History of forestry 1901-1907
1901-1907
1901
Theodore Roosevelt becomes President of the United States upon the death of President McKinley on September 14, and conservation becomes a cornerstone of his domestic policy.
March 2, Changed its name from Division of Forestry (a.k.a. Division R) to Bureau of Forestry. With 179 employees, 81 of which wee student assistants and an appropriation of $185,440.
1902
October, students of the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell University founded the Forestry Quarterly.
June 17, Newlands Act. Newlands Reclamation Act.
"An Act Appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories to the construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands, which designates proceeds from the sale of public lands in sixteen Western states as a fund for the development of irrigation projects.
Congress passes a bill establishing Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.
Reflecting the popular fascination with nature-based recreation and concern with wild nature as a resource for character development, Ernest Thompson Seton publishes a series of articles in the Ladies' Home Journal calling for the creation of a boys' organization to be named the Woodcraft Indians;
This directly inspires Sir Robert Baden-Powell's founding of the Boy Scouts in Britain in 1908 and helps launch the scouting movement in the United States.
January, Second American Forest Congress.
Forestry is first described in Encyclopedia Britannica.
September 4, Absaroka Forest Reserve established with 1,311,600 acres. January 29, 1903, consolidated with Yellowstone, name discontinued. July 1, 1908, reestablished from part of Yellowstone and all of the crazy Mountains. February 17, 1932, part of Beartooth added. July 1, 1945 entire Forest divided between Gallatin and Lewis and Clark.
August 16, Little Belt Mountains Forest Reserve established with 501,000 acres. October 3, 1905 name changed to Little Belt, boundary redescribed. July 1, 1908 combined with Little Rockies, Snowy Mountains and Highwood to establish Jefferson; name discontinued.
August 16, Madison Forest Reserve established with 736,000 acres. December 16, 1931 entire forest distributed among Beaverhead, Deerlodge and Gallatin.
May 22, Yellowstone Forest Reserve. (6,580,920 acres) Name changed from Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve. (see March 30, 1891)
1903
Over a controversy about clear-cutting and planting on the Axton Forest, conservationists and recreationists, persuaded Governor B.B. Odell Jr to veto its appropriations for the Forestry School at New York State College of Forestry at Cornell University and it was dissolved.
On March 10, President Roosevelt establishes a Federally-protected wildlife refuge by executive order setting aside Pelican Island on Indian River, Florida, as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds; It is the first of fifty-three wildlife sanctuaries Roosevelt creates while President, and establishes the precedent on which the system of national wildlife refuges will be based.
Congress passes a bill establishing Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota.
December 12, Highwood Forest Reserve established with 45,080 acres. July 1, 1908 combined with Little Belt, Snowy Mountains and Little Rockies to establish Jefferson; name discontinued.
1904
Congress passes a bill, which leads to the establishment of Sullys Hill National Park, North Dakota.
November 24, Benjamin Holt tested his first Track-type (steam) tractor.
December 17, by presidential order, all persons employed on the forest reserves were classified under the Civil Service and were required to pass qualifying exams.
1905
Bureau of Forestry publishes Bulletin 61, Terms Used in Forestry and Logging.
May, Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters begins publication.
Volume 1, Number 1 contained a list of members: 57 active, 45 Associate and 1 Honorary. 5 years old and already have an honorary member also included the new SAF constitution.
Acting under the influence of 39 year old Gifford Pinchot, The American Forestry Association sponsors the American Forest Congress in Washington; attended by leaders of lumbering, mining, grazing, irrigation industries, education and government, the Congress underscores the prominence of questions of natural resource management in the economic concerns of the nation.
On February 1, (effective March 3) "An Act Providing for the transfer of Forest Reserves from the Department of Interior to the Department of Agriculture", known as the Transfer Act of 1905, H.R. 8460. In accordance with one of the Forest Congress's principal recommendations, Gifford Pinchot succeeds in having the oversight of national forest reserves transferred from the Department of Interior (General Land Office) to his own jurisdiction, the Bureau of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture.
4Transforms the Bureau into the Forest Service.
4This change also symbolizes a shift of emphasis from preservation to scientific forestry, and Pinchot's dominance in public conservation policy.
Sixty-three million acres of Forest Reserves are now in the Department of Agriculture.
When the Forest Service took charge of the Forest Reserves there were 60. Forest Service personnel numbered 734, of whom 268 were in the Washington office and 466 in the field service.
Section 5 provided that all money received from the sale of any products or land use of the Forest Reserves should be available for five years as a special fund for the protection, administration, improvement, and extension of the reserves.
