Reforestation Programs 
The extensive areas of cutover and nonstocked lands that 
characterized much of the South in the 1920’s have, for the 
most part, been regenerated to some form of forest growth. 
Most of this progress was the result of natural restocking 
following the spread of increasingly effective protection 
from wildfire. The establishment of pine plantations, 
however, also accounted for extensive reforestation after 
World War I. 
Federal Assistance for Reforestation 
The Clark—McNary Act provided limited funds for coopera- 
tion with the States in obtaining seeds and seedlings for re- 
foresting denuded farmlands. The Agricultural Conservation 
Program (ACP) beginning in the 1930’s and the Soil Bank 
Program of the 1950’s also made possible additional plant- 
ing of farmlands. 
These early reforestation efforts, as well as early forestry 
extension and technical assistance programs, were funded 
through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and applied 
only to farm forests. In 1985, for example, there were some 
40 million acres of timberlands in farmer ownerships, or 
about 22 percent of the total timberland area in the South 
at that time (app. tables 3.1 and 3.2). In earlier years, the 
acreage of timberland owned by farmers was much higher. 
The holdings of other individual private owners in 1985 
comprised 66 million acres, or 36 percent of all timberlands 
in the South. These holdings were included in the Forestry 
Incentives Program (FIP) adopted in the 1970’s to provide 
additional Federal funding for reforestation and timber stand 
improvement. 
Areas planted or seeded to forest trees prior to the mid- 
1930’s amounted to only a few thousand acres annually (fig. 
2.5 and app. tables 2.11—2.13). Planting by the Civilian 
Conservation Corps crews brought about an increase in areas 
reforested during the late 1930's, but tree-planting pro- 
grams nearly stopped during World War II. After the war, 
planting and seeding efforts increased sharply, particularly 
during the Soil Bank Program of the 1950’s, to a peak of 
1.7 million acres in 1959. Although planting declined 
greatly thereafter, it has been on the rise since the mid- 
1970’s with the expansion of incentives such as State and 
Federal cost-shares, forest management assistance programs, 
and the reforestation tax credit enacted in 1980. In 1985, 
over 2 million acres were planted or seeded. 
Tree planting during recent decades was greatly aided by 
development of relatively inexpensive tree-planting machines 
and availability of contractors to do the planting. Heavy 
48 
equipment to prepare planting sites and effective herbicides 
to control competing hardwoods also became available. 
A major part of the area planted in the South, particularly 
in recent years, is owned by the forest industries and other 
large companies. In 1985, for example, some 60 percent 
of the area planted or seeded in the South was on lands of 
the forest industries and certain corporate owners such as 
railroad and utility companies, compared to 35 percent on 
other private ownerships and about 5 percent on national 
forests and other public holdings. The expansion of refore- 
station efforts, particularly by the forest industries, reflected 
economic pressures to increase the productivity of timber- 
land, availability of capital for long-term investments, and 
improved technology leading to relatively higher yields of 
timber on lands in plantations. 
Part of the planting and timber stand improvement work 
on farmer and other individual private ownerships is attri- 
butable to Federal assistance under the Agricultural 
Conservation Program. This program to encourage farm 
conservation practices included some limited cost-share 
payments for tree planting, timber stand improvement and 
wildlife-habitat improvement. The Agricultural Conserva- 
tion Program funding rose from about $450,000 (1982 
dollars) in 1946, for example, to a peak of over $15 
million in 1959 during the Soil Bank Program (app. table 
2.14). In return for retiring agricultural land under this 
program, farmers received assistance in planting trees and 
annual payments thereafter during a contract period that 
usually ran for 10 years. Over a million acres were planted 
in 1959 under this special program. A peak of 250,000 
acres of stand improvement work was reached in 1958. 
After 1974, Agricultural Conservation Program funds 
were supplemented by Federal funding through the Forestry 
Incentives Program, a cost-sharing effort specifically aimed 
at improving the condition of both farmer and other indi- 
vidual private timberland ownerships by planting, stand 
improvement, site preparation for natural regeneration, and 
firebreak construction. 
Up to 65 percent of planting costs and timber stand 
improvement costs are paid by Federal funds and the 
remainder by landowners. This cooperative program is 
administered jointly by two USDA agencies—the Forest 
Service and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation 
Service—and State forestry agencies. Under the Agricul- 
tural Conservation and Forestry Incentives Programs, tree 
planting took place on more than 200,000 acres and timber 
stand improvement on about 50,000 acres in 1980 and 
