Starting in 1876, and undergoing a series of name changes, the U.S. Forest Service grew to protect and utilize millions of acres of forest on public land. Gifford Pinchot, an early advocate of scientific forestry, along with President Theodore Roosevelt and conservation organizations, led the effort to manage forest for the public good.[1][2]
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In 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the state of the forests in the United States. Franklin B. Hough was appointed the head of the office. In 1881, the office was expanded into the newly-formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the public domain as "forest reserves," managed by the Department of the Interior. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry. The Transfer Act of 1905 transferred the management of forest reserves from the General Land Office of the Interior Department to the Bureau of Forestry, henceforth known as the US Forest Service. Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief Forester of the US Forest Service.[3] In 1911, Congress passed the Weeks Act, authorizing the government to purchase private lands for stream-flow protection, and to maintain the lands as national forests. This made it possible for the national forest system to expand into the eastern United States.
Significant federal legislation affecting the Forest Service includes the Weeks Act of 1911, the Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act of 1960, P.L. 86-517; the Wilderness Act, P.L. 88-577; the National Forest Management Act, P.L. 94-588; the National Environmental Policy Act, P.L. 91-190; the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act, P.L. 95-313; and the Forest and Rangelands Renewable Resources Planning Act, P.L. 95-307.
Forest Service Chief Foresters | Years of Service | Name of Agency | Education | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Franklin B. Hough[nb 1] | 1876–1883 | Division of Forestry | Union College, Western Reserve College |
2 | Nathaniel H. Egleston | 1883–1886 | Division of Forestry | Yale University, Yale Divinity School |
3 | Bernhard Eduard Fernow | 1886–1898 | Division of Forestry | University of Königsberg; Prussian Forest Academy at Münden |
4 | Gifford Pinchot | 1898–1901 | Division of Forestry | Yale University |
1901–1905 | Bureau of Forestry | |||
1905–1910 | U.S. Forest Service | |||
5 | Henry "Harry" Solon Graves | 1910–1920 | U.S. Forest Service | Yale University |
6 | William B. Greeley | 1920 -1928 | U.S. Forest Service | University of California & Yale Forestry School |
7 | Robert Y. Stuart | 1928–1933 | U.S. Forest Service | Dickinson College & Yale Forestry School |
8 | Ferdinand A. Silcox | 1933–1939 | U.S. Forest Service | College of Charleston & Yale Forestry School |
9 | Earle H. Clapp | 1939–1943 (acting) | U.S. Forest Service | University of Michigan |
10 | Lyle F. Watts | 1943–1952 | U.S. Forest Service | Iowa State College & Forestry School |
11 | Richard E. McArdle | 1952–1962 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Michigan |
12 | Edward P. Cliff | 1962–1972 | U.S. Forest Service | Utah State College |
13 | John R. McGuire | 1972–1979 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Minnesota & Yale Forestry School |
14 | R. Max Peterson | 1979–1987 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Missouri |
15 | F. Dale Robertson | 1987–1993 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Arkansas |
16 | Jack Ward Thomas | 1993–1996 | U.S. Forest Service | Texas A&M University, West Virginia University, University of Massachusetts |
17 | Michael Dombeck | 1996–2001 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and the University of Minnesota |
18 | Dale N. Bosworth | 2001–2007 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Idaho |
19 | Gail Kimbell | 2007–2009 | U.S. Forest Service | University of Vermont, Oregon State University |
20 | Thomas Tidwell | 2009–Present | U.S. Forest Service | Washington State University |