adambeck7 wrote:
dave54 wrote:
The National Forests were created to facilitate rural economic development while protecting forested watersheds.
They were not created to protect from logging, but to increase logging to benefit local communities, under the oversight of professional foresters who would harvest timber while protecting and maintaining the values. Multiple use is mandated by law. Wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation are supposed to be given equal weight.
It's my understanding that logging and rural development was eventually one intended uses of the NF but it was definitely not the sole reason why it was created. It was created to protect watersheds and forests. The logging was done to help prevent huge forest fires as well as provide economy and help nearby rural communities.
An interesting discussion about the origin and purposes of the National Forests. Each of the respondents has part of the true story, but the purpose of the "Forest Reserves," and National Forests has changed and evolved over time, and changed significantly over a very short time during the late 1800's and early 1900's.
1876 The Office of Special Agent for forest research is created in the Department of Agriculture to assess the state of the forests in the United States.
1881 The Office of the Special Agent is expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry.
1891 The Forest Reserve Act authorizes withdrawing land from the public domain as “forest reserves,” managed by the Department of the Interior. This was done primarily to protect these lands from rampant logging and subsequent fires. Presidents Harrison, Cleveland and McKinley designate approx. 45 million acres as Forest Reserves.
1897 Organic Administration Act Unlike the national parks, which were created primarily to preserve natural beauty and unique outdoor recreation opportunities, the founders of early national forests envisioned them as working forests with multiple objectives. The Organic Administration Act of 1897, under which most national forests were established, states: "No national forest shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the boundaries, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States…"
USFS Reference link hereSo securing water flows and supplying timber was definitely a key purpose once the Forest Reserves became the National Forests.
1905 The Transfer Act transfers the management of forest reserves from the General Land Office (within the Department of the Interior) to the Bureau of Forestry (within the Department of Agriculture). The name of the agency changes to the Forest Service.
President Theodore Roosevelt established 150 million acres of National Forest lands under his stead.
1911 The Weeks Act Several national forests were created under the Weeks Law of 1911 to restore forests on formerly private lands that had been heavily logged or cleared for agriculture. That law authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to "…examine, locate, and purchase such forested, cutover, or denuded lands within the watersheds of navigable streams as in his judgment may be necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams or for the production of timber." Many of today’s Eastern national forests were acquired under the Weeks Law.
USFS Reference link here
1960 Multiple Use/Sustained Yield Act This Act declares that the purposes of the national forest include outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed and fish and wildlife. The Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to administer national forest renewable surface resources for multiple use and sustained yield.
1976 National Forest Management Act The National Forest Management Act reorganized, expanded and otherwise amended the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, which called for the management of renewable resources on national forest lands. The National Forest Management Act requires the Secretary of Agriculture to assess forest lands, develop a management program based on multiple-use, sustained-yield principles, and implement a resource management plan for each unit of the National Forest System. It is the primary statute governing the administration of national forests.
Today, the Forest Service manages for a multitude of renewable uses - wood supply, water, wildlife, wilderness, recreation, range, as well as the non-renewable mineral uses. These uses are directed by law.
For a history of the Forest Service, how it was established and how it has evolved, view The Greatest Good film. It is available on Youtube in several parts.
Link here