July 1, 1905 USE BOOK: 4 ¼ by 6 ¾, containing 142 pages, the first Use Book of regulations and instructions took effect.
It was called the USE BOOK because the forests were “for use.”
4 Forest Reserves are for the purpose of preserving a perpetual supply of timber for home industries, preventing destruction of the forest cover which regulates the flow of streams and protecting local residents from unfair competition in the use of forest and range.
4They are patrolled and protected, at the governments’ expense, for the benefits of the community and home builder.
Forest supervisor .............….$1,800 to $2,500/year
Deputy forest supervisor ......$1,500 to 1,700
Forest ranger ................... … $1,200 to 1,400
Deputy forest ranger ........ ....$1,000 to 1,100
Assistant forest ranger ...…...$800 to 900
Forest guard ...................... .. $ Up to 720
Congress passes a "Joint Resolution Accepting the recession by the State of California of the Yosemite Valley Grant and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove in the Yosemite National Park," appropriating $20,000 for the re-acquisition of these lands by the Federal government.
4This transaction is confirmed by another Joint Resolution enacted in 1906, which reconfigures the boundaries of Yosemite National Park.
The National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals is founded in New York, officially uniting the numerous state groups which have sprung up since 1896, and establishing a strong national voice for conservation. (In 1940, the organization's name was changed to the National Audubon Society.)
In 1905, the timber cut from Forests Reserves was 68.5 million board feet. In FY 1959, the cut was 8.3 Billion board feet.
October 3, Big Belt Forest Reserve established with 630,260 acres. July 1, 1908, part combined with Gallatin, remainder to Helena, name discontinued.
May 12, Elkhorn Forest Reserve established with 186,240 acres. July 1, 1908 entire Forest combined with Helena; name discontinued.
October 3, Hell Gate Forest Reserve established with 1,581,120 acres. July 1, 1908 lands divided among Beaverhead, Deerlodge, Missoula and Bitterroot: name discontinued.
October 3, Little Belt Forest Reserve, name change from Little Belt Mountains. (See Little Belt Mountains, August 19, 1902)
1906
June 8, American Antiquities Act. Antiquities Act.
"An Act For the preservation of American antiquities," authorizing the President to establish national monuments for the preservation of features of historic, prehistoric, and scientific interest, and forbidding unauthorized injury of objects of antiquity.
President Roosevelt issues a Presidential Proclamation establishing Devil's Tower National Monument, Wyoming, as the nation's first National Monument; later in the year, he issues another by Proclamation, establishing Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona.
For the next 2 years, Gifford Pinchot prepares bills for Congress placing the national parks under the Forest Service so that they may be open for resource development.
4These measures are successfully opposed by Rep. John F. Lacey, Chairman of the House Public Lands Committee and Congressional spokesman for the preservationist approach to conservation. 4Pinchot's effort ultimately backfires by sparking the preservationists' campaign to establish a permanent separate bureau to administer the national parks.
April 12, Helena Forest Reserve established in Helena, Montana with 782,160 acres. July 1, 1908 Part of Big Belt and entire Elkhorn added.
August 13, Kootenai Forest Reserve established in Libby, Montana with 877,360 acres. June 22, 1935, Lands from the Blackfeet were added. July 1, 1954, Land from Cabinet added.
September 20, Lolo Forest Reserve established in Missoula, Montana with 1,211,680 acres. December 16, 1931, part of Missoula added. October 29, 1934, part of Selway added. July 1, 1954, part of Cabinet added.
November 6, Coeur d’ Alene Forest Reserve established in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho with 2,331,280 acres. July 1, 1908, Palouse added. September 30, 1933, portion of Pend Oreille added. 1973, Combined administratively with Kaniksu, and St. Joe called the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.
November 5, Big Hole Forest Reserve established with 1,917,100 acres. July 1, 1908, lands divided among Beaverhead, Deerlodge and Bitterroot, Name discontinued.
August 10, Crazy Mountain Forest Reserve established with 234,760 acres. July 1, 1908 combined with part of Yellowstone to reestablish the Absaroka; name discontinued.
September 24, Long Pine Forest Reserve established with 111,445 acres. July 1, 1908 combined with Sioux; name discontinued.
November 6, Missoula Forest Reserve established with 194,430 acres. July 1, 1908 part of Hell Gate added others added. December 16, 1931 entire forest divided between Deerlodge and Lolo.
November 6, Pryor Mountains Forest Reserve established with 78,732 acres. July 1, 1908 combined with part of Yellowstone to establish Beartooth; name discontinued.
November 5, Snowy Mountains Forest Reserve established with 126,080 acres. July 1, 1908 combined with Little Belt, High Wood and Little Rockies to establish Jefferson; name discontinued.
