Lands Forest Health Management, and Cooperative Lands Fire Management programs. The functions of these programs are described in Appendix B. In the past, forest health efforts have been focused on insects, diseases, and fires. The USDA Forest Service is expanding the concept of forest health to include ecosystem composition, structure, and function and maintenance of biological diversity.

Cooperative Forestry appropriations totaled $86.9 million in 1996 (Tables A-23, A-24). These appropriations increased between 1992 and 1996, when they decreased substantially. Cooperative Forestry programs provide funding and direction for the strengthening of rural communities, resource and conservation education, stewardship cost-shares, conservation easements, and urban and community forestry initiatives. Specific program details of these federal assistance and incentive initiatives are presented in Appendix B.

Transfer programs allocate funds to organizations other than the USDA Forest Service, which plays a role in the programs. Examples include emergency watershed protection, resource conservation and development, and watershed protection and flood prevention programs. Under the 1996 farm bill, many transfer programs have been consolidated under the Environmental Conservation Acreage Reserve Program (ECARP), which was established as the umbrella program encompassing the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Cost-share programs that are relevant to the nation's nonfederal forestland owners are described in Appendix B.

In 1993, four federal transfer programs provided substantial cost-share assistance to the nation's nonfederal forest landowners (Table A-24). These programs were the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP; replaced by EQIP), the Forestry Incentives Program, the Stewardship Incentives Program, and the Tree Assistance Program. The total amount of federal cost-share spending under these programs was $32 million in FY 1993. In that year, the South Central and Southeast regions received nearly two-thirds of the financial assistance provided by these programs, in part because nearly 81 percent of the cost-share dollars provided under the Forestry Incentives Program (FIP) were expended in these regions.

Although many federal agencies and programs have extension and outreach implications for nonfederal forests, major federal responsibility for extension