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The establishment of the Bureau of Forest Extension in the School of Forestry and Conservation in 1930 strengthened the extension work which had been undertaken in 1928 under the direction of Shirley W. Allen. Professor
Ernst V. Jotter ('08, M.S.F. '09) was assigned full time to the Bureau, and Allen gave half time to the extension projects. Dean Dana headed the work, and other members of the faculty were also called upon by timberland owners for lectures, demonstrations, and advice. The work of Willett F. Ramsdell, George Willis Pack Professor of Forest Land Management, although under the Bureau, was separately financed. Close co-operation with the University Extension Service has been maintained in all forest extension work.
The public spirited efforts of Filibert Roth during his many years of service contributed largely to the success of the Bureau. Typical projects upon which service has been concentrated since 1928 include the preparation of aids for teachers who use forestry subject matter in public school courses. These include actual forestry lessons, Arbor Day programs, lantern slide collections, plans for contests, material and bibliographies, circulars and charts from the federal government, the state, and the forest- and wood-using industries, and loan exhibits of strong construction and up-to-date materials.
At the request of the Michigan Department of Conservation a program of co-operation in training the department's field officers to promote forest fire prevention through work with the rural schools was carried on for four years. From two to four counties a year were covered in the fire-hazardous districts of the state.
From 1928 to 1940 field training of public school teachers in forestry and wild-life instruction methods reached more than 3,000 teachers and prospective teachers. Indoor addresses and demonstrations reached as many more, and help has been given individual high-school teachers in planning field and laboratory projects.
Work by conservation committees and public addresses throughout the state to service clubs, women's organizations, and sportsmen's groups have reached an average of ten to twenty thousand people a year, and the results have included a Community Forest Law passed in 1931, a campaign by the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan in the spring of 1935 to stop the useless burning of marshes and forest lands, a conservation institute for women held at the University in 1935, the establishment of preforestry curriculums in various colleges in the state, and requests for services of representatives of the Bureau in preparing material for the use of educational advisers in the Civilian Conservation Corps camps.