The Development of Forest Policy
in the United States
Elements of Forestry
Kenneth Williams
Fisheries Extension Specialist
Langston University Aquaculture
Extension Program
Native Americans to 1607

Population low
 Forest exploitation was minimal.
Colonial settlers 1607 - 1783

Forests a nuisance to agriculture. The more
trees cut the better.
 The view was that forests were
inexhaustible.
 Wood was the primary energy source.
Colonial settlers 1607 - 1783
forest policy 1626 – no timber products
transported out of Plymouth Colony without
consent of governor and council.
 1681 – Pennsylvania, 1 acre must remain
forested for every 5 acres cleared.
 1st
Ship building industry





Trees for ship masts sent to
England by 1609.
Ship building begins in the
colonies in 1631.
1691 –”Broad Arrow” policy any tree over 24 inches in dia.
Reserved for the British crown.
The policy was enforced by
heavy fines. Unpopular with
colonists.
This policy led to the “Pine Tree
Riot” in New Hampshire.
Building the republic 1783 - 1830
1781 – Articles of Confederation. U.S.
formed. All lands west of colonies belong to
U.S. government.
 Lands were given as reward to
revolutionary soldiers and sold to pay
government war debt.

Building the republic 1783 - 1830
Land ordinance of 1785 – Old Northwest
Territory (Ohio west to the Mississippi
river) surveyed and sold to pay national
debt.
 Any territory with 60,000 residents can
become a state.

Old Northwest
Territory
Building the republic 1783 - 1830

Land purchased required buying a minimum
of 640 acres at $1/acre.
 Most people could not afford that much so
they bought elsewhere or “squatted”.
 Removal efforts met with little success.
 The “right” of congress to control public
lands in the national interest is established.
1830-1891

By 1867 with purchase of Alaska, public
domain had increased to 405 million
hectares.
 There was a desire to populate these
lands and make them productive.
 Policy was to transfer land to private
ownership and rely on market forces to
allocate natural resources.
1830-1891

Increased pressure on
timberland.
 Construction of towns on
the plains, railroads and
reconstruction after the
civil war.
 Timber culture act 1873
– settlers receive 160
acres if they plant 40
acres to trees.
1830-1891
Timber and Stone act 1878 –
unoccupied land principally
suited to timber production or
mining but not agriculture
could be purchased in 160 acre
tracts if he land was for
personal use and not for
speculation.
 Speculation and fraud was
rampant.
 Some set up mills on public
land and started cutting with no
ownership.

1830-1891

This period generally
characterized by rapid
disposal and
exploitation of the
public domain.
 The myth of
inexhaustible resources
was fading.
 Concern for
conservation and
preservation was
beginning.
1830-1891

1876 - $2000 set a side to hire someone to
study forest problems.
 Franklin B. Hough chairman of the Am,
Assoc for the Advancement of Sci. chosen
 He later became chief of the Forestry
Division which was placed in the Dept. of
Ag.
 Forestry Division later to become the Forest
Service.
Preservation movement

George Catlin
 Henry D. Thoreau
 Frederick Law Olmsted
 John Muir
 They worked to get a national system of
parks in the U.S.
 Yellowstone is 1st - 1872
1830-1891 Summary

3 movements
– Exploitative, dispose of public domain and cut
extensively.
– Scientific management began with the forestry
division.
– Preservation movement - save forest before it
is lost.

Land did not go to small farmers as
anticipated but ended up in large corporate
holdings.
1891 – 1911, developing a
management philosophy

Very important period in
American history.
 Shift from rural to urban
life.
 Urban East wants
preservation
 Rural West wants to
expand economy and
develop resources.
 The conflict continues
today.
1891 – 1911
1890 – the frontier no longer exists.
 “Timber famine” seen as a possibility.