First Ranger Hiring Exam given to ranger recruits:
4 To be eligible as ranger…[he must be] thoroughly sound and able-bodied, capable of enduring hardships and of performing sever labor under trying conditions.
4Invalids seeking light out-of-door employment need not apply.
4He must be able to build trail and cabins and to pack in provisions without assistance.
4He must know something of surveying, estimating, and scaling timber, lumbering, and the live-stock business.
4Where boats, saddle horses, or packhorses are necessary in the performance of their duty, rangers are required to own and maintain them.
4Experience, not book education, is sought.”
Rangers Leave of Absence with Pay: Not to exceed fifteen days (15) in one calendar year
Empire Forest Products Associated formed.
US Lumber consumption per capita in 1900 is 82 cubic feet
4In 1970 it’s 30 cubic feet.
Today, world wood consumption per capita is 10 cubic feet/year.
4US wood consumption per capita is 75 cubic feet/year
1907
John Muir publishes "The Tuolumne Yosemite in Danger" in Outlook, the opening salvo in his campaign to save Hetch Hetchy Valley from damming as a reservoir for San Francisco; the campaign becomes a national focus for conservation efforts,
4Signals the ideological differences of the conservation movement between advocates of preservationist conservationism (those who seek to retain natural areas in their "natural" state) and advocates of utilitarian conservationism (those who seek to manage the sustainable harvesting of natural resources for human benefit).
Through provisions embedded in the Forest Service sub-section of an Agriculture appropriations act,
Congress renames Forest Reserves "National Forests," and forbids their further creation or
enlargement in six Western states, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming,
except by act of Congress.
4When the bill passes Congress on February 25, Pinchot and his staff work feverishly to identify 16
million acres of forest in these six states which are designated as National Forests by President
Roosevelt before he signs the bill into law on March 4.
4These Forests were nicknamed the “Midnight Reserves.”
4By 1907, there were 151 million acres of National Forests.
Midnight Reserves:
Added on March 1st:
Bearlodge, 136,784
Colville, 869,520
Imnaha, 1,750,520
Las Animas, 196,620
Toiyabe, 625,040
Wallowa combined with Chesnimnus to create Imnaha March 2,
Added on March 2nd:
Maury Mountain added to Blue Mountains
Cascade, 5,886,840
Caribou, 740,740
Coqville, 148,317
Palouse, 194,404
Rainier changed its name from Mount Rainier.
Port Neuf, 99,508
Tillamook, 175,518
Umpqua, 798,400
4Otter National Forest established with 590,720 acres. Renamed Custer on July 1, 1908.
4Cabinet National Forest established with 2,060,960 acres. July 1, 1954, entire forest divided among Kaniksu, Kootenai and Lolo
4Lewis and Clark National Forest, name changed from Lewis and Clarke.
4Little Rockies National Forest established with 31,000 acres. July 1, 1908 combined with Little Belt, Snowy Mountains and Highwood to establish Jefferson; name discontinued.
Pinchot wrote in Breaking new Ground:
4Use is not contrary to conservation.
4Decisions on use would consider needs of local industries first.
4When in doubt, where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question would always be decided from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.
President Roosevelt issues a Proclamation establishing Cinder Cone National Monument, and Lassen Peak National Monument, both in California.
1901
Congress passes what is known as the Right of Way Act, permitting the use of rights of way through forest reserves and national parks for electrical power, telephone and telegraph communication, and irrigation and water supply. Theodore Roosevelt becomes President of the United States upon the death of President McKinley on September 14, and conservation becomes a cornerstone of his domestic policy. President Theodore Roosevelt's First Annual Message outlines his goals of forest conservation and preservation (including the use of forest reserves as wildlife preserves), and the need for government-sponsored irrigation projects in the arid West. John Muir publishes Our National Parks, a beautifully-written portrait of some
of the nation's great scenic wildernesses by their greatest defender; the book goes through a dozen printings and establishes Muir's reputation in the public mind. The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society is founded in New York, developing out of the state-level Trustees of Scenic and Historic Places and Objects which had been founded by Andrew H. Green, president of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, in 1895, and modelled after Britain's National Trust; the new organization advocates protection of both scenic places and historic sites throughout the nation, demonstrating--like the American Antiquities Act of 1906--the relationship between the movements for natural and cultural preservation in turn-of-the-century America. The periodical Country Life in America begins publication under the editorship of Liberty Hyde Bailey; its pragmatic celebration of the suburban pastoral soon brings it widespread popularity.
