UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 290 



Washington, D. C. 



Issued January 1938 

 Slightly revised April 1940 



WORK OF THE UNITED STATES 

 FOREST SERVICE 



Prepared by the Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction : 1 



The national forests 3 



Forests created from public domain 4 



The purchase of forest lands 5 



Wise use — the guiding principle 6 



Management of timber resources 8 



Range resources and their use 10 



Protection of our watersheds 10 



Recreation opportunities and facilities 12 



Areas maintained in primitive condition. _ 13 



Conservation of wildlife 13 



Receipts and their use 15 



Improvements in the forests 16 



Reforestation by planting 18 



Protection of national forests -. 19 



State and private cooperation 22 



Better management of private forests 22 



State aid under the Clarke-McNary law. 23 



Prairie States forestry project 24 



New England forest emergency project-.- 26 



Land acquisition for State forests 26 



Other cooperative programs 26 



Forest and range research 26 



Management and protection 27 



Forest influences 29 



Forest products 29 



Forest economics 30 



Range investigations "__ 31 



Experimental areas 32 



Civilian Conservation Corps 33 



Other emergency projects 35 



Information on forestry 35 



Forest Service organization 36 



INTRODUCTION 



Forest depletion, which went on in the United States practically 

 unchecked for more than 100 years, received its first real curb at the 

 turn of the twentieth century. 



The need for a conservation policy had been felt for a long time, 

 but it was not until increasing demands of a rapidly expanding 

 civilization sharply accelerated the rate of forest use — and misuse — 

 and emphasized this need tremendously that public opinion called for 

 Federal action to halt the destruction of the forest resources. 



It was apparent that things were happening to the forests. They 

 were being logged without thought of future timber requirements; 

 uncontrolled fires and excessive cutting were destroying the remaining 

 timber, preventing natural reproduction of trees, and stripping im- 

 portant watersheds of their protective covering. In short, it was 

 clear that the public itself, through its Federal Government, should 

 take steps toward the proper management of areas of greatest influ- 

 ence upon public welfare and exert every effort toward extension of 

 sound principles to forest management and use. 



At this time also it was evident that a great advance had been 

 made in the development of scientific forestry. Public-spirited 

 citizens wished to apply this new knowledge in order to restore 

 and maintain the usefulness of the country's forest lands. 



1 This publication supersedes Department Circular 211, Government Forest Work, issued 

 in April 1922. 



1 



