702 THE HISTORY OF IN AMERICA

W. N. S PARU A WK

The history of forestry in the United dant and free for the taking. The for- States can be divided into five periods. ests harbored Indians and wild beasts The first, the colonial period ending and encumbered the ground needed for in 1776, was characterized by a grad- crops and pastures. So,the pioneers, in ual pushing back of the to make the words of Gififord Pinchot, "came room for settlement, nearly all east of to feel that the thing to do with the for- the Allegheny-Appalachian Range. est was to get rid of it." The second period, from 1776 to the Local shortages sometimes beginning of forestry work in the Fed- arose near the larger towns despite the eral Department of Agriculture, lasted abundant supplies, because transporta- just 100 years. This was a period of tion facilities were poor. This occasion- exploitation, gradual at first, but ally led to restrictions on cutting, until rapidly increasing after about 1850. the timber farther back could be open- The following 21 years, also a period ed up. Timber export from New Eng- of accelerated exploitation, was marked land began with or before the first set- by the campaign of public education tlement—masts and hand-made staves, and propaganda that finally led to the clapboards, and shingles at first, and establishment of a forestry policy for later sawn , staves, and ship tim- Government timberlands in 1897. bers. These commodities formed the From 1897 to 1919 was the period of basis of a thriving trade with the West development of the national forest sys- Indies and with Europe. The English tem and the establishment of a forestry Government, anxious to insure a sup- profession. The movement for conser- ply of masts for the Royal Navy and to vation of natural resources in general prevent other countries from getting also took shape early in this period. them, attempted to reserve all white Finally, the period since 1919 has pine that were suitable for masts, been marked by an increasing emphasis but succeeded only in arousing the re- on private forestry, both in legislation sentment of the colonists. These and and in the policies of the forest-land similar ordinances and regulations were owners themselves. essentially police measures for the pro- Several salients stand out in the story tection of town and crown property, of how forestry and the country grew and had nothing to do with forestry. up from a spoiled, wasteful childhood Perhaps the best-known attempt at to rational adulthood. In its broad forest conservation during the colonial outline, forestry in the United States is period was William Penn's provision, evolving in much the same way as it in 1681 or 1682, that an acre should be did in Europe, but much faster. For- maintained in forest for every ñve estry in America has not caught up cleared in lands granted by him. So far with forestry in the more advanced as known, this provision was not long European countries, but we have come enforced. a long way in our brief period as a Nation, and the progress wc have made IN THE FIRST CENTURY of independ- came not from slavishly copying the ence, settlement spread over most of European pattern; American forestry, the country. Transcontinental railroads as it grows to maturity, tends more and were built. Wooden ships were on their more to become indigenous. last voyages. The westward migration had already caused the abandonment DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD, wood of many farms in the Northeast and the was a necessity, but it was overabun- Southeast. Most of the old-growth The History of Forestry in America 703 white pine of New England had been prevent depredations and preserve live cut; that in New York and Pennsyl- oak stands. Besides the small areas vania was going fast. Pine production bought in Georgia, some 244,000 acres in the Lake States was approaching its was reserved in the Gulf States. Mean- peak. It was still the favored species for while, stealing of timber from the lumber, for the output of white reservations and other public lands pine exceeded that of all other species went on unchecked, and the Govern- combined. ment continued to sell oak timberland At the beginning of the nineteenth at $1.25 an acre and buy stolen oak century^ concern was felt over local timber for $1.50 a cubic foot. The shortages of firewood and other timber Louisiana reservations were canceled near the cities and over the supply of in 1888. ship timbers. In 1791 the Philadelphia In 1831 Congress prohibited cutting Society for the Promotion of Agricul- live oak and other trees on naval reser- ture offered medals for planting locust vations or any other lands belonging for posts and treenails. The Massachu- to the United States. Although sel- setts Society offered premiums for dom enforced, the act remained for growing trees, in 1804. The New York almost 60 years the basic and only law Society named a committee to study aimed at protecting the timber on Gov- the "best mode of preserving and in- ernment lands. The Commissioner of creasing the growth of timber." That the General Land Office attempted to or another committee, in a report in enforce the law in 1851, but was dis- 1795, recommended that inferior agri- missed for doing so. Carl Schurz tried cultural land be dcîvoted to trees. In again when he was Secretary of the 1817 the Massachusetts Legislature Interior, but was stopped by Congress asked its State Department of Agricul- in 1880. ture to encourage the growing of oaks After the Civil War, citizens began for ship timbers; in 1837 it authorized to take more interest in forests ; earlier a survey of forest conditions in the they generally were indifferent to them. State, with the idea that the findings The heavy requirements for wood dur- might induce landowners to consider ing the war and the extensive destruc- the importance of "continuing, im- tion in some areas by military opera- proving, and enlarging the forests of tions, the rapid pace of lumbering in the State." the Lake States and the widespread de- In 1799, the Congress, heeding John struction by forest fires, the growing Jay's warning that ship timbers and realization of the relation of forests to masts would become scarce unless steps stream flow and water supplies—all were taken to prevent waste and pre- caused people