The Weeks Law 
Nevertheless, the growing concern over forest conditions 
expressed by citizens’ groups, the increasing flow of for- 
estry investigations and reports from the Forest Service, 
and recommendations of the Governors’ Conference of 1908 
resulted in the enactment of the Weeks law in 1911. This 
act provided Federal matching funds to cooperate with State 
agencies in protecting forests from wildfire and authorized 
Federal acquisition of land for national forests in the water- 
sheds of navigable streams. 
Progress in organizing State fire protection under the 
Weeks law was slow in the South, both because Federal 
funding was limited and because State legislatures were re- 
luctant to appropriate matching money for programs that ran 
counter to prevailing attitudes toward use of fire in south- 
ern forests. Nevertheless, additional Southern States grad- 
ually established forestry agencies to carry out fire control 
and other forestry programs, beginning in Virginia and 
Texas in 1915. The last State to establish such an agency— 
Arkansas—created its State Forestry Commission in 1933 
with money from private contributions. 
Setting up State forestry agenices to carry out forest protec- 
tion and management programs in the South was greatly 
aided by the experience of progressive industrial 
landowners. Henry Hardtner’s success in protection, 
One of the early important pieces of forestry 
legislation was the Weeks law of 1911. 
This act provided for Federal matching 
funds to cooperate with States in protecting 
forests and forest lands from fire. Such 
protection was the first essential step in 
regenerating southern forests. 
40 
planting, and sustained-yield cutting on lands of the Urania 
Lumber Company in Louisiana stimulated others to im- 
prove forest practices. In 1920, the Great Southern Lumber 
Company at Bogalusa, LA, began under Chief Ranger 
F.O. Bateman a protection and tree-planting program that 
resulted in thousands of acres of pine plantations. This 
effort served as a successful forerunner for the modern 
tree-planting programs conducted throughout the South. 
Other companies, such as Arkansas’s Crossett Lumber 
Company, which in 1915 established a close and fruitful 
relationship with Professor H.H. Chapman of the Yale 
Forestry School, were also in the forefront of early indus- 
trial forestry efforts. 
Lumber Trade Associations 
During this same period, lumber manufacturers sought to 
strengthen their fragmented and competitive industry by 
forming industrial trade associations. A group of lumber 
manufacturers in Missouri and Arkansas organized an 
association as early as 1883. This was succeeded by a re- 
gional organization, the Southern Lumber Manufacturers’ 
Association, which became the Southern Pine Association 
in 1915 and later changed its name to the Southern For- 
ests Products Association to reflect its broader coverage of 
wood products. In the Mississippi Valley, an organization 
of hardwood lumber manufacturers established in 1899 later 
became the Hardwood Lumber Manufacturers Association. 
In time, all commercial species and products were repre- 
sented by trade associations. These regional associations had 
common characteristics and, in many cases, common 
membership, with similar groups in the rest of the Nation. 
They sought to establish lumber-grading rules and inspec- 
tion procedures; compile statistics on lumber production, 
shipments, and prices; deal with organized labor; promote 
wood products; and lobby Congress and State legislatures to 
advance the industry’s interests. 
Increasing concern over conditions on the vast area of cut- 
over and unproductive land in the South led the Southern 
Pine Association in 1917 to join with the Southern Settle- 
ment and Development Organization for a conference on 
land use. Not surprisingly, principal attention focused on 
possible crop and pasture use of cutover lands. Much 
education, research, and experience had to occur before the 
use of southern forests for sustained timber production got 
serious attention. Later, in the Depression years of the 
1930’s, the Southern Pine Association played a leading role 
in developing article 10 of the short-lived National Indus- 
trial Recovery Act. The article set standards of approved 
