with the title "Southern 
Forestry Congress," but 
these bear no relation to 
the original series. 
The Southern Forestry 
Congresses were an 
effective means of bringing 
together forestry interests 
and developing agreement 
on the approaches to be 
used in attempting to build 
forestry programs in the 
South. State forestry 
associations were very 
involved, and their primary 
efforts at home were in 
support of legislation to 
establish and/or fund the 
State forestry organization. 
In States with forestry 
organizations during the 
twenties, State Foresters 
were active leaders and 
participants. The USDA 
Forest Service offices of 
State and private 
cooperation provided much 
assistance in planning and 
conducting tne meetings. 
Many of the background 
papers were based on 
Forest Service data, and 
agency leaders were 
frequently on the program. 
J. Girvin Peters, who headed 
the Forest Service 
cooperative efforts with the 
States, was a popular 
speaker. He was extremely 
influential throughout this 
developmental period of 
State forestry in the South. 
The importance of the 
Southern Forestry 
Congresses was 
emphasized by the late E.L. 
Demmon in his 
recollections: "| would say 
that the Southern Forestry 
Congress, of which R.D. 
Forbes was a long-time 
Secretary, probably had 
more to do with setting up 
State forestry organizations 
in the South than any other 
group." This was one of the 
congress’s priorities, and 
the organizers skillfully 
selected locations and 
arranged the agendas in 
order to support the efforts 
to get and to strengthen 
State forestry organizations 
(Maunder 1977). 