1891 – 1911

Three general domestic goals that affected
forest policy.
 Defend the rights of the people
 Maintain a continuous supply of timber
 Prevent waste in the exploitation of natural
resources
Creation of forest reserves
General forest revision act of 1891 –
allows president from time to time to
set apart and reserve any part of the
public lands wholly or in part covered
with timber or undergrowth, whether
of commercial value or not.
 This act served as the basis for the
U.S. system of national forests.

Creation of forest reserves

President B. Harrison sets
aside 14 reserves, 5.3 million
hectares. Westerners protest.
 The act did not include
provision for use of the
reserves.
 Timber stealing, however,
continues unabated due to
lack of sufficient money for
law enforcement.
Creation of forest reserves

President Cleveland sets aside
another 8.6 million hectares of
national forest. The West
reacts.
 Organic administration act
of 1897 – No public forest
reservation to be set aside
except to improve and protect
the forest for the purpose of
securing favorable water flows
and to furnish a continuous
supply of timber.
Gifford Pinchot
Motto “forestry is tree farming”
 He did not believe in preservation
but in using forests “wisely”.
 Becomes head of Forestry Division
in 1898.
 Tries to gain control of forest
reserves from General Land Office.

President Theodore
Roosevelt

Friends with Gifford Pinchot.
Same conservation philosophy
– Efficiency
– Wise use
– For the public good
– The lasting good of men
Roosevelt and Pinchot
Transfer act of 1905 – reserves
transferred from Dept. of Interior to
Dept. of Agriculture.
 Forestry Division renamed the Forest
Service
 Forest reserves renamed the national
forests

Utilitarianism

National forests to be used for the
permanent good of the whole people and
not temporary benefit of individuals or
companies.
 “greatest good for the greatest number”
 This echoed the Utilitarian philosophy of
J.S. Mill.
American antiquities act - 1906

The president can declare by proclamation
objects of historic or scientific interest on
the public lands to be national monuments.
 Roosevelt sets aside 18 national monuments
including the grand canyon.
 Roosevelt enlarges national forests, adds 41
reserves totaling 18.8 million hectares.
 Congress does not like it and prohibits new
reserves in 6 western states.
National monuments
1911 - 1952
Forest policy –
 Keep watersheds covered with vegetation to
reduce flooding and sedimentation.
 Keep sufficient wood flowing from forest to
meet nation’s needs.
 Protect forest from over-exploitation and
losses due to fire, insects and disease.
 Use forest resources to reduce
unemployment and stabilize economies.

Conservation versus Preservation
Preservationists –
preserve nature’s
beauty, create national
parks.
 Conservationists –
Forests are resources
that must be used.
 Conflict inevitable,
dominated forest
policy by the 1960’s
and 70’s.

Conservation versus Preservation
Early 1900’s conflict centered on dividing up land.
 Preservationists get national parks and monuments
placed under Dept. of Interior, also expand
national park system.
 Conflicts arise as best park land within national
forests coveted by Dept. of Interior.
 Forest service develops recreational areas in
hopes of making national parks unnecessary.

Forest recreation

Introduction of the automobile makes
forests more accessible. Concerns
arise over fire hazards etc. Forest
service tries to keep people out of
many areas.
 1918 – 1st designated wilderness area.
 Aldo Leopold (forest ranger) proposes
it in opposition to a proposed road
near the Gila river in NM.
Wilderness

A continuous stretch of country preserved in
its natural state, open to lawful hunting and
fishing, big enough to absorb a 2 weeks
backpacking trip, and kept devoid of roads,
artificial trails, cottages or the works of
man.
 National wilderness system established in
1926.
Forest service expansion

Expands national forests in the East
 Promoted forest research
 Developed national forests
 Regulated forest practices on private lands
Weeks act of 1911

Government could purchase lands at the
headwaters of navigable streams.
 Ostensibly to help prevent floods and
reduce sedimentation but mostly to increase
forest reserves.
Forest research
Raphael Zon – 1908 - proposes experiment
stations, established in 1910, emphasizes
applied research.
 McSweeney-McNary Act 1928 – research
raised to same level of importance as other
forest service activities.

