STATEMENT OF BOB HURST, 1890 EXTENSION REPRESENTATIVE, Mr. Chairman, I am Bob Hurst, Coordinator of the 1890 Extension component for South Carolina and representative of the 1890 Institutions and Tuskegee. We feel privileged to appear before this committee, seeking your continued favorable consideration of resource allocation to programs of cooperative Extension Service. You have been very kind to us over the life of our new thrust in extension education; and for your benevolence and wisdom we want to thank you. The 1890 Institutions are involved in programs designed to upgrade the quality of life for limited resource people. These colleges and universities, which were created by the Second Morrill Act, have staff competence and life experience which are especially useful in the development and execution of educational programs for certain special groups; and particularly those which find themselves in economically and socially disadvantaged situations. During the last six years these institutions, in cooperation with the 1862 Universities, have developed and implemented educational programs which are providing leadership experiences that advantage a growing sector of our total population. During the period from 1971 to 1975 a large part of the funds allocated to these institutions were used on social programs. This was necessary to regain the confidence of limited resource rural families in federal programs cooperating with institutions of higher education. This clientele group has become more responsive to planned self-help programs during the first four years. Program planning since 1975 has allocated more resources to the small farmer effort and family living projects that increase income and savings for this clientele group. There is strong evidence that limited resource farmers in the southeastern United States have begun to covert their idle land and human resources into economic, physical and social gains to their families. Over the last six years, and especially within the last three years, many of these clientele families are producing and preserving part of their family food supply. Those with less limited resources are producing intensified land use crops for sale in local farmers' markets, thus enhancing their earned income and reducing their dependency on public assistance. Extension education and leadership for small farmers, planned and implemented by the 1890 and 1862 Extension Service, are responsible for stimulating the desire and willingness of these families to invest themselves in self-help efforts. The 1890 component of the Cooperative Extension Service is in dire need of additional funds to replace paraprofessionals lost to increased cost of operation. We have a critical shortage of funds to support program aides who work with family living and youth programs; and we seriously need additional funds to support agricultural science assistants who work with the small farmer thrust. Many youths from these families have begun to see the value of developing saleable skills through the school system. This shows some promise that these youngsters are interested in upgrading their lifestyle, and some of them show a willingness to invest themselves to that end. Adult members of these families have begun to see the value of family food supplements, clothing supplements, and income derived from agricultural and family living projects. We should expand this type of extension education to larger numbers of this clientele group. Section 1440 of Subtitle F of Title XIV of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 amended Section 502 of the Rural Development Act of 1972 to provide $20,000,000 for research and extension in small farmer programs. We need that money! As extension representative of the 1890 Institutions, we beseech you Honorable Sir to make that $20,000,000 available for small farmer programs in the FY 1979 Budget. The 1890 Institutions and their constituency are grateful for provisions granted us under Title XIV of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977. Though these institutions are profoundly obliged for considerations given in the past under 3(d) of the Smith-Lever Act, we are indeed pleased to have a more permanent funding base. In this regard, the 1890 Institutions want to work in harmony with the 1862 Universities, thus promoting the greatest total good for the most deserving recipients of the Cooperative Extension Service. STATEMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF STATE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FORESTRY RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS This statement is presented on behalf of the 60 state colleges and universities which participate in a program of forestry research and forest scientist education throughout the United States. The work is pursued under the provisions of the McIntire-Stennis Act (P.L. 87-788) of October, 1962, an act which (1) "recognized that research in forestry is the driving force behind progress in developing and utilizing the resources of the Nation's forest and related rangelands" and (2) "that forestry schools are especially vital in the training of research workers in forestry." For Fiscal Year '79, the Association of State College and University Forestry Research Organizations ("ASCUFRO") is requesting an increase of $4,892,720 for the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program. Four million of this is needed to expand research by the 60 cooperating institutions in three broad categories. These are: research in the underlying disciplines that are basic to all forest resources, such