John Chenoweth: “I like to read old books. I was poking around the other day in an old bookstore and found a book on Executive orders…”

“I like to read old books. I was poking around the other day in an old bookstore and found a book on Executive orders, and some of the Executive orders that were issued by President Teddy Roosevelt. Because force management is an important issue to me, I found this very interesting Executive order that was issued in 1905. It talks about the formation of the Forest Service, and it states in this order that during the year of 1908, severe droughts visited many parts of the country and forest fires were frequent and destructive. But during this time, the National Forest suffered little loss, owing to a system of patrol by which many smaller fires are extinguished before gaining destructive headway. In pursuance of the policy that the forests are for the use of the people under proper restrictions, grazing privileges, timber cutting, haying, and other small privileges are let under government supervision. I think Mr. Roosevelt's Executive order pretty well lays out what the responsibilities of the Forest Service were and the Forest Service's relationship to the States. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that we in the West are very proud of our forest reserves, and it is my concern that we be able to bring back to this Nation the proud heritage that our fathers and forefathers left in beautiful stands of timber. We have learned our lessons from unfortunate timber harvest practices.…”