An important side story: 

 The conservationists of this 

 period, who were not in 

 agreement on the role of 

 forest reserves, were divided 

 into at least two distinct 

 factions, the preservationists 

 and the utilitarians. The 

 former favored preserving 

 most of the Nation's scenic 

 forests just as they were, 

 never to be exploited by 

 people. The utilitarians 

 favored continued economic 

 use of the forests, but under 

 the careful protection of the 

 Federal Government. (The 

 conservation movement's 

 most prominent leaders, 

 Pinchot and President 

 Roosevelt, favored the 

 utilitarian philosophy.) While 

 these factions worked 

 together for the overriding 

 national interest and the 

 eventual passage of the 

 Weeks Law, advocates of 

 the opposing views 

 continued to complicate 

 national forest management 

 in the years to come (Buxton 

 and Crutchfield n.d.). 



The first national forests in 

 the South were formed by 

 withdrawals from public 

 domain. In Arkansas, the 

 Arkansas National Forest 

 was created in 1 907 (and 

 renamed the Ouachita in 

 1926) and the Ozark 

 National Forest, in 1908. 

 Florida's Ocala and 

 Choctawhatchee National 



Forests were created in 

 1 908 also. 



At the time of proclamation, 

 the Arkansas covered 

 1,073,955 acres in the 

 west-central part of the 

 State. According to the 

 examiners' report (Record 

 and Reynolds 1907), the 

 lands were "irregular 

 scattered areas comprising 

 mainly the tops of 

 unalienated mountain 

 ranges." (The term 

 "unalienated" means 

 "uninterrupted by privately 

 owned parcels.") The forest 

 cover was of three common 

 types: ridge, slope, and 

 river bottom. 



Tree species found in the 

 ridge type, occupying the 

 crests of the ridges and 

 some of the "poorest knolls 

 and foothills," were blackjack 

 oak, red oak, black locust, 

 chinquapin, hickory, wing 

 elm, cherry, buckeye, and 

 shortleaf pine. Small, short, 

 and scrubby, these trees 

 were valuable only for 

 firewood and the protection 

 they afforded the steep 

 slopes. 



The slope type bore the 

 best timber, with the highest 

 quality trees near the base 

 and lower quality trees on 

 land ascending toward the 

 ridgetops. Shortleaf pine of 

 generally good quality made 

 up the bulk of the forest on 