as, inventory, biology, economics, and protection; timber production and wood utilization, including such areas as silviculture and forest practices, timber harvesting, and properties and processing of wood products; and research on forest watershed management, related range lands, fisheries and wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, urban forestry, and amenity values. The balance is composed of $492,720 to maintain programs at current levels, and $400,000 for Cooperative Research Administration. We are also concerned over the fact that the President's budget message reduces the FY '78 budget from $9,500,000 to $8,550,000 in FY '79. The $950,000 has been placed in a special competitive grant program (PL89-106) which supports agricultural research, and little or no forestry research. this reduction and transfer is permitted to stand, forestry research will have little opportunity to compete for these funds. If Restoration of the $950,000 to the McIntire-Stennis program and strengthening of forest research efforts in FY '79 are both high priority items. The statement that follows provides a brief explanation of the situation in the broad field of forestry and associated rangelands today, the comprehensive joint research planning taking place, and the need for expanded research. SUPPORTING STATEMENT The past decade has provided a veritable flood of significant legislation relating to renewable natural resources. Included are the National Environmental Policy Act, the Federal Pollution Control Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered and Threatened Species Act, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act, and the National Forest Management Act to name but a few. These and related laws responsive to public demand call for more complete management, altered priorities of use, and more rigorous standards of performance not only on public lands by public agencies but also on private lands. There is an unprecedented demand for information on which to base use and management, and plans and policies for effectively assuring availability of forest-related renewable resources to Americans. One third of the nation's land is forested; two thirds is forest or range. These lands have tremendous importance both to the economic development of the country and to the quality of life it enjoys. Over six hundred pounds of paper are consumed annually by each American. One-third of the average American's home is built of wood - a renewable product requiring substantially lower energy to extract and process than competing materials such as aluminum, steel and cement. Wood also has high insulating qualities and biodegradability rates. Each year, the forests produce 125 million tons of industrial wood raw material, 53 percent of the food for beef cattle, 60 percent of the water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses, and provide 624 million recreational visits. In addition, forests provide Americans with unmeasured amenity values, such as, windbreaks, sound barriers, urban greenbelts, removal of air pollutants, and natural beauty. The forest products industries employ 7.2 percent of the U.S. manufacturing labor force and produce 6 percent of the value of products shipped. Forest products-based economic activity accounts for 5 percent of the Gross National Product. But such economic values do not reflect the total picture of forestry's contribution to American life. The value of clean water cannot be calculated in monetary terms. Non-consumptive uses of wildlife, such as birdwatching, and millions of visitor days of forest recreation can't be incorporated into a national accounting system. All demands for these products and services are expected to expand substantially by 2000 AD and beyond as shown in the following table1: 1From U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service "A Summary of Renewable Resource Assessment and a Recommended Renewable Resource Program," These increases will occur in the face of a gradually decreasing forest land base estimated at 5,000,000 acres per decade. The development through research and application of improved technology and policies are important factors in meeting these demands. This is particularly relevant for the non-industrial private forest ownership sector which contains 59% of the commercial forest area, yet is producing timber at only 49% of current potential, and the national forests which account for 17% of the commercial forest area, yet are producing timber at only 39% of potential (Clawson, "Science" February 20, 1976). Current Research Planning and Analysis Over the last two to three years, the forestry schools and university experiment stations and the research arm of the U.S. Forest Service have worked together closely to develop a unified and user-responsive program of research to improve the productivity of that two-thirds of the United States which is occupied by forests and grasslands. In January, 1978, the seventh session was held here in Washington to obtain, on a national basis, user input to our joint research program effort. This was preceded by four regional conferences having as their principle objective derivation for each region of user perspectives and priorities on research needs. Right now, we are analyzing these data with the goal of formulating research programs appropriate to user-expressed state, regional and national priorities. three broad categories of research identified for added effort in FY '79 agree with the recommendations of users of research results who participated in the regional and national working conferences. The |