The History of Forestry in America 



passed by both Houses but too late for 

 agreement in conference. This bill was 

 passed again by the House of Repre- 

 sentatives in 1896, but not by the Sen- 

 ate. Meanwhile, through efforts of the 

 American Forestry Association, Secre- 

 tary of the Interior Hoke Smith in 

 1896 was induced to ask the National 

 Academy of Sciences to study and 

 report on the problem. 



After a trip to look over the situa- 

 tion in the West, the Committee set up 

 by the Academy, being unable to 

 agree on recommendations for admin- 

 istration of the forests, merely recom- 

 mended the establishment of some 21 

 million acres of new forest reserves. 

 In order to act before his term ex- 

 pired, President Cleveland proclaimed 

 these reservations without the custo- 

 mary consultation with local people 

 and Members of Congress. His act 

 aroused opposition throughout the 

 West, especially because it merely 

 locked up the resources without provi- 

 sion for their use, and Congress sus- 

 pended temporarily all but two of the 

 reservations. 



However, the act suspending the res- 

 ervations (the Sundry Civil Appro- 

 priation Act of June 4, 1897) carried 

 an amendment by Senator Pettigrew 

 that provided for administration and 

 management of existing and future 

 reserves, much as proposed in the 

 McRae bill of 1894. This amendment 

 is the charter on which the operation 

 of the national forests has been based. 



Among its important provisions is a 

 statement of objectives: 



"No public forest reservation shall 

 be established except to improve and 

 protect the forest," secure "favorable 

 conditions of water flow," and "fur- 

 nish a continuous supply of timber for 

 the use and necessities of citizens of 

 the United States." The principal 

 specifications regarding administration 

 and use of the reserves are the instruc- 

 tions to the Secretary of the Interior to 

 make provision for protection against 

 fire and trespass; to make rules and 

 regulations for occupancy and use of 

 the reserves and their products ; to sell, 



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after due examination and appraisal, 

 dead and mature timber; and to allow 

 free use of timber by bona fide settlers 

 and others for their domestic needs. 



Management of the public forests 

 and of private forests, too required 

 more than legislative authority and 

 appropriations. Without an adequate 

 basis of scientific knowledge (meaning 

 research) and an adequate staff of 

 technical foresters (meaning a forestry 

 profession), good forest management 

 would be impossible. 



As Fernow told the American For- 

 estry Congress in 1885: 



"Generalities on forest preservation 

 or forest destruction and forestal influ- 

 ences have become trite and their con- 

 stant reiteration without positive data 

 will dull the interest of listeners and 

 readers, create suspicion and defection. 

 We need definite, well-authenticated 

 local observations, arrived at by well- 

 described scientific methods; we need 

 methodical work in establishing the 

 conditions of growth for different spe- 

 cies, their behavior towards the soil and 

 towards each other in different soils, 

 their rate of growth at different pe- 

 riods of life under different conditions. 

 In fact, besides making propaganda, 

 we should by concerted effort establish 

 the principles upon which the forestry 

 we advocate is to be carried on." 



Unfortunately, the Division of For- 

 estry in the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, during its first 20 years, found 

 itself unable to carry on much scien- 

 tific research in the woods, because it 

 controlled no forest land, could not get 

 permission to use public timberlands 

 or military reservations, and was not 

 allowed to use the private lands for 

 fear of criticism that public money 

 was being used for the benefit of pri- 

 vate individuals. 



The States were repeatedly urged by 

 Fernow and his predecessors, speaking 

 through the forestry associations and 

 congresses, to undertake forestry re- 

 search at their land-grant colleges and 

 experiment stations, but the result ap- 

 pears to have been small. The Division 

 cooperated with the State agricultural 



