History of forestry 1875-1889

1872 

Congress passes "An Act to set apart a certain Tract of Land lying near the  Head-waters of the Yellowstone River as a public Park,", thus establishing  Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, the first in the history of the nation and  of the world; the Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National  Park for the Year 1872, published the following year, provides a portrait of  the new park at its birth.  At the initiative of J. Sterling Morton of the State Board of Agriculture,  Nebraska observes "Tree-Planting Day" on April 10, inaugurating the tradition  which soon becomes known as Arbor Day. By 1907, Arbor Day is observed annually  in every State in the Union, most importantly in the nation's schools, where  (as revealed in works such as the 1893 booklet Arbor Day Leaves), it provides  several generations of young Americans with their most significant training in  conservation principles and practice. 

 1872-74 

 In a reflection of strong popular interest in American scenery, including  wilderness scenery, the Appleton Company publishes Picturesque America; or,  The Land We Live In, ed. William Cullen Bryant, a massive 2-volume work  containing reports and descriptions of scenic places along with superb 

 engravings based on the work of noted artists; the work circulates widely,  creating enduringly influential popular images of some of the nation's most  famous scenic spots. 

 1873 

 Under the influence of Marsh's Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as  Modified by Human Action, Franklin B. Hough reads a paper at the annual 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in  Portland, Maine, entitled "On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of  Forests;" this inspires the Association to prepare and submit a Memorial on  forest preservation to Congress, which initiates Congressional interest in  forest protection.  Initial publication of Forest and Stream magazine, which--especially under the  leadership of George Bird Grinnell, senior editor and publisher from 1880 to  1911--becomes the major American sportsmen's magazine by the turn of the  century and a forum for conservation advocacy.  Congress passes "An Act to encourage the Growth of Timber on western  Prairies", known as the Timber Culture Act, granting settlers 160-acre plots  if they have cultivated trees on one-fourth of the land for ten years; the act  reveals the growing public concern with conservation of forest resources,  though it ultimately proves unenforceable and is repealed in 1891.  mid-1870s  Scribner's Monthly publishes reports from the Western expeditions led by  Nathaniel P. Langford, Ferdinand V. Hayden, T.C. Evert, John Wesley Powell,  and others; these greatly stimulate interest in the natural beauties of the West. 

 1874-75 

 Typifying the increasing popular interest in wild nature as a resource for  human recreation, Scribner's Monthly publishes articles advocating the virtues  of family camping in various spots throughout the country.  1875  American Forestry Association founded by concerned botanists and 

 horticulturalists; before c.1900, it emphasizes appreciation and protection of  trees rather than forestry as an economic problem.  Congress passes "An act to protect ornamental and other trees on Government  reservations and on lands purchased by the United States, and for other  purposes," forbidding the unauthorized cutting or injury of trees on  government property. 

 1876 

 John Muir publishes "God's First Temples: How Shall We Preserve Our Forests?,"  one of his earliest pieces of published writing, in the Sacramento 

 Record-Union; in it, he suggests the necessity for government protection of  forests.  The Appalachian Mountain Club is founded in Boston, emphasizing a sense of  stewardship toward the New England mountain wilds as part of its  organizational philosophy; it is one of the nation's first and most important  private conservation-related organizations.  After Congress allocates $2,000 in a Department of Agriculture appropriations  bill for "some man of approved attainments" to report to Congress on forestry  matters, Franklin B. Hough is appointed first Federal forestry agent, with the 

 task of gathering statistics about the state of the nation's forests.

1877 

 Carl Schurz begins a four-year term as Secretary of the Interior; under his  leadership, the Department of the Interior takes an active interest in 

 conservation issues for the first time, and Schurz himself advocates  far-sighted conservation policies, such as the creation of forest reserves and 

 a Federal forest service.  Congress passes "An act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain  States and Territories," known as the Desert Land Act, offering claimants up  to 640 acres at $1.25 an acre if they have irrigated them. 

 1878 

 John Wesley Powell, then the geologist in charge of the U.S. Geographical and  Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, publishes Report on the Lands  of the Arid Region of the United States, a pioneering work recognizing the  West's unique environmental character, advocating irrigation and conservation  efforts in it, and calling for the distribution of Western lands to settlers  on a democratic and environmentally realistic basis. 

 Franklin B. Hough begins to issue a landmark four-volume Report upon Forestry  to Congress, the first fruit of the Federal government's nascent forestry  activities and a wide-ranging survey of information and issues pertinent to  the management of the nation's forests. 

 1879 

 Congress passes a sub-section of an appropriations bill officially  establishing the U.S. Geological Survey as a bureau of the Interior  Department, with responsibility for "the classification of the public lands."  Congress authorizes the appointment of a Public Lands Commission to review  Federal public land policy; members include John Wesley Powell, Clarence  Dutton, and Clarence King. The Commission spends several months travelling in the West, surveying land use; late in the year, it submits a Report to Congress expressing differing views among the Commissioners on how to 

 rationalize land policy, however all its recommendations are ignored by Congress. 

 1880s 

 The American Forestry Association and the American Association for the  Advancement of Science advocate designation of Western timberlands as 

 permanent public reservations. 

