are handled by the service 
foresters. 
State organizations are 
sensitive to the issue of 
competition with private 
enterprise and whenever 
possible encourage 
landowners to use 
consultants or outside 
vendors for their forestry 
needs (USDA Forest Service 
1982 unpubi.). 
Forestry Incentives 
Besides giving technical 
advice and help to forest 
managers, service foresters 
administer the financial 
incentives programs. The 
Federal programs 
(Agricultural Conservation 
Program and Forestry 
Incentives Program) are 
available in all States. Virginia, 
North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, 
and Alabama have a 
State-funded program. 
Details about Virginia’s 
program were given earlier. 
The programs of the two 
Carolinas and Mississippi 
are similar and are supported 
in part by severance taxes. 
The Texas program is funded 
through a foundation 
established by the Texas 
Forestry Association, which 
depends on contributions, 
primarily from forest-related 
industries, for support. 
Alabama funds its program 
directly with State 
appropriations. 
Incentives programs have 
contributed greatly to the 
acreages planted to trees in 
the South. The largest single 
effort was the Soil Bank 
Program, which established 
over 1.9 million acres of tree 
plantations from 1956 to 
1964. The latest 5-year data 
show that southern 
landowners annually planted 
an average of 29,211 acres 
under the Agricultural 
Conservation Program 
(1979—83) and 158,530 
acres under the Forestry 
Incentives Program 
(1980— 84). Total planting on 
nonindustrial private land 
averaged 452,837 acres 
annually.5 Acreages 
reforested under the State 
incentives programs have 
been increasing. Virginia’s 
average annual area planted 
under reforestation tax 
5 Data provided by USDA Forest 
Service. 
79 
