state or region, and his 

 interest in these 

 mountains begins and 

 ends with the hope of 

 profit. 



Forest fires have been 

 one of the great curses 

 of this country. From 

 the days of Indian 

 occupation down to the 

 present time these 

 Appalachian Mountain 

 forests have been swept 

 through by fires. Some 

 of these have preceded 

 the lumberman, others 

 have accompanied him, 

 and still others have 

 followed in his wake, 

 and the last have been 

 far more destructive 

 because of the tops 

 and other rubbish which 

 he has left behind him 

 scattered among the 

 remaining growth. The 

 aggregate damage 

 from these fires is great. 



The same report also cited 

 cleared and abandoned 

 farmlands as an 

 ever-increasing problem. 

 These lands were seldom 

 reforested, which led to 

 erosion and flooding. Flood 

 damage during the year of 

 the study was estimated at 

 $10 million. President 

 Theodore Roosevelt's letter 

 transmitting the study to 

 Congress stated: "More 

 good soil is now washed 

 from these cleared 



mountain-side fields during 

 a single heavy rain than 

 during centuries under 

 forest cover." The President 

 recommended the creation 

 of a national forest reserve, 

 to protect both the beauty 

 and the economic value of 

 the region (U.S. Bureau of 

 Forestry 1902). 



The idea of setting aside 

 eastern forest reserves was 

 gaining the support of an 

 influential group of 

 Americans by the time of 

 the survey report. Gifford 

 Pinchot, Chief of the USDA 

 Division of Forestry since 

 1 898, led them in submitting 

 nearly 50 bills to Congress 

 between 1900 and 1910 to 

 authorize creation of an 

 Appalachian Forest Reserve 

 (Buxton and Crutchfield 

 n.d.). Their efforts 

 culminated in the 1911 

 Weeks Law authorizing the 

 government to purchase 

 lands for the purpose of 

 protecting the headwaters 

 of navigable streams. 



Additional studies were 

 made during that decade; 

 thus, the Forest Service 

 had ample information and 

 opportunity to decide before 

 the first meeting of the 

 National Forest Reservation 

 Commission just what areas 

 to recommend for 

 establishment at the outset 

 of the Weeks Law 

 acquisition program. 