to think about future serve the existing supplies, authorized timber supplies and the importance of President Adams to spend $200,000 to forest cover. buy reserves of live oak on the South A paper by the Reverend Frederick Carolina and Georgia coasts. That was Starr, in the report of the Department probably the first appropriation by the of Agriculture for 1865, is said to have Federal Government for acquisition of had great influence on the forestry timberland. movement. He predicted a timber fam- It was followed several years later ine within 30 years and advocated the by acts authorizing the President to immediate undertaking of carefully reserve public lands bearing live oak planned research on hovv to manage and cedar in Florida, Alabama, and forests and how to establish planta- Louisiana; to purchase similar lands; tions. The research, he maintained, to conduct experiments in the planting should be done by a Government-en- and cultivation of live oak (probably dowed private corporation in order to the first Federal forestry research) ; avoid the evils of the spoils system, and to take appropriate measures to frequent changes in personnel, and 704 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 general corruption in the Government. acres of planted trees. B. E. Fernow, in That, more than likely^ was the start his History of Forestry^ suggested that of the movement for better forest Arbor Days may have retarded real management. forestry by centering attention on What may have been the first State planting, to the exclusion of the proper commission appointed to inquire into use of existing forests, and by intro- the forest situation and recommend a ducing poetry and emotional appeal forestry poHcy for the State was set up instead of practical economic consid- at the request of the Wisconsin Legis- erations. lature in 1867. The resulting report, The first systematic effort to arouse by I. A. Lapham, failed to emphasize public interest in the preservation and the need for sustained-yield manage- conservative use of the natural forest ment of the existing forests and over- areas— as distinct from planting of stressed the need for planting, but artificial forests—was instigated by demonstrated clearly the relation of Franklin B. Hough's address before forests to stream flow. No action was the American Association for the taken on the report. Advancement of Science in 1873. Maine appointed a commission on The speech led the Association to forestry policy in 1869, but the result send to Congress and to the State leg- was some relatively unimportant laws. islatures, in 1874, a memorial that A New York commission set up in said: 1872 investigated the question of pre- '"The preservation and growth of serving the Adirondack forest for its timber is a subject of great practical effect on the Hudson and other rivers importance to the people of the United and the Erie Canal. No action was States, and is becoming every year of taken at that time. more and more consequence, from the From 1868 on, planting caught increasing demand for its use; and the public attention and interest. A while this rapid exhaustion is taking number of States enacted laws to en- place, there is no effectual provision courage planting by offering bounties against waste or for the renewal of or by granting tax reductions or exemp- supply. . . . Besides the economical tion. was first celebrated in value of timber for construction, fuel, Nebraska in 1872, at the instigation and the arts . . . questions of cli- of J. Sterling Morton, later Secretary mate . . . the drying up of rivulets of Agriculture. Several railroad com- . . . and the growing tendency to panies planted trees for ties and floods and drought . . . since the cut- timber, mostly in the Great Plains. ting off of our forests are subjects of The Timber Culture Act, passed common observation. . . ." by Congress in 1873, offered land free The Association asked Congress to to settlers who would plant trees on 40 create the position of Federal Commis- (later reduced to 10) acres of each sioner of Forestry, whose duties w^ould 160-acrc claim. be to ascertain ( 1 ) the amount and dis- Opinions differ as to the efficacy of tribution of woodlands in the United the measures. One estimate is that 2 States, the rate of consumption and million acres was planted under the waste, and measures necessary to in- act of 1873. Others report that most sure adequate future supplies of tim- of those were neglected ber; (2) the influence of forests on and died, so that perhaps not more climate, especially in relation to agri- than 50,000 acres could be considered culture; and (3) the methods of for- successful. Most of the State laws arc estry practiced in Europe. reported to have accomplished little, though Governor Morton told the THE YEARS FROM 1876 TO 1897 American Forestry Congress in 1885 brought a growth in national and State that Nebraska had more^han 700,000 firest-land policies. The Agriculture The History of Forestry in America 705 appropriation bill enacted in 1876 The constitution of the merged as- contained a rider on the section deal- sociation, drafted under the leadership ing with free seed distribution, which of B. E. Fcrnow, specified as its objec- authorized the Commissioner of Agri- tives "the discussion of subjects relat- culture to appoint, at a salary of ing to ; the conservation, $2,000, "a man of approved attain- management, and renewal of forests; ments and practically well acquainted the climatic and other influences that with the methods of statistical inquiry" affect their welfare; the collection of to investigate and make a detailed forest statistics; and the advancement report on forestry. of educational, legislative, or other Dr. Hough was appointed to the measures tending to the promotion of new position, and his three voluminous these objects." reports, published in 1877, 1880, and The new organization met one or 1882, contained much significant in- more times each year and was active in formation on American forests and drafting proposals for both State and the forest-products industries and on Federal legislation. At a meeting in European forestry. 