100 Years of Federal Forestry

100 Years Of Federal Forestry United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service A logging crew in Clare County, Michigan. This photograph was taken before 1900. Tn 1876 Congress supported the appointment of a forestry agent in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "100 Years of Federal Forestry" was published in 1976 to celebrate that event, which marked the birth of Federal forestry. From this position grew the agency that was Cover photo. named the Forest Service. To celebrate the A forester at work on the centennial of the National Forest System Umatilla National Forest, (1891-1991), which traces its origin to the Oregon, in July 1921. Wenaha passage of the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, the Rivet was then far from a road, Forest Service History Unit and the Centen- so this Ranger had to travel with nial Coordinator have sponsored the reprinting horse and pack outfit. of this pictorial history. 100 Years Of Federal Forestry William W. Bergoffen Forest Service, retired Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 402 Forest Service Issued December 1976 United States Department of Agriculture Approved for reprinting September 1990 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Tabk of Contents 5 Introduction 7 Prologue 11 Before There Was A Forest Service, 1876-1904 11 Highlights 14 Sidelights 25The Early Years Of The Forest Service, 1905-19 16 25Highlights 28Sidelights 61Growing Up, 19 17-1945 61Highlights 64Sidelights 107 Years Of Great Change, 1946 1960 107 Highlights 110 Sidelights 143 Keeping Up With The Times, 1961-1975 143 Highlights 146 Sidelights 177 The Look Ahead, 1976- 191 Epilogue 194 Focus: An Enduring Contribution 195 Photo Credits 198 Major Activities Of The Forest Service 4 Intwduction 'forestry 'fdr-a-stré \ 2: the science of developing, caring for, or cultivating forests." (Webster) "Forestry" is the subject of this book, a photographic album of the men and women who have applied "the science of developing, caring for, or cultivating forests" during the century since 1876. It is principally a pictorial history of the National Forest System and the Nation's chief federal forestry agency, the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculturea review of its past, a look at its present, and a preview of its future. Opposite page. William Watts Hooper, Forest Supervisor, with Mrs. Hooper. A fbrmer woodsworker, sailor,surveyor, timberman, dude rancher, homesteader, and a veteran of the Civil War, Hooper began a family tradition of service to conservation with his appointment as forest ranger in the Keriosha Range of Colorado in 1898. From that start, as one of the first group of rangers hired by the General Land Office to protect the Forest Reserves on the public domain, he pursued a career that took him into the newly established Forest Service in 1905 and the position of Forest Supervisor of the Leadville National Forest, Colorado. His grandson and great-grandson, inheriting his concern for the Nation's forest values, also made careers of the Forest Service. .1 --SI Prologue Our forests compose one of the Earth's greatest reser- voirs of renewable natural resources. They can provide us with essential products indefinitely if managed properly, and at the same time remain a home for wildlife and a vital source of water supplies. Too often and in too many places, ma has not taken good care of the forests. He baa cut them waste6.illy with little thought to the values of narue or his own ftiture needs. Where he ls failed to safrguard and renew the forests, he has suffered. 8 Where people have cared for the forestsused them wisely and protected, developed, and replenished them in good timethe forests, the land, and the people alike have prospered. 1876-1904 The Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture, primarily created to promote a popular understanding of the vital interests which are centered in the forest wealth of the United States... has shown the need of inaugurating a new system of forest manage- ment and reproduction, by which alone the perpetuation of an ample supply of forest products, so vital to national prosperity, can be secured." Bernhard E. Fernow (1886-1898) Before There Was A Forest Service, 1876-1904 Highlights The year of the Centennial of the Declaration of Inde-who would work in as well as for the forests. Dr.Bernhard pendence was one of change for the West and for the Nation. Eduard Fernow, a leader of the AFA who was trained in Indians, buffalo, and frontiersmen gave way before organized forestry in his native Germany, brought professionalism to and reckless exploitation of natural resources. Lumbermen federal forestry with his appointment as Chief of the Division had exhausted the forests of the East, were fast clearing theof Forestry in 1886. He set up scientific research programs great