1902
Congress passes "An Act Appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories to the construction of
irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands," known as the Newlands Reclamation Act in honor of its chief sponsor, Sen. Francis G. Newlands, which designates proceeds from the sale of public lands in sixteen Western states as a fund for the development of irrigation projects; settlers are to repay the costs of these projects, thus creating a permanent revolving fund. This Act commits the Federal government to support and, ultimately, control of the large-scale irrigation which transforms the landscape, economy, and social and political structure of much of the West.
Congress passes a bill establishing Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. In one of a series of acts designed to regulate harvesting of Alaskan
wildlife, Congress passes "An Act For the protection of game in Alaska, and for other purposes," known as the Alaska Game Act, protecting certain game animals in Alaska; these provisions are strengthened by an act amending the Alaska Game Act in 1908. Bernhard E. Fernow publishes The Economics of Forestry: A Reference Book for Students of Political Economy and Professional and Lay Students of Forestry, a comprehensive overview of forestry principles and their contemporary and historical relationship to public policy, written at a time when forestry practices were in the vanguard of conservationism. Reflecting the popular fascination with nature-based recreation and concern with wild nature as a resource for character development, Ernest Thompson Seton publishes a series of articles in the Ladies' Home Journal calling for the creation of a boys' organization to be named the Woodcraft Indians; this directly inspires Sir Robert Baden-Powell's founding of the Boy Scouts in Britain in 1908 and helps launch the scouting movement in the United States. John Wesley Powell dies in Maine, shortly after Congress passes the Newlands
Reclamation Act.
1903
On March 10, President Roosevelt establishes a Federally-protected wildlife refuge by executive order setting aside Pelican Island on Indian River,
Florida, as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds; it is the first of fifty-three wildlife sanctuaries Roosevelt creates while President, and
establishes the precedent on which the system of national wildlife refuges will be based. Roosevelt's keen interest in birds and their conservation is
documented by contemporary film footage of his visits to bird sanctuaries. Concern about the administration of public lands in the West, particularly the question of grazing leases for cattlemen, prompts the Roosevelt administration to appoint a Public Lands Commission to study and report on public lands issues; the Commission's members are W.A. Richards, F.H. Newell, and Gifford Pinchot. Congress passes a bill establishing Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. Mary Austin The Land of Little Rain, a classic celebration of the desert country of California. John Burroughs publishes an influential essay in the Atlantic Monthly, "Real and Sham Natural History," attacking sentimental popular nature-writers such as Ernest Thompson Seton and William J. Long as "nature fakers;" Roosevelt later joins the controversy in support of Burroughs.
1904
The American Civic Association is founded June 10 by merging the American Park and Outdoor Art Association with the American League for Civic Improvement; under the leadership of J. Horace McFarland, a civic activist and newspaperman from Harrisburg, Pa., its activities include leading campaigns for the creation and protection of national, state, and municipal parks. Congress passes a bill which leads to the establishment of Sullys Hill National Park, North Dakota.
1905
Acting under the influence of Gifford Pinchot, The American Forestry Association sponsors the American Forest Congress in Washington; attended by leaders of lumbering, mining, grazing, and irrigation industries and by leaders in education and government, the Congress underscores the prominence of questions of natural resource management in the economic concerns of the nation; the Conference's Proceedings are published later in the same year. In accordance with one of the Forest Congress's principal recommendations, Gifford Pinchot succeeds in having the oversight of national forest reserves transferred from the Department of Interior (General Land Office) to his own jurisdiction, the Bureau of Forestry (formerly known as the Division of Forestry) in the Department of Agriculture, and transforms the Bureau into the Forest Service; this is accomplished by "An Act Providing for the transfer of forest reserves from the Department of Interior to the Department of Agriculture", known as the Transfer Act of 1905. This change also symbolizes a shift of emphasis from preservation to scientific forestry, and Pinchot's dominance in public conservation policy.
The Public Lands Commission appointed by by President Roosevelt publishes its by Report, recommending adjustments in the law and administrative procedure governing Federally-held lands based on a belief in the value of rationally-managed public control of natural resources. Congress passes a by "Joint Resolution Accepting the recession by the State of California of the Yosemite Valley Grant and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove in the Yosemite National Park," appropriating $20,000 for the re-acquisition of these lands by the Federal government; this transaction is confirmed by another by
Joint Resolution enacted in 1906, which reconfigures the boundaries of Yosemite National Park. J. Horace McFarland, President of the American Civic Association, publishes a series of articles in Ladies' Home Journal advocating preservation of Niagara Falls from the threat posed by water power demands, which generates a huge favorable response from readers and inaugurates a campaign that provokes the Congressional action on Niagara of the following year. The National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals is founded in New York, officially uniting the numerous state groups which have sprung up since 1896, and establishing a strong national voice for conservation. (In 1940, the organization's name was changed to the National Audubon Society.) Nathaniel Southgate Shaler publishes by Man and the Earth, a prophetic
scientific and philosophical exploration of mankind's relationship with the earth which anticipates the writings of such figures as by Liberty Hyde Bailey and, much later, Aldo Leopold; Shaler predicts that in the future humanity's relations with the earth will be characterized by a new consciousness of man's ethical responsibility to the natural world, and he directs attention to problems of ecology, biodiversity loss, and the need for worldwide efforts toward scenic and wildlife preservation.