1886 in Denver, two resolutions were A fourth volume was contributed adopted : in 1884 by N. H. Egleston, who suc- "That the public lands at the ceeded Hough in 1883. At that time sources of streams, necessary for the the Division of Forestry, which had preservation of the water supply, been formally established in 1881, con- should be granted by the General Gov- sisted of the Chief and three field ernment to the several States, to be agents, and received an appropriation held and kept by such States in per- of $10,000. petuity, for the public use, with a view Both Hough and Egleston, and the to maintaining and preserving a full Commissioners of Agriculture, were supply of water in all rivers and active in the work of the American streams." Forestry Association and the American "That fire is the most destructive Forestry Congresses. The Association enemy of the forest, and that most was organized in Philadelphia in 1876 stringent regulations should be adopted for the purpose of "protection of the by the National and State and Terri- existing forests of the country from torial governments to prevent its out- unnecessary waste, and the promotion break and spread in timber stands." of the propagation and planting of Largely through the influence and useful trees." In calling the prelimi- encouragement of the American For- nary organization meeting in 1875, estry Congress, several local or State John A. Warder stated as one objective associations were formed; they were of the proposed association, "The fos- responsible for the formulation and tering of all interests of forest planting enactment of a number of State and conservation on this continent." forestry policies. The term "forest conservation," there- Colorado was the first State to make fore, was in use more than 30 years provision for management of its forest before it was taken up and popularized lands. Its constitution, adopted when by Gifford Pinchot and Theodore it was admitted to the Union in 1876, Roosevelt. directed the legislature to provide for The Association was not very active, protection and management of State but took on new life in 1882 when it forest lands. Nothing was done until merged with the American Forestry 1885, when a Forestry Commission was Congress, organized earlier that year created, but the Commission was ac- on the occasion of a visit by Baron von tive for only a few years. The Colorado Steuben, a Prussian and de- Constitutional Convention also asked scendent of the general who helped Congress to turn over control of Fed- defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown. eral forest lands to the States and Ter- 802002=—49- -40 7o6 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 ritories in regions where irrigation is missioner to recommend to the Gover- necessary, for the reason that the ex- nor or the legislature three forest res- isting system of public-land disposal, ervations of not less than 40,000 acres if continued, would injure Colorado each, on the headwaters of the Ohio, and "bring destruction and calamity Delaware, and Susquehanna Rivers, to upon the entire population of the so- be acquired by purchase. By 1910 the called Far West." No action was taken State had acquired more than 900,000 on the recommendation. acres under these acts. In California, also, a State Board of At the time that Western States were Forestry, established in 1885, urged in urging the reservation of public lands its first report that all Federal and and when the Forestry Congress pro- State timberlands not fit for agricul- posed their transfer to the States, the ture be permanently reserved and put Federal Government had made no in charge of forestry officers. In 1888 move to withhold them from disposal a resolution of the legislature asked and only occasional gestures to protect Congress to stop disposing of Federal them from fires and depredation. forest lands in California and to pre- Carl Schurz, Secretary of the In- serve them permanently for protection terior from 1877 to 1881, repeatedly, of watersheds. but vainly, urged the reservation of all New York, in 1883, carried out the public-domain timberlands and their recommendations made 11 years ear- protection and conservative manage- lier and stopped the sale of tax- ment. Numerous bills looking to this reverted forest lands in the Adiron- end were introduced in almost every dacks. In 1885 a Forestry Commission Congress from 1876 on. was set. up, with an appropriation of Finally, in 1891, largely on the in- $15,000, to organize a State forest- sistence of Secretary of the Interior protection system and administer the Noble, a rider, which Gififord Pinchot State's forest reserve, the primary ob- called "the most important legislation ject of which was the protection of in the history of forestr\^ in America," water supplies, not timber production. was attached to an act amending the Suspicion soon arose that the Forest land laws. It authorized the President Commissioners were working for the to reserve forest lands of the public interests of the lumbermen, so a con- domain, w^hether bearing commercial stitutional amendment in 1894 pro- timber or not, in any State or Terri- hibited the cutting of timber and tory having Federal land. President required that the reserve be kept for- Harrison acted promptly and pro- ever in a wild condition. claimed the first reserve, the Yellows- Pennsylvania created a Division of stone Park Timberland Reserve, on Forestry in its Department of Agricul- March 30, 1891. This was the begin- ture in 1895 to collect and publish in- ning of the national forest system. formation on forest resources, enforce More reservations followed by Presi- the fire laws, give advice on forestry, dent Harrison and then by President compile statistics on timber production Cleveland. and consumption, and manage all for- Congress failed to provide, however, est lands belonging to the State. In for the protection and administration 1897 provision w^as made for purchase of the reserves, nor was there any legal of tax-delinquent forest lands, to es- way in which timber could be sold or tablish "a forestry reservation system applied. Timber having in view the preservation of the thieves and graziers continued to oper- water supply at the sources of the rivers ate without restriction. Bills were intro- of the State, and for the protection of duced in each Congress to remedy the the people of the Commonwealth and situation. In 1894 the McRae bill, their property from destructive floods.'