76 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 



investigations about forestry and how to preserve 

 our trees. 



For some nine years the Division of Forestry 

 was nothing more than a department of informa- 

 tion. It distributed technical facts and figures 

 about the management of private woodlands and 

 collected data concerning our forest resources. 

 It did not manage any of the Government timber- 

 lands because there were no forest reserves at 

 that time. It was not until 1891 that the first 

 forest reserve, the Yellowstone Park Timberland 

 Reserve, was created by special proclamation of 

 President Harrison. Later it became part of 

 the National Park reserves. Although the Divi- 

 sion of Forestry had no special powers to oversee 

 and direct the management of the forest reserves, 

 during the next six years a total of 40,000,000 

 acres of valuable timberland were so designated 

 and set aside. At the request of the Secretary of 

 the Interior, the National Academy of Sciences 

 therefore worked out a basis for laws governing 

 national forests. Congress enacted this law in 

 1897. Thereafter the Department of the Inte- 

 rior had active charge of the timberlands. At 

 that time little was known scientifically about the 



