The Depression Years 
By the late 1920's, many 
forestry programs in the 
South were beginning to 
show progress, and the 
reduction in forest fires and 
acres burned proved the 
effectiveness of State 
programs. Fire protection 
was not universal: staffs and 
budgets were far below the 
best estimates of need when 
the Great Depression hit. 
Throughout the States, 
reductions in budgets began 
in 1930 and 1931 as the 
economic downturn caused 
State revenues to drop. 
States such as Louisiana, 
which depended on 
severance tax to help finance 
its forestry program, suddenly 
discovered that the lumber 
industry was in dire straits. 
Production was down and 
many mills closed, thus 
curtailing revenue (Burns 
1968). 
In the South, 1930 and 1931 
were both severe drought 
years and the worst fire years 
for some time. This 
unfortunate coincidence with 
the Depression put another 
strain on the already 
overloaded fire-protection 
organizations. In Virginia, for 
example, firefighters’ hourly 
wages were reduced from 
30 cents to 15. Fire funds 
were exhausted early in 
1931, and many counties 
could not meet their 
obligations. In fact, the State 
Forest Service was broke. 
The deficit was covered by a 
$40,000 appropriation, but 
as a matter of principle, the 
forestry division repaid the 
entire amount in later years 
from surplus funds (Hobart 
and others 1982 unpubl.). 
During the Depression, many 
States reduced salary and 
wage levels to a fraction of 
those immediately before 
1929, but people stayed with 
their jobs as no other 
employment was available. 
In March 1933, Florida, for 
example, paid only one-half 
the salary for its personnel. 
Florida withdrew fire 
protection from 
tax-delinquent land, and 
dropped other acreages 
because the owners could 
not pay the assessment 
(Coulter 1958 unpubl.). In 
Georgia, 65,000 farms were 
abandoned, and the 
legislature was able to 
appropriate only 
$28,659 — not enough to 
match the available 
Clarke-McNary fire-protection 
funds (Pikl 1966). 
37 