* drafted by B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Another law in 1897 directed the com- Division of Forestry since 1886, was The History of Forestry in America 707 passed by both Houses but too late for after due examination and appraisal, agreement in conference. This bill was dead and mature timber; and to allow passed again by the House of Repre- free use of timber by bona fide settlers sentatives in 1896^ but not by the Sen- and others for their domestic needs. ate. Meanwhile, through efforts of the Management of the public forests— American Forestry Association, Secre- and of private forests, too—required tary of the Interior Hoke Smith in more than legislative authority and 1896 was induced to ask the National appropriations. Without an adequate Academy of Sciences to study and basis of scientific knowledge (meaning report on the problem. research) and an adequate staff of After a trip to look over the situa- technical (meaning a forestry tion in the West, the Committee set up profession), good forest management by the Academy, being unable to would be impossible. agree on recommendations for admin- As Fernow told the American For- istration of the forests, merely recom- estry Congress in 1885: mended the establishment of some 21 "Generalities on forest preservation million acres of new forest reserves. or forest destruction and forestal influ- In order to act before his term ex- ences have become trite and their con- pired. President Cleveland proclaimed stant reiteration without positive data these reservations without the custo- will dull the interest of listeners and mary consultation with local people readers, create suspicion and defection. and Members of Congress. His act We need definite, well-authenticated aroused opposition throughout the local observations, arrived at by well- West, especially because it merely described scientific methods; we need locked up the resources without provi- methodical work in establishing the sion for their use, and Congress sus- conditions of growth for different spe- pended temporarily all but two of the cies, their behavior towards the soil and reservations. towards each other in different soils, However, the act suspending the res- their rate of growth at different pe- ervations (the Sundry Civil Appro- riods of life under different conditions. priation Act of June 4, 1897) carried In fact, besides making propaganda, an amendment by Senator Pettigrew we should by concerted effort establish that provided for administration and the principles upon which the forestry management of existing and future we advocate is to be carried on." reserves, much as proposed in the Unfortunately, the Division of For- McRae bill of 1894. This amendment estry in the Department of Agricul- is the charter on which the operation ture, during its first 20 "years, found of the national forests has been based. itself unable to carry on much scien- Among its important provisions is a tific research in the , because it statement of objectives: controlled no forest land, could not get "No public forest reservation shall permission to use public timberlands be established except to improve and or military reservations, and was not protect the forest," secure "favorable allowed to use the private lands for conditions of water flow," and "fur- fear of criticism that public money nish a continuous supply of timber for was being used for the benefit of pri- the use and necessities of citizens of vate individuals. the United States." The principal The States were repeatedly urged by specifications regarding administration Fernow and his predecessors, speaking and use of the reserves are the instruc- through the forestry associations and tions to the Secretary of the Interior to congresses, to undertake forestry re- make provision for protection against search at their land-grant colleges and fire and trespass; to make rules and experiment stations, but the result ap- regulations for occupancy and use of pears to have been small. The Division the reserves and their products ; to sell. cooperated with the State agricultural 7o8 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 experiment stations in a few experi- employment either in charge of public ments, mainly in planting, including or private forests at the present experimental planting in the Nebraska time. . . ." Sand Hills and cultivation of cork oak It should be noted that neither from imported acorns. Monographs Hough nor Egleston had any technical were prepared, by the botanists rather knowledge of forestry except what than foresters, on several important they may have picked up in the course timber trees. of their work. Fernow was the first The greater part of the Division's technically trained forester in Govern- activity between 1886 and 1898 was ment service but, as he admits, he was devoted to forest-products research, at a disadvantage because he was "a which Fernow believed would encour- foreigner who had first to learn the age better and more economical use of limitations of democratic government." wood and reduce waste, and would Partly as a result of urging by the make industrial and other timber own- forestry associations and the reports ers take an interest in conservation of of State commissions of inquiry, for- timber resources. Among the subjects estry instruction was introduced into investigated were the use of chestnut the curricula of many of the land- oak as a substitute for white oak rail- grant colleges beginning about 1883. road ties, the use of metal tics to re- There is some difference of opinion as place wood, tannin content of chestnut to which was the first to include such and other woods, strength properties a course, but there was one at Iowa of turpentined pine (until then con- State College in 1883, in 9 or 10 insti- sidered inferior to unbled timber), blue tutions by 1887, and in some 20 bv stain of southern pine and yellow-pop- 1898. lar lumber, and timber physics. During the last two decades of the Regarding the need for trained for- nineteenth century, there were fre- esters, Hough's paper on "Forestry quent expressions of concern over de- Education," presented at the Ameri- pletion of timber supplies in the East. can Forestry Congress in St. Paul in Manufacturers frequently complained 1883, is illuminating. He