Station, has involved about $1.5 million per year (1982 
dollars) between 1977 and 1986, or 6 percent of total re- 
search funds available to the southern stations. Fire research 
has helped in developing fire-danger rating systems that 
have been of much practical value in fire control programs. 
Scientists at a regional fire research center in Macon, GA, 
have improved techniques for effective use of aircraft in 
dropping fire retardants. Measures have been developed for 
limiting smoke impacts from prescribed fire. Other studies 
have concluded that personal contact is most effective in 
communicating fire prevention messages. 
Forest Products and Utilization Research 
Research in utilization of forest products has also been im- 
portant at the southern experiment stations, particularly in 
the last 20 years. 
Funding during the 1977-86 period averaged nearly $2.3 
million yearly (1982 dollars), or 9 percent of the Forest 
Service’s research funds allocated to the southern stations. 
Of special importance was a program of studies on south- 
ern pines conducted at the Southern Forest Products 
Laboratory at Alexandria, LA, and research at Athens, 
GA, conducted in cooperation with the University of 
Georgia. This research also has included forest engineering 
studies aimed at improving efficiency in logging. 
The Forest Products Laboratory of the USDA Forest Service, 
established in Madison, WI, in 1910, has conducted a com- 
prehensive program of forest products research having nu- 
merous applications in the South. Roughly a third of the 
laboratory’s funding has been used for utilization studies of 
southern forests. Of special note are investigations of pulp- 
ing of southern hardwoods, improvement of processes for 
bleaching pulp for use in printing papers, improvements in 
technology in lumber manufacturing and kiln drying, and de- 
velopment of technology for production of plywood and 
other panel products from southern timber species. This re- 
search has been an important factor in the expansion of the 
southern pulp and softwood plywood industries. 
Other Research 
Other forestry research programs of the Forest Service in- 
clude studies of the management of forest and related range 
lands for livestock, recreation, wildlife and watershed 
protection; economic aspects of renewable resources man- 
agement and uses; and insect and disease surveys. About 
$3.5 million per year (1982 dollars) was spent for those pro- 
grams in the period 1977-86, or 14 percent of all research 
expenditures at the southern stations. 
University Research 
Forestry research at southern universities also took on ma- 
jor importance after World War II. For many prior years, 
the small forestry faculties at southern universities carried 
heavy loads of teaching and extension-type responsibilities 
and had little time for research projects. A few experimen- 
tal forests were established in the 1930’s by Auburn 
University, Duke University, North Carolina State, and 
Clemson College, to conduct demonstrations and empirical 
studies of reforestation and other practices. 
The Hatch Act of 1887 had provided funding for some re- 
search of forestry and related range problems, but State or- 
ganizations expressed a great deal of concern over the low 
level of this support. In 1952, only $130,000, or less than 
| percent of all Hatch Act funds received by State agricul- 
ture experiment stations in the South, was allocated to the 
study of forestry problems. State funding of forestry research 
was likewise limited. 
In the years after World War II, some research was never- 
theless carried out at southern universities, including work 
such as that by Coile and Schumacher at Duke University 
on growth and yield of southern pines. This effort also pro- 
vided an outstanding example of research combined with 
training of graduate students. In another, more recent 
example, research on forest tree improvement by Bruce 
Zobel of North Carolina State, Ray Goddard of the Univer- 
sity of Florida, and others developed into comprehensive 
cooperative programs of tree selection for seed orchards. 
In 1962, the McIntire—Stennis Cooperative Forest Research 
Act was passed through the efforts of various State, Federal, 
and private association groups. This act provided greatly 
increased Federal funding to land-grant and other State- 
supported forestry schools, on a matching basis, for 
research on the management and utilization of forests and 
related rangelands, and for training of scientists in forestry 
and related specialties. 
Funding available to southern universities increased rapidly 
following passage of the McIntire-Stennis Act, reaching by 
1983 about $21.5 million from all sources. State appropria- 
tions in that year amounted to $10.9 million, or 51 
percent of the total funds available, far exceeding the 
Federal—State matching fund requirements of the 1962 Act. 
Federal funds available through the McIntire—Stennis Act and 
other Federal sources totaled $6.8 million, or 31 percent 
of the total. Approximately $3.8 million, or 18 percent of 
the funds available for university research was received 
from the forest industries and other sources. 
