THE GROWTH OF THE FORESTRY IDEA
Our forests of the New World were so abundant when the early
settlers landed on the Atlantic Coast that it was almost
impossible to find enough cleared land in one tract to make a
40-acre farm. These thick, dense timberlands extended westward to
the prairie country. It was but natural, therefore, that the
forest should be considered by these pioneers as an obstacle and
viewed as an enemy. Farms and settlements had to be hewed out of
the timberlands, and the forests seemed inexhaustible.
Experts say that the original, virgin forests of the United
States covered approximately 822,000,000 acres. They are now
shrunk to one-sixth of that area. At one time they were the
richest forests in the world. Today there are millions of acres
which contain neither timber nor young growth. Considerable can
be restored if the essential measures are started on a national
scale. Such measures would insure an adequate lumber supply for
all time to come.
Rules and regulations concerning the cutting of lumber and the
misuse of forests were suggested as early as the seventeenth
century. Plymouth Colony in 1626 passed an ordinance prohibiting
the cutting of timber from the Colony lands without official
consent. This is said to be the first conservation law passed in
America. William Penn was one of the early champions of the
"Woodman, spare that tree" slogan. He ordered his colonists to
leave one acre of forest for every five acres of land that were
cleared.
In 1799 Congress set aside $200,000 for the purchase of a small
forest reserve to be used as a supply source of ship timbers for
the Navy. About twenty-five years later, it gave the President
the power to call upon the Army and Navy whenever necessary to
protect the live oak and red cedar timber so selected in Florida.
In 1827, the Government started its first work in forestry. It
was an attempt to raise live oak in the Southern States to
provide ship timbers for the Navy. Forty years later, the
Wisconsin State Legislature began to investigate the destruction
of the forests of that state in order to protect them and prolong
their life. Michigan and Maine, in turn, followed suit. These
were some of the first steps taken to study our forests and
protect them against possible extinction.
The purpose of the Timber Culture Act passed by Congress in 1873
was to increase national interest in reforestation. It provided
that every settler who would plant and maintain 40 acres of
timber in the treeless sections should be entitled to secure
patent for 160 acres of the public domain--that vast territory
consisting of all the states and territories west of the
Mississippi, except Texas, as well as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. This act,
as well as several State laws, failed because the settlers did
not know enough about tree planting. The laws also were not
effective because they did not prevent dishonest practices.
In 1876, the first special agent in forestry was appointed by the
Commissioner of Agriculture to study the annual consumption,
exportation and importation of timber and other forest products,
the probable supply for future wants, and the means best adapted
for forest preservation. Five years later, the Division of
Forestry was organized as a branch of the Department of
Agriculture. It was established in order to carry on
investigations about forestry and how to preserve our trees.
[Illustration: CUTTING MATURE TREES AND LEAVING SEED TREES TO
INSURE A SECOND CROP]
For some nine years the Division of Forestry was nothing more
than a department of information. It distributed technical facts
and figures about the management of private woodlands and
collected data concerning our forest resources. It did not manage
any of the Government timberlands because there were no forest
reserves at that time. It was not until 1891 that the first
forest reserve, the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve, was
created by special proclamation of President Harrison. Later it
became part of the National Park reserves. Although the Division
of Forestry had no special powers to oversee and direct the
management of the forest reserves, during the next six years a
total of 40,000,000 acres of valuable timberland were so
designated and set aside. At the request of the Secretary of the
Interior, the National Academy of Sciences therefore worked out a
basis for laws governing national forests. Congress enacted this
law in 1897. Thereafter the Department of the Interior had active
charge of the timberlands. At that time little was known
scientifically about the American forests. There were no
schools of forestry in this country. During the period 1898-1903,
several such schools were established.
President McKinley, during his term of office, increased the
number of forest reserves from 28 to over 40, covering a total
area of 30,000,000 acres. President Roosevelt added many millions
of acres to the forest reserves, bringing the net total to more
than 150,000,000 acres, including 159 different forests. In 1905,
the administration of the forest reserves was transferred from
the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture,
and their name changed to National Forests. No great additions to
the government timberlands have been made since that time. Small,
valuable areas have been added. Other undesirable tracts have
been cut off from the original reserves.
The growth of the Division of Forestry, now the United States
Forest Service, has been very remarkable since 1898, when it
consisted of only a few scientific workers and clerks. At
present it employs more than 2,600 workers, which number is
increased during the dangerous fire season to from 4,000 to 5,000
employees. The annual appropriations have been increased from
$28,500 to approximately $6,500,000. The annual income from Uncle
Sam's woodlands is also on the gain and now amounts to about
$5,000,000 yearly. This income results largely from the sale of
timber and the grazing of livestock on the National Forests.