believed that of difficulties in getting supplies of ash, lectures on the importance of forests hickory, white oak, walnut, and high- should be given in all primary and grade white pine—the same species secondary schools, but he saw no need that we hear about in 1949. In 1883, for technical training in forestry. Not- George Loring, then Commissioner of ing a proposal for a Federal forestry Agriculture, stated that white pine was school in St.' Paul, he asked where the nearly gone in New Hampshire and graduates would find employment, and New York, and going rapidly in the said: other Northeastern States; that only "Neither the general nor the State 10 to 20 years' supply remained in the governments have any systems of for- Lake States, and that eastern spruce est management needing their services. was nearly exhausted. In 1887 it was There may be a few railroad compa- reported that shiploads of pine were nies who would employ one, but this is coming into the United States from not certain, and as to private estates, Russia. In 1889 Professor Prentiss of I know of none upon which such a Cornell predicted that hemlock, "the person would be likely to find an en- most valuable tree east of the Missis- gagement. . . . We do not for the pres- sippi, except white pine," would be ent, and perhaps for many years to exhausted in 20 to 30 years at the cur- come, require a class of persons who rent rate of cutting. Evidently southern have been specially trained to the de- pine was not well thought of in the gree that is deemed necessary in the New York market at that time. better class of forest schools in Europe, In 1890 Fernow reported to the because such persons could not find American Forestr)^ Congress: "While The History of Forestry in America 709 the area of forests in the United States Fernow said, in his Report upon probably does not diminish now at as Forestry Investigations, 1877-98: rapid a rate as it used to, the value of "To have established the conception the remaining area is very rapidly de- that forestry, , and forest preciating, not only by removing the preservation are not the planting of accumulated supplies, but by cutting trees, but cutting them in such a man- the best and leaving the inferior mate- ner that planting becomes unnecessary, rial, by neglecting to give attention to is one of the most potent results of the reproduction of the better kinds, the efiForts of the Division of Forestry. or even by recurring fires destroying . . . For preservation, it must by this the capacity for such reproduction." time have become clear, does not con- In 1892 Fernow expressed regret sist in leaving the forests unused, but in that the funds were inadequate for test- securing their reproduction." ing all of the important woods, because Pointing out that by 1898 the lum- there was considerable demand for ber-trade journals gave respectful tests of species which, though "still hearing to the advocates of forestry more or less unknown . . . are now whom they had ridiculed as "dcnud- being drawn upon to eke out the defi- atics" only 12 years before, Fernow ciency of supply of the better-known goes on to say : kinds." Those unknown species in- "The time has come when it [the cluded Douglas-fir, cedars, sugar pine, Division] should not only more vigor- and baldcypress. ously pursue technical investigations, As another evidence of the concern but when it should have charge of the felt by some members of the industry public timberlands, and especially the over waning timber supplies, there may public forest reservations, which will be mentioned the paper presented by never answer their purpose until con- H. C. Putnam, a Wisconsin lumber- trolled by systematic management. . . . man, which called for action by Con- A Division of Forestry in a government gress for protection against fires and which has reserved millions of acres of protection of young trees in — forest property must logically become both to insure a future timber supply the manager of that forest property." and to protect stream flow. The accomplishments of the forestry BETWEEN 1897 AND 1919, the na- movement prior to 1898 have been tional forest policy developed. criticized on the ground that there As directed by the act of June 4, was much forestry in words but none 1897, the Secretary of the Interior im- in the woods. It is important to realize, mediately undertook to provide for the however, that without the many years protection and administration of the of propaganda, of learning and in- forest reserves. The task was assigned forming at least part of the public to the General Land OfiSce, which ap- regarding the facts of the forest situa- pointed a field force of forest super- tion and the need for doing something intendents, rangers, and others, and about it, the an office staff in Washington. None of the early 1900's would likely have of them had any technical knowledge been a dud. It is necessary to remem- of forestry, and it was not until 1902— ber, also, that there were almost no when a tentative arrangement for the trained foresters to carry forestry into Bureau ("Division" until 1901) of the woods before 1898. The Division of Forestry in the Department of Agri- Forestry and the associations not only culture to handle the forestry work on were successful in stimulating public the reserves fell through—that the interest in forestry problems, but they General Land Office set up its own had a large share in developing public technical forestry division. FilibertRoth forestry policies and in drafting basic was put in charge of the work. He bor- legislation, both Federal and State. As rowed several men from the Bureau of 710 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Forcstr}^5 but he stayed only a year and spirit of comradeship among foresters ; then left to head the forestry^ school by creating opportunities for a free that was being established at the Uni- interchange of views upon forestry^ and versity of Michigan, allied subjects: and by disseminating Meanwhile, Dr. Fernow had left the a knowledge of the purpose and Government service in 1898 to organ- achievements of forestry." size the school of forestry at Cornell. In 1901 the newly christened Bu- The only other systematic instruction reau of Forestry was given broader in forestry at that time was the ele- authority to make