1972. This act provided training funds for rural fire 
companies. Multi-State fire compacts increased the 
level of cooperation between the States for fighting 
fires. 
The funding of fire protection had modest be- 
ginnings in the second decade of the century and 
grew consistently until the 1970's. Table 1, from the 
review draft, shows that funding for fire protection in 
current dollars increased until about 1982. Federal 
dollars peaked in 1979 with an expenditure of $9.5 
million. While funding has decreased, acres protect- 
ed have increased, and no noticeable trend in total 
acres burned has emerged. Acres burned and tim- 
berlands burned have stayed below the 1950's and 
1960's levels with only slightly higher real dollar ex- 
penditure levels during the 1970's and 1980's. 
Cooperative fire's mix of funding between Fed- 
eral and State expenditures has also changed over 
time. From the program's beginning to the 1950's, 
the Federal share of costs was consistently over 30 
percent of the total fire-protection program. By the 
1960's, the Federal share was approximately 20 per- 
cent. The 1970's saw Federal funding decrease to 
about 15 percent and continue to decrease to about 
5 percent in the 1980's. This reduction in Federal 
fire-protection funds accounts for the trends ob- 
served above; State expenditures have stayed 
nearly constant in real dollars during recent years. 
A review of the history of fire-protection pro- 
grams in the South shows many successes. Initial 
increases in programs and funding significantly re- 
duced the acres burned, due to increased suppres- 
sion capability. However, acreage burned stopped 
going down around 1965 and has held steady to the 
present. Less success has been achieved in reduc- 
ing the percentage of human-caused fires. 
52 
Unlike fire protection, where the first measures 
were actions and research came later, insect and 
disease protection started largely with research. In- 
sect and disease research is supported by indus- 
tries and universities as well as government agen- 
cies. It involves a multitude of different projects. The 
principal Federal cost-share legislation supporting 
cooperative insect and disease control is the Forest 
Pest Control Act of 1947. This act authorized Feder- 
al cost-share funding for State specialists and coop- 
erative suppression. 
Combating the southern pine beetle has con- 
sumed the greatest share of southern program ex- 
penditures, particularly in the South Central region, 
where most infestations are found. 
Insect and disease protection is important in 
light of the southern timber study's finding that mor- 
tality is increasing and contributing to the reduction 
in net timber growth. The report cites insects as 
causing 35 to 40 percent of the softwood mortality 
in the Southeast. Fusiform rust, littleleaf disease, 
and annosus root rot are the leading pine diseases. 
The history of pest management and pest pro- 
tection is less glamorous than that of fire. Most ef- 
forts were independent actions to suppress pests 
after a crisis. But the most effective insect and dis- 
ease protection prevents the crisis from occurring, 
through timely thinnings and harvests or other silvi- 
cultural activities that modify the forest. 
The insect and disease program funding history 
is far shorter and much smaller than that of coopera- 
tive fire. In 1980 expenditures for pest programs 
nearly doubled those for 1979. But after the 1980 
peak, expenditures fluctuated in constant dollars 
from 40 to 70 percent of the 1980 level (table 2). 
