How The National Forest System Began
Founded in 1905, the United States Forest Service has been carrying out its mission of conserving the country's natural resources and cultural sights for over a century. In the modern era, the National Forest System has grown, spanning over a total of 193 million acres of land, including 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. Although it was under President Theodore Roosevelt's administration that the Forest Service was transformed into the agency that is recognizable today, the conservation movement began in the late 19th century. The roots of the National Forest System can be traced back to 1876, when passionate researchers like Franklin B. Hough began raising the alarm on how vital natural resources were being exhausted.
Appropriations Act of 1876
The idea of the U.S. government having a responsibility to protect valuable landscapes like forests originated in 1873. Dr. Franklin B. Hough, who was a historian, statistician, and physician, realized that timber supplies in certain areas of the country were being treated as unlimited resources. After his research led him to realize that the resources in forested areas were being exhausted, Hough presented his findings to his scientific peers in a paper titled "On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests."
His argument that the government had a responsibility to encourage the growth of more timber resources and protect the ones that remained led scientists to call for action from Congress. Three years later in August 1876, Congress added an amendment to the Appropriations Act of 1876 and assigned Hough to study the impact of forest consumption on the supply of resources.
The Division of Forestry is Established in 1881
This momentum of research carried on and allowed for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish the Division of Forestry in 1881. Although Hough was designated the division's chief and is considered the country's first forestry agent, the organization lacked specific congressional authority, so it was forester Bernhard Fernow that advanced the conservation mission.
Fernow's tenure as the Division of Forestry's chief from 1886 to 1898 made him into a figure that would influence the core mission of government-led forest preservation efforts. Fernow worked to emphasize that maintaining an ample supply of wood was a crucial part of civilization's development. He believed the key to this was to focus preservation efforts on properly managing forests to allow them to be sustainable.
Fernow helped to build the agency under the Department of Agriculture, including enlisting other experts across the U.S. to help expand the availability of literature and research on forestry during his twelve-year leadership period.
The Forest Reserve Act is Passed in 1891
In the following decade, Congress was faced with the problem of reducing land fraud, or the illegal purchase of federal land. These issues were closely related to exploitation of the Timber Culture Act of 1873 but would lead to new legislation that would once again advance the preservation of forest land.
Part of the solution was for Congress to establish the Forest Reserve Act in March 1891. The legislation gave presidents, including then-President Benjamin Harrison, the power to "set aside" portions of government land across the west as forest reserves. These reserves were managed and controlled under the Department of the Interior. Passing the Forest Reserve Act, also referred to as the "Creative Act," remained a crucial milestone in preservation for creating a legal pathway to protecting larger forest land.
President Harrison was quick to utilize the law, creating the first forest reserve known as the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve in Wyoming, which was later divided into the Teton and Shoshone National Forests. The Teton has since been folded into today's Bridger-Teton. The president had created 15 forest reserves that contained 13 million acres by the time he reached the end of his term in 1893, showcasing an expansion of presidential powers that would continue to shape the beginnings of the National Forest System.
The Organic Act is Established in 1897
Before the turn of the 20th century, the establishment of forest reserves was still faced with the uncertainty of why they were created and protected. Questions about how they would be managed also arose until the arrival of the Organic Act of 1897.
President William McKinley signed legislation that would define the standards and criteria that would have to be met by future reserves. Each new reserve created would have to serve the purpose of protecting forest land, securing watersheds, and sustaining timber production. By allowing these rules to go into effect, President McKinley ensured that there was now a greater level of organization to the mission of forest preservation.
The following year in 1898, the General Land Office that operated under the Department of the Interior began appointing forest reserve rangers and supervisors, as well as the first forest officers. However, rangers faced a difficult job with little support, since they were required to provide their own equipment and supplies needed to carry out their duties.
The U.S. Forest Service Is Created in 1905
At the height of the Progressive Era under Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, the forest reserve system transformed into the system that exists today. In 1905, Congress transferred the management of forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to the newly created U.S. Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture.
This allowed for many of the roadblocks faced by foresters to be removed and better carry out their duties at managing the reserves. Gifford Pinchot, a forester who served as one of the chiefs of the Division of Forestry, served as the first chief of the Forest Service. Pinchot was dedicated to revamping the workforce of forest rangers. While he served as chief from 1905 to 1910, he emphasized the importance of rangers having knowledge of forestry.
Forest Reserves are Renamed National Forests in 1907
1907 provided some of the final significant changes of the early era that would transform the Forest Service into being able to manage the National Forest System that exists today. Roosevelt continued the practice of creating and combining forest reserves, proclaiming a final wave of them in the days before the new law took effect.
In 1907, forest reserves were officially renamed as national forests under the Agricultural Appropriations Act signed that March. The same act carried the Fulton Amendment, which took the power to create or enlarge a national forest away from the president in six western states and left it with Congress. The name change was chosen to emphasize that forests were still intended to be utilized, just with more sustainable practices and management that did not exhaust natural resources like timber.
No Single Founder
Despite its close association with President Theodore Roosevelt, there was no single piece of legislation or individual who created the U.S. National Forest System as we see it today. The federal agency was instead established through a combination of environmental research, laws, and support from various government bodies. All of these factors are still visible in the way the agency works to measure and maintain the health of forests under its care, as well as the habitats and communities that depend on these natural resources.
