decrease in incendiary fire 
and a higher level of 
cooperation in rural areas. 
Georgia and Louisiana took 
legislative action to enforce 
fire laws and punish arsonists. 
But in Arkansas, the loss of 
Civilian Conservation Corps 
crews and budget cuts 
reversed the progress that 
had been made in the thirties. 
Virginia, on the other hand, 
was able to extend protection 
to the entire STate by 1945. 
Several counties were in a 
special emergency Norfolk 
Defense Area organization, 
but at the close of the war 
all counties came under the 
State program (Hobart and 
other 1982 unpubl., Robbins 
1985). 
Other State efforts of 
importance during the war 
included hiring utilization 
specialists to help improve 
production of mills and 
marketing personnel to assist 
in locating and bringing on 
the market needed timber 
for lumber and specialty 
uses, such as oak for ships’ 
timbers. Norris-Doxey funds 
released from the termination 
of the shelterbelt program 
were used to match State 
funds for the marketing 
specialists to inventory and 
mark timber for small 
landowners. The purpose of 
this program was to 
encourage marketing needed 
timber, but at the same time 
it included a commitment 
52 
from the owner to sell the 
timber as marked and to 
follow other guidelines, a 
major step in landowner 
assistance (Robbins 1985). 
The Texas Forest Service 
had 3,800 volunteers under 
the Forest Fire Fighters 
Service. At the end of the 
war, the effort was 
reorganized and continued 
as the Volunteer Forest Fire 
Wardens program. This 
period also saw the early 
experimentation with aircraft 
for fire detection. The first 
trail in Texas was so 
successful that a Civil Air 
Patrol— Texas Forest Service 
aerial fire-detection group 
was formed. On January 4, 
1944, there were 9 aircraft 
and 70 pilots available on a 
volunteer basis. Similar trails 
were under way in other 
States. This led to the use of 
aircraft for both fire and insect 
detection and hastened the 
use of two-way radio 
communications between 
aerial observers and the fire 
crews on the ground. 
Also during World War Il, 
mechanization of firefighting 
began on a substantial scale 
with the use of small tractors 
with fire plows. These mobile 
units proved very effective 
and reduced manpower 
needs. In spite of the 
demands placed on the 
State forestry organizations 
by the war effort, the State 
