Forestry Abroad and at Home 



387 



ward Congress began to make appropria- 

 tions to protect the public timber, but 

 nothing was done to introduce conserva- 

 tive forest management. The present 

 Bureau of Forestry in the Department of 

 Agriculture was established as a division 

 in 1881. 



About this time forest associations 

 began to be established in the different 

 states, the most influential and effective 

 of which has been that in Pennsylvania. 

 The states also began to form forest 

 boards or commissions of their own. 



In 1888 the first forest bill was intro- 

 duced in Congress. It failed to pass, 

 but in 1 89 1 an act was passed which was 

 the first step toward a true policy for the 

 forests of the nation. The first step 

 toward national forestry is control of the 

 national forests. This act, whose chief 

 purpose was to repeal the timber-culture 

 act, contained a clause which authorized 

 the President to reserve timberlands on 

 the public domain, and so prevent them 

 from passing out of the possession of the 

 government. 



THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 



In all the states and territories west 

 of the Mississippi except Texas, and in 

 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wis- 

 consin, Florida, Alabama, and Missis- 

 sippi, all the land originally belonged 

 to the government. This was the pub- 

 lic domain. It has gradually been sold 

 or given away until in many of the 

 states it has all or nearly all passed to 

 other owners. But it still includes more 

 than 470,000,000 acres, or nearly one- 

 third of the United States, not including 

 the territory of Alaska, which has an 

 area of about 350,000,000 acres. A 

 large part of the public domain has been 

 surveyed by the government and divided 

 first into squares 6 miles on each side, 

 called townships, then into squares of 

 1 mile, called sections, and these again 

 into quarter sections and smaller divis- 

 ions. The lines which mark these 

 divisions are straight and at right angles 



to each other. When any part of the 

 public domain is reserved or disposed of 

 it is usually located by reference to these 

 lines. 



FEDERAL FOREST RESERVES 



When the President was given the 

 power to make forest reserves the pub- 

 lic domain still contained much of the 

 best timber in the West, but it was pass- 

 ing rapidly into private hands. Acting 

 upon the wise principle that forests 

 whose preservation is necessary for the 

 general welfare should remain in gov- 

 ernment control, President Harrison 

 created the first forest reserves. Presi- 

 dent Cleveland followed his example. 

 But there was yet no systematic plan 

 for the making or management of the 

 reserves, which at that time were alto- 

 gether without protection by the gov- 

 ernment. Toward the end of Presi- 

 dent Cleveland's second administration, 

 therefore, the National Academy of 

 Sciences was asked to appoint a com- 

 mission to examine the national forest 

 lands and report a plan for their control. 

 The academy did so, and upon the rec- 

 ommendation of the National Forest 

 Commission, so appointed, President 

 Cleveland doubled the reserved area by 

 setting aside 13 additional forest reserves 

 on Washington's birthday, 1897. 



EARLY OPPOSITION TO FOREST 

 RESERVES DISAPPEARING 



The Cleveland forest reserves awak- 

 ened at once great opposition in Con- 

 gress and throughout the West, and led 

 to a general discussion of the forest 

 policy. But after several years of con- 

 troversy widespread approval took the 

 place of opposition, and at present the 

 value of the forest reserves is rarely dis- 

 puted except by private interests im- 

 patient of restraint. 



The recommendations of the National 

 Forest Commission for the management 

 of the forest reserves were not acted 

 upon by Congress, but the law of June 