working plans for mentary instruction given at some 20 private owners, and much larger ap- land-grant colleges and the short propriations than had been available course offered at Biltmore. N. C, by to the Division. The forest-products C. A. Schenck, a German forester. research that had been stopped shortly Gifford Pinchot succeeded Fernow before Fernow left was resumed, along as Chief of the Division of Forestry in much the same lines as before. In 1898. He undertook to introduce bet- 1910 the products work was centered ter forestry methods into the opera- at the Forest Products Laboratory, tions of the private owners, large and operated in cooperation with the Uni- small, by helping them make working versity of Wisconsin at Madison. In plans and by demonstrating good prac- 1902 the earlier experimental planting tices on the ground. There were then in the Nebraska Sand Hills was fol- only two technical foresters and nine lowed up by reservation of part of the other employees on the stafï of the Di- area and planting on a fair scale. vision, and probably fewer than a dozen The unsatisfactory situation in foresters in the country. Accordingly, which the Federal forest reserves were a start toward building up a profes- administered, in a different depart- sion was made by recruiting student ment from that in which the Govern- assistants who had an inclination and ment's technical forestry work had aptitude for forestry and who would been established, rapidly became a ma- supplement academic work with field jor issue. Theodore Roosevelt's first experience in the Division. In order to message to Congress in 1901 and the provide a high grade of forest training report of a commission on the organi- suited to American conditions, the zation of Government scientific work Pinchot family provided an endow- in 1903 reiterated earlier proposals ment for a 2-year postgraduate school that all responsibility for the reserves at Yale University. H. S. Graves and be transferred to the Department of J. W. Toumey were released from the Agriculture. Secretary of the Interior Division in 1900 to start the school. In Hitchcock also supported the proposal. the fall of 1900, the Cornell school had Finally, a special American Forestry 24 students, Biltmore 9, and Yale 7. Congress met in Washington in Janu- (In 1946 there were some 6,000 Ameri- ary 1905 for the specific purpose of can-trained professional foresters.) bringing about the transfer. The meet- During the next few years schools or ing was sponsored by the Secretary of departments of forestry were organized Agriculture, the heads of the Geologi- at the University of Michigan, Har- cal Survey, Reclamation Service, and vard, University of Nebraska, Mont General Land Office, the president of Alto, Pa., Pennsylvania State College, the National Lumber Manufacturers' and elsewhere. Association, the presidents of the Na- In 1900, under Pinchot's leadership, tional Livestock and National Wool- the Society of American Foresters was growers' Associations, the presidents of founded. It had seven charter mem- the Union Pacific and Great Northern bers. The objects of this professional Railroads, and the head of the Weyer- society are: *'To further the cause of haeuser lumber companies. The reso- forestry in America by fostering a lutions adopted by the gathering no The History of Forestry in America 711 doubt helped consummate the trans- about 56 million acres in 1901, more fer, which was made by act of Con- than 100 million in 1905, and 175 gress on February 1, 1905. The Bureau million acres in 1910. After 1910 the of Forestry was renamed Forest Service area was gradually reduced by the that year, and the forest reserves were elimination of almost 27 million acres renamed "national forests" in 1907. that was classified as more valuable In a letter to Gififord Pinchot, dated for agriculture or grazing than for for- February 1^ 1905, Secretary of Agri- estry. This reduction was partly offset culture James Wilson laid down the by increases through exchange with guiding principles. The letter read, in States and private owners and by part: acquisition of land through purchase. "In the administration of the forest Most of the forest lands reserved reserves it must be clearly borne in from the public domain were in the mind that all land is to be devoted to West, but the interest in conserving its most productive use for the perma- forests for protection of watersheds nent good of the whole people, and was almost as strong in the East, not for the temporary benefit of indi- where there was little or no Federal viduals or companies. All the resources public land. The first suggestion that of forest reserves are for use, and this the Government buy land for a forest use must be brought about in a thor- reserve in the East was made in 1892 oughly prompt and businesslike man- or 1893 by the State geologist of North ner, under such restrictions only as Carolina. Later, an Appalachian Na- will insure the permanence of these tional Park Association was formed; resources. in 1901 it induced Congress to author- "In the management of each reserve ize a survey of the Southern Appalach- local questions will be decided upon ian area proposed for a reserve. In local grounds; the dominant industry 1900 and also in 1901 the legislatures will be considered first, but with as of North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, little restriction to minor industries as and Tennessee authorized the Federal may be possible; sudden changes in Government to acquire lands for a industrial conditions will be avoided forest reserve. by gradual adjustment after due no- After many attempts, in which the tice; and where conflicting interests southern interests joined forces with must be reconciled the question will the advocates of a national forest in always be decided from the standpoint the White Mountains of New Hamp- of the greatest good of the greatest shire, Congress was persuaded to enact number in the long run." the Weeks Law of March 1, 1911. The Activities in 1908 and 1909 can be law provided for the purchase of for- regarded as the culmination of the early est lands on the headwaters of navi- conservation movement. The White gable streams, after certification by the House Conference of Governors on Geological Survey that they affect conservation