-, or 

 15-inch stump diameter limit) was 

 both practical and profitable. And 

 it brought the larger State forestry 

 organizations into the nonforest 

 industry/private forest owner 

 assistance field. Prior to 

 Norris-Doxey, these organizations 

 had invested most of their 

 attention, resources, and political 

 clout in building up forest-fire 

 protection systems (Gillett 1947 

 unpubl.). 



50 