1906
Congress passes by "An Act For the preservation of American antiquities," known as the American Antiquities Act, authorizing the President to establish national monuments for the preservation of features of historic, prehistoric, and scientific interest, and forbidding unauthorized injury of objects of antiquity. by President Roosevelt issues a by Presidential Proclamation establishing Devil's Tower National Monument, Wyoming, as the nation's first National Monument; later in the year, he issues another by Proclamation, establishing Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona.
Congress passes by a bill establishing Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and by a Resolution designating Sulphur Springs Reservation, Oklahoma, as Platt National Park. Congress passes by "An Act To extend the irrigation Act to the State of Texas," extending the provisions of by the Newlands Act to Texas. Responding to the campaign of public concern about the depletion of Niagara Falls orchestrated by J. Horace McFarland and supported by the Sierra Club and the Appalachian Mountain Club, Congress passes both a by Joint Resolution instructing the American representatives to an international commission on Niagara to work with their Canadian counterparts to preserve the Falls; and by "An Act For the control and regulation of the waters of Niagara River, for the preservation of Niagara Falls, and for other purposes," restricting the diversion of water from the sources of the Falls and requesting the President to undertake the necessary treaty negotiations to guarantee the Falls' protection by both the United States and Canada; though it permits greater water diversion than preservationists like McFarland had hoped, a final treaty is signed in 1909 which limits the total amount of water diverted from the Falls by both nations to 56,000 cubic feet per second, a limitation which remains in effect until 1950.
This year and the following, by Gifford Pinchot prepares bills for Congress placing the national parks under the Forest Service so that they may be open for resource development; these measures are successfully opposed by Rep. John F. Lacey, Chairman of the House Public Lands Committee and Congressional spokesman for the preservationist approach to conservation; Pinchot's effort ultimately backfires by sparking the preservationists' campaign to establish a permanent separate bureau to administer the national parks.
1907
John Muir publishes "The Tuolumne Yosemite in Danger" in Outlook, the opening salvo in his campaign to save Hetch Hetchy Valley from damming as a reservoir for San Francisco; the campaign becomes a national focus for conservation efforts and thought during the next several years, and signals the ideological bifurcation of the conservation movement between advocates of preservationist conservationism (those who seek to retain natural areas in their "natural" state) and advocates of utilitarian conservationism (those who seek to manage the sustainable harvesting of natural resources for human benefit). Through provisions embedded in the Forest Service sub-section of an Agriculture appropriations act, Congress renames Forest Reserves "National Forests," and forbids their further creation or enlargement in six Western states (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming), except by act of Congress; when the bill passes Congress on February 25, Pinchot and his staff work feverishly to identify sixteen million acres of forest in these six states which are designated as national forests by President Roosevelt before he signs the bill into law on March 4.
Heralding the growth of organized opposition to conservation policy, the Colorado legislature and Governor Henry Buchtel sponsor the Denver Public Lands Convention; it is attended by representatives of Western ranching and mining interests who call for cession of public lands to the states and restriction of national forests; the Convention's Proceedings are published later in the same year. President Roosevelt issues a Proclamation establishing Cinder Cone National Monument, and a Proclamation establishing Lassen Peak National Monument, both in California.
President Roosevelt appoints an Inland Waterways Commission to study the nation's declining river navigation and recommend measures to revive it; the Commission's Report, submitted by the President to Congress the following year, supports a carefully planned multi-purpose approach to the use and development of the nation's rivers, to be coordinated by a single executive agency. In his Seventh Annual Message, President Roosevelt makes the case for utilitarian conservationism especially forcefully, asserting that "the conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our National life," and that his administration has been trying "to substitute a planned and orderly development of our resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit." At the request of the Massachusetts legislature, with which he worked to prepare model bird-protection laws, ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush publishes Useful Birds and Their Protection, the first major work by an American to analyze the economic importance of birds and the strategies necessary for their protection.