 1880 

 At the direction of the New York State Legislature, a commission led by State  Survey Director James T. Gardner and Frederick Law Olmsted prepares a Special  Report... on the Preservation of the Scenery of Niagara Falls, advocating  State purchase, restoration and preservation through public ownership of the  scenic lands surrounding Niagara Falls. Accompanied by a Memorial to the  governor signed by more than a hundred prominent citizens, this Report defines  the direction of the public campaign to save the beauties of Niagara. 

 1881 

 Division of Forestry provisionally established in the Department of Agriculture, with Franklin B. Hough as its first chief; until the Pinchot era, 

 its role is largely confined to dispensing information and technical advice.  The remaining volumes of the Report upon Forestry are issued until 1884 under Hough and his successor, Nathaniel H. Egleston. 

 1882 

 In this and the preceding year, the campaign to save Niagara through the  creation of a state-owned reserve is energized by the publication in New York  and Boston newspapers of a series of letters calling attention to the dangers  threatening Niagara's scenery; the 1882 letters, by Jonathan Baxter Harrison,  also circulate in the form of a pamphlet entitled "The Condition of Niagara  Falls, and the Measures Needed to Preserve Them". 

 Clarence Edward Dutton publishes "The Physical Geology of the Grand Canon  District" in the Second Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey,  a precise and beautifully discerning account of a remarkable natural region  which demonstrates the exceptional scientific and even literary merit of many  of the government-sponsored scientific survey reports published in this era.  American Forestry Congresses meet in Cincinnati and Montreal.  The Wheelman, a magazine for enthusiasts of the new bicycling craze, begins  publication; it subsequently publishes a number of articles urging the  enjoyment of bicycle touring to wild and scenic spots, reflecting the growing  interest in nature-based recreation in America. 

 George Perkins Marsh dies in Italy, where he has been serving as U.S. Minister  since 1861; his grave is in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. At the time of  his death, he is working on additional revisions to the latest edition of Man and Nature (which he had retitled The Earth as Modified by Human Action). 

 1883 

 The American Ornithologists' Union, a professional society dedicated to bird  protection, founded in New York City; like the first Audubon Society (founded  in 1886 by George Bird Grinnell, though it lasted only two years), this  reflects the growing concern with birds and bird protection in American  culture. 

 1884 

 Undertaking his research under the influence of Marsh's Man and Nature,  Charles Sprague Sargent, the visionary director of Harvard University's Arnold  Arboretum, publishes a Report on the Forests of North America (Exclusive of  Mexico) as part of the Tenth Census; in addition to important scientific  information, this influential work warns of the need to reform destructive  timber management policies. 

 1885 

 New York State establishes the Adirondack Forest Preserve, stipulating that it  "shall be kept forever as wild forest lands": a milestone in conservation 

 legislation.  Formal opening (July 15) of New York State Reservation at Niagara, including a  speech by James C. Carter, later published in pamphlet form, which links the  spiritual importance of scenery to a philosophy of public preservation; the  Reservation is a precedent-setting attempt to preserve scenic beauty while  accommodating natural-resource use, and the capstone of a citizen campaign of  conservation advocacy. 

 1886 

 In an appropriations bill for the Department of Agriculture, Congress creates  the Division of Ecnomic Ornithology and Mammalogy, and grants the Division of  Forestry permanent status within the Department; C. Hart Merriam heads the  Economic Ornithology Division, and Bernhard E. Fernow is Forestry Division  chief. 

 1887 

 Exemplifying the significance of sportsmen as conservationists, George Bird  Grinnell and Theodore Roosevelt found the Boone and Crockett Club, which plays  a major role in associating big-game hunters with the conservation movement;  the Club eventually publishes several volumes of writings on hunting and  conservation, including American Big Game In Its Haunts: The Book of the Boone  and Crockett Club, in 1904.  Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux prepare a detailed plan for the  restoration of the landscape immediately surrounding Niagara Falls; published  as a Supplemental Report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at  Niagara, the plan shows how the challenges and paradoxes posed by scenic  preservation and the accommodation of visitors in a carefully-conserved  natural setting intersected with those of the emerging profession of landscape  architecture, of which Olmsted was the nation's greatest practitioner.  Charles Sprague Sargent founds and directs Garden and Forest, a literate,  thoughtful, and informative weekly which does much to foster awareness of and  interest in American forests, trees, horticulture, landscape design, and 

 scenic preservation during the ten years of its publication.  In an early act of wildlife conservation, Congress passes legislation granting 

 the Seal Rocks off Point Lobos to San Francisco in trust for the people of the  United States, on condition that the city "shall keep said rocks free from 

 encroachment by man, and shall preserve from molestation the seals and other  animals now accustomed to resort there." 

 1889 

 William Temple Hornaday publishes The Extermination of the American Bison, a  report to the Secretary of the Smithsonian which had originally been printed  in the Smithsonian's annual report for 1887, severely criticizing the  near-extermination of bison in the West, and advocating protection of what  remained of the herds.  Congress passes "An act to provide for the protection of the salmon fisheries  of Alaska," the first of several such Federal statutory attempts to protect this economically valuable resource. 

 1889-91 

 Editorials by Robert Underwood Johnson in Century magazine help turn public  opinion in favor of Federal forest conservation.