pine forests of the Lake States, and would soon move on and initiated cooperative forestry projects with the States, to the South and West. Herds of cattle and sheep spread over includingthe planting of trees in the Great Plains the grasslands. Homesteading farmers broke the sod and Theweight of the data and recommendationsadvanced sowed grain on the prairies and plains. Mining was a major by men like Hough and Fernow led to the genesisof the industry in the mountains. The railroads linked East and National Forest System. By 1891 it was apparent to many West and controlled great land grants in return. Acquisitive- that forests represented a great but vulnerable national asset ness was the spirit of the times, with little heed tothe rules that for the sake of posterity should beprotected from of fair play or the needs of the ftiture. unbridled despoliation. That year, 18 years after Hough's Reaction to abuse of the Nation's natural values during first call for action, Congress authorized the withdrawalof this period gave rise to the forestry and conservation move- Forest Reserves from the public domain, to be administered ment in America. In August 1876, Congress authorized by the Department of the Interior.President Benjamin $2,000 for the first federal office devoted to forestry. Those Harrison set aside the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve(now who supported the measure were men of vision. Those men part of Shoshone and TetonNational Forests) in 1891, and who in the next few decades would establish the profession of by the end of his term had proclaimed 12.4 million acresof forestry would need the same hardy spirit as their predeces- forest land safeguarded from selfish speculation. His succes- sors of the frontier past. sor, Grover Cleveland,added 25.9 million acres more, and The first of those men was Dr. Franklin B. Hough, a in 1897 Congress enacted legislation to insurethe proper physician of broad interests, who in 1873 addressed the care, protection, and managementof the public forests; to American Association for the Advancement of Science on the authorize the employment of guardians for the Reserves;and heedless consumption of American forests. The Association to open them for regulated use. sent a message to Congress supporting Dr. Hough's conten- In the two decades, the Nation had made significant tion that efforts should be made to learn the condition of the progress in its movement fromfrontier freebooting toward a fbrests in order to support their wise use and conservation. policy of wise use and conservation. The appointmentof Finally, on August 30, 1876, the Commissioner of Agricul- Franklin Hough signalled the shift. ture appointed Hough to the role of forest agent, to gather But at least one man knew that what was past was only data on the forests and forest products, European forestry prologue. He was America's first native professionalforester, practices, and on means to preserve and renew the forests. schooled in Europe, experienced in managing a large private His series of exhaustive reports laid a factual basis for the forest in North Carolina, personally familiar with manyof conservation movement and supported the work of others. the new Forest Reserves, and destined to become Chiefof the The American Forestry Association, formed in 1875, worked Division of Forestry in 1898. His name was Gifford Pinchot, to transform public concern for the forests into effective and he would be present at and take part in the birthof the legislation, to begin farsighted programs, and to train people Forest Service. 11 1876-1 904 Big wheels, big trees, big loads This was a man-sized job in characterized a growing Amer- Washington in 1901. ica's drive to appease her hunger Ratchet jacks were used to for wood after the War between load logs in Washington's the States. coastal forests. 1. Montecristo, an 1897 lumber town in the Washington Cas- cades, as photographed by Gil- ford Pinchot. 1876-1904 Logging in Michigan, in 1900, on lands that are now a part of the Manisree National Forest. These logs were being hauled to market in Michigan in 1887. 13 1876-1904 These were "Home" to the Lake State lumberjacks- The "Van" or supply store. The cookhouse. The bunkhouse. Sidelights (1876-1904) In 1885, New York State created the huge Adirondack Forest Reserve and a commission to protect and manage it, but excluded tim- ber cutting. The same year, California, Colo- rado, and Ohio set up State boards of forestry. In 1898, New York's Cornell University started the Nation's first 4-year professional forestry school, and a 1-year Biltmore Forest School opened in North Carolina. By this time 20 colleges were offering some instruc- tion in forestry. Then in 1900, Yale Forest School opened with graduate courses. The professional Society of American For- esters was founded in 1900.

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