In 1949, the Clarke-McNary Act 

 was broadened, and the Federal 

 authorization for farm forestry 

 extension cooperation was 

 increased from $100,000 to 

 $500,000. This was the climax 

 (until 1978) of statutory and 

 funding support for extension 

 forestry. And this earmarking was 

 lost in 1955. when Clarke-McNary 

 was abandoned and the $85,000 

 Federal allocation in that year was 

 transferred to the general 

 agricultural extension authorization 

 and appropriation under Smith- 

 Lever (Wade 1975 unpubl.). 



As a result, from 1951 until 1978 

 the growth of extension forestry 

 was slow in terms of staff and 

 funding (Wade 1975 unpubl.). 

 Forest-products extension was an 

 exception. Passage of the Research 

 and Marketing Act in 1954 made 

 Federal funds available to State 

 agricultural extension services for 

 work with processors of 

 agricultural products, including 

 timber. 



North Carolina was the first State 

 to take advantage of this new 

 funding. A wood-products 

 extension staff of three specialists 

 was set up there in 1957. In 1959, 

 this group received a 3-year 

 contract from the USDA Extension 

 Service to conduct a programmatic 

 research and development pilot 

 program with wood industries. The 

 program included preparing 

 teaching materials, testing 

 approaches and methods, training 



extension personnel in other 

 States, and providing followup 

 consultation to them as they got 

 programs underway. By 1979, 28 

 States (including several in the 

 South) had begun programs based 

 on this model. Most were initiated 

 in the 1960's (Keller 1979). 



Other Post-World War II Program 

 Thrusts — Like the schools, 

 extension foresters were involved 

 in programs to train and retrain 

 veterans in the late 1940's. Many 

 who intended to farm signed up 

 under the GI bill for training 

 through secondary school 

 vocational agriculture departments. 

 This was a readymade captive 

 audience for extension forestry. 

 Extension foresters were heavily 

 involved as guest instructors at 

 evening classes and in field 

 demonstrations training veterans in 

 farm forest management, 

 harvesting, marketing, and home 

 use of forest products. 



The 1950's and 1960 , s saw rapid 

 expansion in pulpwood demand 

 and marketing systems, including 

 the development of cash buying 

 yards. The industry itself got into 

 landowner education and 

 assistance through the Southern 

 Pulpwood Conservation 

 Association and through individual 

 company conservation forestry 

 programs. The new market system, 

 plus the development of 

 lightweight power saws and other 

 equipment, made thinning and 

 timber stand improvement 



51 



