possible new initiatives not only in 

 pine regeneration and investment 

 analysis but also in timber 

 harvesting and procurement 

 improvement, the use of 

 microcomputers, and other areas 

 (Neal, personal communication). 



At long last, a minimum critical 

 mass of professional talent was on 

 its way to being assembled in at 

 least 9 of the 12 Southern States, 

 where it existed in only 1 or 2 

 before. Perhaps extension forestry 

 finally will be able to do its share 

 of beating the forestry drum 

 instead of just rattling around 

 inside it. 



responded to questionnaires. Some 

 of the findings follow: 



• 72 percent or higher rated 

 the value of programs as "much" 

 to "great" in terms of relevance to 

 their own objectives, help in 

 recognizing opportunities, help in 

 pursuing such opportunities; 



• 54 percent indicated that 

 their participation had "much" to 

 "very much" effect on decisions 

 to increase investments in forest 

 management; and 



• 86 percent felt that 

 participation had helped them to 

 maintain or increase personal 

 income (an average increase of 16 

 percent was indicated). 



Aggregate Measures of Program 

 Impact 



I found only two evaluations of 

 aggregate impact of extension 

 programs in forestry. Both were 

 national in scope. 



In 1979-80. the Mississippi 

 Cooperative Extension Service, 

 under Federal contract, conducted 

 an evaluation of 10 extension 

 program areas. One of these was 

 the small woodlands programs. 

 Seventeen States were sampled, 

 including six in the South. 

 Aggregate results were reported by 

 the Oregon State University 

 Extension Service (Krygier 1980). 



A total of 344 landowners and 

 firms who had participated in a 

 variety of extension programs were 

 the sample population; 244 of these 



For 4-H forestry, in 1980 the 

 National 4-H Natural Resources 

 Committee conducted a survey of 

 both 4-H Club alumni and current 

 4-H members who had participated 

 in 4-H natural resources programs. 

 A total of 142 people from 21 

 States responded to a 10-question 

 questionnaire; 86 of these were 

 alumni and 56 were current 

 enrollees. 



Results (National 4-H Natural 

 Resources Committee 1981 

 unpubl.) were as follows: 



• 58 percent felt that the 

 greatest value of their participation 

 was that it increased their 

 awareness, appreciation, and 

 understanding of natural resources; 



• 24 percent of 41 alumni 

 attending college who responded 

 were majoring in a natural 

 resources field; 



54 



