Smithsonian - Perishable Pundit

FOREST SERVICE HISTORYThe origins of the Forest Service go back to themid- to late 19th century, when natural resourceswere in high demand throughout the country.Homesteaders wanted land, miners wantedminerals, and everyone wanted timber. Peopleoften took what they wanted with little regardfor the impact on the environment or for thefuture state of our natural resources. However, in1891, realizing the need tor greater control over3 3our forests, the U.S. Congress passed the ForestReserve Act, which authorized the President toestablish forested public lands in reserves thatwould be managed by the General Land Office(GLO) in the Department of the Interior.One of the first employees of the GLO wasGifford Pinchot (1865— 194.6), a Yale graduatewho not only had studied forestry inFranceand Germany but was also a personal friend ofPresident Theodore Roosevelt. (Pinchot was tobecome the namesake for the national forest that[960s.)Believing that professional foresters in thenaturalist Lezlie Murray visited in theDepartment of Agriculture and the forests theycared for should both be part of the same federalagency, Pinchot convinced Roosevelt in 1905 toapprove the transfer of the forest reserves fromthe Department of the Interior's GLO to theDepartment of Agriculture's Bureau of Forestry.As a result of this Transfer Act, 63 million acresof land and 500 employees moved to the USDA,and a corps of trained foresters was assignedthe work of conserving America's forests, withGifford Pinchot as the first Forest Service Chief.On July 1, [905, the Bureau of Forestry wasrenamed the Forest Service, because Pinchotbelieved the new title better reflected themission of the agency as being one of service.From 1905 to 1907, in spite of oppositionfrom local governments and the timberindustry, Pinchot and Roosevelt added millionsof acres to the forest reserves. Congress reactedin1907 by passing an amendment to theagricultural appropriations bill, taking awayfrom the President the power to create forestreserves and giving it instead to Congress. InAccording to Gifford Pinchot, first Chief of theForest Service,"Our responsibility to the Nation isto be more than careful stewards of the land; wemust be constant catalysts for positive change."that amendment, forest reserves were renamednational forests,leaving no doubt that forestswere meant to be used and not preserved.While most of the new national forestswere in the West, the passage of the Weeks Act111 1911 allowed for the acquisition of lands inthe East to protect the headwaters of navigablestreams. With that, the National Forest systembecame more environmentally diverse. BecausePinchot was convinced that the people who haddecision-making powers over forests should livenear the lands they managed, the Forest Serviceset up district offices 111 California, Colorado,Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah.Forest supervisors and rangers were given adegree of flexibility with their finances, and theybecame the voice of the Forest Service in thelocal communities. Later, districts were added torAlaska, Arkansas, Florida, and the Eastern states.Today, in 2005, the National Forest systemincludes isS national forests and 20 nationalgrasslands, and it encompasses 193 million acresof land m 42 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, andPuerto Rico. This total acreage (roughly 300,000square miles) is larger than the entire state ofTexas, and comparable in size to the states ofNew York, Pennsylvania, Ohio. Indiana, Illinois,and Wisconsin combined. With nearly 38,000FOREST SERVICE, CULTURE, AND COMMUNITY