of natural resources was navigation. The authority of this act conducted in 1908. It set up a National was broadened in 1924; about 18 Conservation Commission which, in a million acres has been purchased to three-volume report (1909), presented date. a survey of the status of America's At the same time that the national natural resources, including forests. forests were expanding in area, prog- Also in 1909 was held the North Amer- ress was being made in their adminis- ican Conference on Natural Re- tration and management. Six regional sources, which served to give an offices were set up in 1908 so as to international flavor to the movement. bring the administration closer to the The first decade of the twentieth people most concerned. A systematic century saw the most rapid growth of program of timber surveys was also the national forests, which embraced adopted in 1908 to afford a basis for 712 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 timber sales and management plans. respect to forestry on private lands in A scientific approach to forest-fire his annual report, as follows: prevention and control began in 1911 "In the early years of the present as a result of the 1910 conflagrations century it really looked as though the which burned over nearly 5 million management of forests as permanently acres and destroyed more than 3 bil- productive properties might be volun- lion feet of timber. by tarily undertaken by private owners on planting and sowing w^as mostly on an a very large scale. Although many ob- experimental basis before 1911 but, by stacles were presented by the internal 1919, more than 150,000 acres had conditions of the lumber industry, been covered—more than half of it progressive lumbermen were giving by sowing and not all of it successful. much serious attention to the possibil- A comprehensive plan of forestry ity of engaging in the practice of for- research—mainly in silviculture—was estry. The chief stimulus was furnished formulated in 1908 by Raphael Zon by the rising value of stumpage. The and others. Several of the experiment panic of 1907 radically changed the stations proposed in this plan were set situation. The lumber industry entered up, and in 1915 a branch of research a period of protected depression. was established, with Earle H. Clapp From that time on private forestrv^ in charge. made relatively little progress in the Cooperation of the Federal Govern- United States, except on farm wood- ment with the States to encourage fire lands. While public forestry has made protection on the watersheds of navi- vast strides, the forests of the country gable streams was authorized by the that are in private hands are being Weeks Law of 1911. Federal contribu- depleted with very great rapidity, and tions were to be contingent upon almost everywhere without cfîort to adequate legislation and matching ap- renew them." propriations by the States. In 1911 the Graves concluded that "the general Government spent about $37,000, in practice of forestry on privately owned cooperation with 11 States, to protect lands in the United States will not take 61 million acres of State and private place through unstimulated private land. In 1919 the Federal expenditure initiative." He proposed a broad for- was $100,000, with 22 States cooperat- estry policy for the Nation, to include ing and nearly 110 million acres under an expanded public program of land organized protection. In the fiscal year acquisition and a program for the 1948, with an appropriation of $9,000,- protection and perpetuation of forest 000, the Federal Government cooper- growth on all privately owned forest ated with 43 States and Hawaii in land that is not better for agriculture protecting 328 million acres. or settlement. He proposed that the By 1919 many of the States had es- Federal Government cooperate with tablished some sort of forestry depart- and work through the States in pro- ment, usually headed by a technically moting private forestry. trained forester. Nearly all of them had legislation providing for control BETWEEN 1919 AND 1949, private of forest fires, though the laws were forestry and public forestry expanded. not always effective. Several States Graves' 1919 report marked the had set aside State forests. The start of a campaign, which is still in States have continued to expand and progress, to develop a national policy strengthen forestry work, and in 1948 for bringing about forestry on private it was reported that 38 States were lands. administering 11.6 million acres as W, B. Greeley, who became head of State forests. the Forest Service in 1920, took up the In 1919, Henry S. Graves, the For- campaign where Graves left off. In ester, summed up the situation with 1920 the Capper Report on timber de- The History of Forestry in America 713 pletion, lumber prices, and forest own- before. By 1947, more than 1.2 million ership, and the report of the forestry acres had been successfully restocked. policy committee of the Society of The depressed and distressed condi- American Foresters, headed by Pin- tion of the lumber industry in the late chot, aroused widespread interest 1920's led President Herbert Hoover by showing the seriousness of the in 1930 to appoint a Timber Conser- situation. As a result of these reports vation Board to study what might be and the ensuing discussion, two bills done about it. One result was a tem- were introduced in Congress. The porary relaxation of efforts to sell Gov- Capper bill, which was revised once ernment timber. The study also led to or twice, proposed direct Federal con- the Copeland Report (A National trol of operations on private lands, Plan for American Forestry, S. Doc. through a taxation and bounty device. 