1924 - Regulation of private
forests

Very controversial
 Federal vs states right
 Pinchot believed states too
easily controlled by timber
interests.
 Compromise in congress by
avoiding issue and
concentrating on fire control.
Civilian Conservation Corps
1933 – 1942 – part of FDR’s ”New Deal”
 2 million people in the program
 Goals:

–
–
–
–
–
Unemployment relief
Prevention of soil erosion
Flood control
Parks creation
Forestry
Civilian Conservation Corps

Built trails
 Thinned forests
 Fought fires
 Planted trees
 Constructed campgrounds
Sustained yield forest
management act -1944

An area is managed to produce roughly
equal annual or periodic yields of a
resource.
 Not aimed at national needs but
safeguarding economies of forest dependent
communities from timber shortages.
Post world war II

Forests decimated from timber harvest used
in war production. Timber cutting exceeded
growth.
 Forest service blames timber industry.
 President Eisenhower sides with corporate
timber interests.
 Forest service gives up on federal control of
private forests.
1952 – present
Multiple use forests

Recreational use of forests
climbs steadily, however, but
not near as important as
timber production as an
objective in forest
management.
 Main reason to build
campgrounds was to keep
people out of the way of
commodity uses of the forest.
And to help prevent fires by
concentrating people in
known areas.
1952 – present
Multiple use forests

Hugh demand for timber
after the war dominated
attention of foresters.
 They did not pay
sufficient attention to
enormous growth in
forest recreation.
 Park service and forest
service compete for
administrative control of
recreational lands.
Multiple use forests

Forest service needed a way to fund
recreational projects and to protect itself
from unacceptable demands of the timber
and grazing industries.
 These Forest Service needs bring about the
Multiple Use – Sustained Yield Act of
1960.
Multiple Use – Sustained Yield
Act of 1960

The act directed that national forests should
be managed for:
– Recreation
– Timber
– Range
– Watershed
– Fish and wildlife
The wilderness system
Wilderness Act of 1964 – set aside 3.7
million hectares in 54 areas
 Eastern Wilderness Act of 1975 – 16 new
Eastern wilderness areas totaling 83,772
hectares.
 Wilderness issues are always controversial.

Bureau of Land Management

Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976 – Creates BLM and gave it land
management responsibilities. (although it
had already been operative for 30 years).
The clearcutting issue

Clearcutting is a harvesting method in
which all trees in a certain area are cut then
the site is regenerated from seeds planting
or other methods.
 If done properly clearcutting is
environmentally safe. However, it is not
“pretty”.
The clearcutting issue

Forest service heavily criticized by the
public for the practice.
 Congressional studies and hearings are held.
 Forest service found to be more interested
in timer harvest than any other aspect of its
mandate. It was not adjusting to changing
social values.
The clearcutting issue

As a result of public outcry, forest service
was restricted to clearcutting areas no larger
than 10 hectares or less and management
policies were changed to encourage a wide
variety of harvesting practices.
 Moves to stop clearcutting altogether
caused congress to pass the National Forest
management Act of 1976.
National Forest management
Act of 1976

The act requires the Forest Service to
prepare comprehensive interdisciplinary
forest plans for123 administrative units
every 10 years.
 Most of the plans are challenged by various
interest groups.
 The act brought forest management closer
to the multiple use idea.
Other legislation affecting Forest
Service policies

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
 Clean Air Act of 1970
 Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972
 Federal Environmental Pesticide Control
Act of 1972
 Endangered Species Act of 1973
 Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976
 Clean Water Act of 1977
Controversy

Forest policies are and will remain highly
controversial for the forseeable future.
 Increased population density in forested
lands have combined with increased timber
demand, drought and past forest
management practices to cause conflicts
between public, government and corporate
interests.
 Fire has become a seasonal event in many
parts of the Western U.S.
THE END