Highlights in the History of Forest Conservation
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Highlights in the Historyof rF Forest Conservation ,w "fu=B q_@a@ h- '"b& ry @ffiw 'e);Wie^,){k5&-? W.*"s W. wt ffi*tl ,r U.S. Dqrartnent of AEicultr.re Forest Service AIB-83 Highlights in the History of Forest Conservation US. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Revised March 1976 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1.55 Stock Number 001-000-03457-0 25% discount allowed on orders of 100 or more to one address CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 In colonial days, 1607-1782 7 The young republic, 1783-1875 9 Federal forest work begins, 1876-1897 13 The conservation movement grows, 1898-1917 17 A period of rapid progress, 1918-1941 23 World War II period, 1941-1945 29 After World War II, 1945-1967 33 Awakening of environmental awareness, 1 968-1 975 41 Conclusion 47 National Forests 47 Early U.S. forestry leaders and Chiefs of the Forest Service 52 iii INTRODUCTION Forestry in the United States was still in a “misty inexhaustible resource. Land had to be cleared of dawn” at the beginning of the current century. How- trees to make it suitable for ( 1 ) agricultural pur- ever, it was inevitable from the beginning that forest poses, (2) roads, and (3) settlements. To pioneers conservation should play a major role in the develop- the forest seemed an obstacle to progress and safety. ment of this country. Here was a land singularly Wood was an essential ingredient to pioneer liveli- rich in natural resources, of which our forests were hood, but it was overabundant and free for the taking. dominant. Trees grew in all parts of this land except Also, the forests added to the dangers, for they har- in grasslands, the desert regions of the Great Plains, bored Indians and wild animals. and the arid basins of the West. The original timber- Still, there were those settlers in America who, land was estimated at 950 million acres. Forests ex- coming from lands where forests had been depleted, tended almost unbroken from the Atlantic Coast to brought with them the conviction that the forest was the Great Plains, and began again to the west where a valuable resource and should not be wasted. Re- they ranged in increasing numbers to climax in the strictions on cutting and burning forest land appeared giants of the Pacific Coast. early in the Colonies. These laws were aimed mostly It is generally accepted today that there still re- at protecting the property of others and reserving mains about two-thirds of the original forest lands. large white pines as masts for the British Royal Navy. This, despite the fact that as early as 1865 a timber Soon after the Colonies gained their independence, famine was predicted within 30 years. Differences special reserves of live oak trees were set aside along of opinion and conflict have marked the course of the southern coasts to provide timbers for naval conservation throughout our Nation’s history. vessels. The majority of the people, particularly during the So, there appeared two sides to the conservation country’s formative years, regarded the forests as an coin early in our history. These will appear and re- Figure 1. —Mt. Shuksan, Wash. F-385266 appear as we focus on the several distinct periods of time to time to arouse realization of the dangers that development of forest conservation in America. lay ahead if wasteful destruction of forests were not Sometimes these will appear as merely differences of checked, but they were as voices crying in the wilder- opinion, while at other times they present themselves ness. To most people it seemed the forests would last as confrontations and even conflict. forever. In colonial days, naturally being highlighted first The next highlight covers a period to be character- in our chronology, two important facts stand out: the ized by one word—exploitation. The restrictions im- settlers were energetic, intelligent, independent, and posed by a foreign sovereignty were thrown off. Al- ambitious people and gradually came to need the though the British trade restrictions had been much help of the mother country less and less; and, to the lighter than those imposed by other countries on their west was a great land with very few inhabitants. colonies, the Americans had become such strong in- America was largely a wilderness, with an abundance dividualists that they resented any controls. Now of fertile soil, most of the minerals required by mod- the pendulum swung the other way—expansion which ern industry, vast forests, and water for crops, power, knew no bounds was the order of the day. and other uses. These resources greatly influenced A census of 1790 showed that about 4 million per- the development of the country and the lives of its sons lived in the United States. Most of them lived people, and helped make the country rich. Sheer along the Atlantic seacoast, either in villages or on abundance, however, often led early Americans into farms. Only about 100,000 hardy settlers had ven- wasteful habits, such as farming fields continuously tured west of the Allegheny Mountains. But the coun- until the land began to wear out, needlessly destroy- try grew rapidly. People thought little of hardships ing wide forest areas by poor logging methods, and so long as they could get ahead in the world. Prosper- recklessly slaughtering wildlife, such as the buffalo. ity grew mainly because land cost so little, and the A few farsighted and public-spirited people tried from forests seemed to be everywhere. This resulted in as many trees being burned to clear the land as were The Civil War and the Reconstruction put addi- used for building, furniture, utensils, tools, railroad tional drains on the Nation’s timber supplies. It was ties, or firewood. The 19th century saw lumbering about this time that a conservation conscience began develop and spread on a colossal scale until nearly to awaken among the citizenry. The rapid pace of all the original forests were cut over, from the Atlantic lumbering, then in the Lake States, the widespread Ocean to the Great Plains. This cutting was often fol- destruction by forest fires, the growing realization of lowed by severe fires, which frequently prevented the the relationship of forests to streamflow and water forests from renewing themselves. supplies— all caused people to think about future tim- Jefferson’s promotion of agriculture and the Louisi- ber supplies and the importance of forest cover. ana Purchase were most important in this period of Scientists and other professional people took the national growth. The United States had grown amaz- lead in organizing the forest conservation movement. ingly in the years after Jefferson took office. Settle- Demands began to be made that the Federal Govern- ment had reached as far west as the Missouri River, ment reserve large holdings of public domain land in and the population had passed 17 million. the West before the forests there too were recklessly Exploitation of the forests was gradual at first, be- exploited. The movement had to overcome strong fore the days of power equipment, but the forests of resistance from a population and legislators deeply New England had been mostly cut over by 1830, dedicated to “rugged individualism” and the right to those of New York State by 1850, and Pennsylva- do with land as they pleased. Much timberland was nia’s forests shortly after the Civil War. acquired by fraud and there was widespread harvest- Figure 2.—View of mountains in Gallatin National Forest, Mont. 3 Figure 3.—Sheep grazing in Midway Valley. Dixie National Forest, Utah. F-508830 ing of timber on public lands without authorization gressed in three distinct waves and extends to the throughout the Midwest. present. Several States started action to conserve forests Portentous of things soon to come, Congress, in in the 1860’s and 1870’s—first with special boards 1891, authorized Federal forest reserves in the public to study the forest situation, then with attempts to domain, and the first reserves were created by Presi- encourage tree planting bounties, neither of which dent Benjamin Harrison. In 1897, Congress provided was very successful. for organizing and managing the reserves and open- The first survey of forest resources was included ing them up for public use. in the 1870 U.S. census. Lectures and courses in for- By 1900, the United States had become one of the estry began to be offered at several colleges and uni- greatest economic powers in the world. Its population versities. The American Forestry Association was stood at more than 75 million. With all this growth, organized in 1 875 to develop public support for forest however, came the slow realization that the Nation’s conservation— especially reforestation. strength was based on its natural resources. In 1876 Congress appointed a special agent to The Federal forest reserves remained under con- gather information on the forest situation and on how trol of the Department of the Interior’s General Land forests could be managed. In 1881 this office was Office until 1 905 when they were transferred to the made a division of Forestry in the Department of Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Forestry, Agriculture, and in 1886 a professional forester be- which was renamed Forest Service. Its Chief was Gif- came head of the Division. In 1885, New York State ford Pinchot, America’s first professional forester, became the first State to set up a State forest. who had become head of the Forestry Division in the With this gradual awakening toward the end of the Department of Agriculture in 1898.