12, 73d Congress), an encyclopedic The Snell bill proposed Federal assist- analysis of the forestry situation, pub- ance to States in the exercise of their lished in 1933. The report laid greatest police power over private lands. Both emphasis on acquisition of forest land bills included cooperation for protec- by Federal, State, and local govern- tion against forest fires. The bills were ments and increased assistance to pri- debated widely and heatedly. vate owners. A 20-year goal for The result was the appointment of acquisition was placed at 134 million a Senate committee to consider these acres for the Federal Government, and and other proposals for legislation and 90 million acres for State and local to hold hearings in various sections of governments. the country. Meanwhile, the Forest Good forestry practices were in- Service undertook a series of "mini- cluded in the lumber and other forest- mum-requirements" studies to develop industry codes under the National In- a clearer analysis of what might be dustrial Recovery Act of 1934-35. acceptable as reasonably good forestry Although this act was declared uncon- practices in the various forest regions stitutional, work on the codes, particu- and types of forest. The Senate com- larly on the lumber code, was beneficial mittee's deliberation led to enactment in giving the lumbermen a better on June 7, 1924, of the Clarke-Mc- understanding of what sustained-yield Nary Law. management means, of the advantages This act extended the national for- of selective logging, and of the nature est acquisition policy to lands pri- of essential silvicultural measures. marily useful for timber production Another depression-born activity rather than for watershed protection that did much to dramatize forest con- and broadened the fire-protection co- servation was the Civilian Conserva- operation of the Weeks Law. Small tion Corps. Set up as a major feature appropriations were authorized for co- of Federal unemployment relief in operation with States in growing forest 1933, almost half of the 2,600 camps planting stock for farmers and in operating at its peak in 1935 were en- advising farm-forest owners. gaged on forestry projects. In 9 years Enactment of the McSweeney-Mc- of existence, the Civilian Conservation Nary Law in 1928 provided a broad Corps contributed some 730,000 man- charter for forestry research. It set up years of work in , in a 10-year program that included a construction and maintenance of im- system of forest and range experiment provements on public forests, in tree stations, expanded research in forest planting, and in timber-stand im- products, and a Nation-wide survey of provement. It greatly stimulated the forest resources and requirements. The establishment and expansion of public Knutsen-Vandenberg Act of 1930 au- forests, particularly by States and thorized a larger national forest plant- communities in the East. ing program than had been possible The Norris-Doxey Farm Forestry 714 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 Act of 1937 was aimed mainly at im- Meanwhile, several States, notably proving forestry practices on the many Oregon in the West, Maryland in the small farm woodlands. It authorized East, and Mississippi in the South, appropriations up to $2,500,000 a have enacted laws that provide for year to provide advice, investigation, some form of regulation of cutting and plants for farmers, in cooperation practices on private lands—mandatory with the States. In the fiscal year 1948 in some States, optional in others. the Forest Service cooperated in 173 Summing up the situation today, it farm-forestiy projects, located in some can be said, that although our forests 650 counties in 40 States. Besides, as a whole are poorer in quantity and about 65 forestry extension specialists •quality than they were 30 years ago, the worked in 45 States and 2 Territories. stage is set for a reversal of the down- In March 1938, President Franklin ward trend. The basic principles of D. Roosevelt sent a special message to forestry are better understood by more Congress recommending a study of the people than ever before. More and forest situation by a joint committee more timberland owners seem to be ac- of both Houses, to form a basis for quiring a sense of stewardship—a policy legislation relating to coopera- conviction that it is their duty to leave tion of the Federal Government and their land at least as productive as they the States with private forest owners. found it. Furthermore, people arc He also proposed that the committee coming to realize that if our forests are consider the need for regulatory con- destroyed we cannot expect the rest of trols and the extension of public own- the world to supply us with timber. ership. The committee was appointed, held hearings at various places, and W. N. SPARHAWK is a native of New produced a report in 1941. Among Hampshire and a graduate of Yale other things, the report recommended University. He joined the Forest Serv- Federal financial assistance to the ice in 1910. After almost 6 years on States for regulation of forestry prac- timber reconnaissance and in various tices, but it did not suggest additional research assignments in the western Federal acquisition of forest land. national forests, he was transferred to The Forest Service undertook to Washington, where his first assignment make a new reappraisal of the situa- was a Nation-wide study of fire hazard tion in 1945 in order to bring up to and protection. As a forest economist, date and amplify basic information on he participated in the preparation of our timber resources, to interpret this numerous reports and bulletins that information in relation to the national dealt with economic problems in for- economy, and to reexamine national estry. He is joint author with Raphael needs in forest conservation. Zon of the two-volume work on Forest This study brought out that the crux Resources of the World, 1923. During of the forestry problem now is not the the Second World War he was consult- large tracts owned by industries but ant to military agencies on foreign for- the small holdings of farmers and other estry. Air. Sparhawk is a fellow of the tracts of similar size. American Association for the Ad- Many of the larger owners, particu- vancement of Science and the Society larly in the South and the Northwest, of American Foresters, and a member have been developing an interest in of the Washington Academy of Sci- forestry for a considerable period. Ac- ences. He is editor of the forestry sec- cording to the Society of American tion of Biological Abstracts, and was Foresters, more than 2,500 trained associate editor of the Journal of For- foresters were employed by private in- estry from 1936 to 1948. Mr. Spar- dustries in 1948, although there had hawk retired from the Forest Service been fewer than 400 in 1930 and only in 1948 and is now living in New about 1,000 in 1940. Hampshire.