Preface 



I believe it was historian John 

 Toland who observed, "Even the 

 most scrupulously researched 

 history can only be an 

 approximation of the truth. " 



Certainly that description applies 

 to this "history" for several 

 reasons. First, this report 

 documents historically the impact 

 of post-secondary forestry and 

 forest-products educational 

 programs in the South. Thus it is 

 far from a comprehensive 

 organizational, legislative, 

 programmatic, or leadership 

 account. I have concentrated 

 primarily on programs that appear 

 to have had an effect on the 

 economy, the resource, or policy. 

 And in the interest of brevity, I 

 have included only samples of 

 these to give the reader a feel for 

 their diversity and magnitude. 



Second, there are some gaps in the 

 material. I had to omit one 

 university's contribution 

 completely because I did not have 

 time to visit it for interviews and 

 got no response to a mail inquiry. I 

 have shortchanged another which 

 did respond by mail, but which I 

 did not have time to visit. 

 Consequently, my reference 

 material was much more limited 

 than for the 14 universities and 2 



technician schools where I did 

 have an opportunity to interview 

 leaders and faculty. 



Finally, this account is not without 

 bias. Personal contacts to collect 

 material were almost altogether 

 with the "producers" in the 

 system — faculty and 

 administrators — rather than the 

 "consumers" — employers, forest 

 owners, plant managers. I have 

 tried to avoid "hype" on their part 

 and mine in tracing out the 

 contributions of the southern 

 universities and technician schools 

 to the development and 

 productivity of the southern forest 

 resource and forest-products 

 industry. But presenting a 

 thoroughly objective account is 

 difficult for someone who invested 

 18 years in helping develop an 

 extension program in one Southern 

 State and nearly 14 more in a 

 professional school program in 

 another. One might as well expect 

 Jefferson Davis to write an 

 unbiased account of "The War of 

 Northern Aggression," which is 

 undoubtedly the title he would 

 have given to it. As E. B. White 

 (1977) put it so admirably, "All 

 writing slants the way the writer 

 leans, and no man is born 

 perpendicular, although many men 

 are born upright." 



