Approximately $270,000 was 

 expended by the Southern Forest 

 Disease and Insect Research Council 

 and $85,000 by the Hardwood 

 Forestry Research Committee, for a 

 total of $355,000. The hardwood 

 committee was disbanded in 1972 and 

 the disease and insect group in 1977. 

 Companies participating in these two 

 programs felt they were successful 

 and justified the expenditures. 



By 1946, W.M. Oettmeier, founder 

 and first president of the Forest 

 Farmers Association, had returned 

 from military service and resumed the 

 presidency of that organization. 

 Shortly thereafter, Paul W. Schoen, 

 former chief of forest management 

 for the Texas Forest Service, was 

 named executive secretary. The 

 Forest Farmers Association quickly 

 undertook an effort to strengthen 

 Federal forest research activities in 

 the South. Among the results was 

 establishment of local research 

 centers over the region. 



Programs at these local research 

 centers were designed to address 

 local needs in topics such as genetics 

 and tree improvement, regeneration 

 of southern pines, the feasibility of 

 combining timber and cattle 

 production, etc. This was only the 

 beginning of Forest Farmers 

 Association efforts that later played 

 an important role in establishment of 

 the Forest Service's Southern Forest 

 Genetics Institute at Gulfport, MS; 

 the Forest Fire and Seed Testing 

 Laboratories at Macon, GA; and 

 major insect and disease activities and 

 forest-management and forest- 



utilization programs at Alexandria, 

 LA. Much of the South' s subsequent 

 increased timber production can be 

 related to these research efforts and 

 the resultant scientific breakthroughs. 



The executive secretary of the Forest 

 Farmers Association, Paul Schoen, 

 originated and edited the Forest 

 Farmer Manual, which has continued 

 to be published and has come to be 

 accepted as a layman's guidebook to 

 forestry in practice. He and Walter 

 Myers, who followed him as the 

 association's executive officer and 

 editor in 1951, also expanded Forest 

 Farmer magazine, begun by the first 

 executive, Wayne Miller. It is a 

 widely read and highly respected 

 publication for the nonprofessional 

 timber grower in the South, and a 

 major force in forestry education. 



The Forest Farmers Association was 

 also destined to play a major role as 

 one of the original cosponsors (with 

 the Southern Pine Association) of the 

 Southern Forest Resource Analysis. 

 This study is best known for the 

 resulting report, The South's Third 

 Forest. Further details on this and the 

 Forest Farmers Association's role in 

 national legislative activities will be 

 covered later. 



In 1948, the Association of 

 Consulting Foresters was founded by 

 professionals in this specialized field. 

 This is a national organization 

 founded to "provide and maintain 

 high standards of performance" by 

 its members. The Association of 

 Consulting Foresters has numerous 

 State chapters and is particularly 



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