committee subsequently recommended 

 passage of the Clarke-McNary Act of 

 1924 and was an important factor in 

 its enactment. This was a major 

 milestone: real progress in State 

 forestry in the South began with the 

 passage of this legislation. It 

 authorized funds that enable the 

 Secretary of Agriculture to cooperate 

 with the States in forest-fire control, 

 reforestation and improved 

 management of private stands, and 

 nursery production of forest 

 seedlings. Under the Clarke-McNary 

 programs. Federal funding and 

 participation were more directly 

 effective than under the Weeks law. 

 National Forest land acquisition was 

 also liberalized so that it was no 

 longer limited to headwaters of 

 navigable streams. The American 

 Forestry Association, along with the 

 Florida Forestry Association and 

 others, strongly supported passage of 

 this key legislation. 



Shortly thereafter, in 1927. the 

 American Forestry Association 

 undertook a very ambitious program 

 to educate rural people in the South 

 away from a deeply ingrained 

 tradition of burning the woods each 

 year. Woods burning had been the 

 custom for many years for a variety 

 of reasons— some perhaps valid and 

 others without foundation— and that 

 added to the forest-fire problem. The 

 American Forestry Association 

 undertook this 3-year program with 

 S260.0O0 worth of cooperative 

 funding from State forestry agencies, 

 various citizens' organizations, and 

 private individuals. It specifically 

 targeted the States of Florida. 



Georgia. Mississippi, and South 

 Carolina and sought to reduce forest 

 fires and losses in this hotspot of the 

 Nation. (Between 1917 and 1926. 80 

 percent of all reported forest fires 

 occurred in the South . I 



This Southern Forestry Educational 

 Project, as it was named, was 

 manned by a team of "Dixie 

 Crusaders.** traveling in fleets of 

 trucks, who gave talks and showed 

 movies on fire prevention to rural 

 backwoods groups at schools and 

 churches in hamlets throughout the 

 area. The American Forestry 

 Association staff even wrote, 

 produced, and acted in their own 

 movies when suitable ones were not 

 available. W.C. McCormick was the 

 project leader, and Erie Kauffmam 

 later editor of American Forests 

 magazine, developed the movie 

 scenarios. An estimated 3 million 

 adults and children viewed the 

 movies, and 2 million posters, 

 leaflets, and bulletins were distributed 

 (Clepper 1975). 



State Foresters, such as Fred Merrill 

 of Mississippi and H.A. Smith of 

 South Carolina, and other key 

 forestry leaders proclaimed the 

 project a huge success and one that 

 would have lasting effects on the fire 

 problem. In this project, the 

 American Forestry Association 

 worked cooperatively with the Forest 

 Service and State forestry agencies 

 and associations. 



Almost 30 years later, in 1956. the 

 American Forestry Association 

 cooperated with virtually the same 



