Robert Smith: “we have just heard about the history and origins of the 1897 Organic Act of the U.S. Forest Service. I would like to…”

“we have just heard about the history and origins of the 1897 Organic Act of the U.S. Forest Service. I would like to describe what our forests were like a century ago and compare this to where we are today as a nation of enlightened forest stewards. Consider the following turn-of-the-century snapshot of the condition of the Nation's forests and wildlife that confronted our early conservation leaders: Wildfires commonly consumed 20 to 50 million acres annually--an area the size of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware combined. There were about 80 million acres of cut-over land that continued to be either idle or lacking desirable tree cover. The volume of timber cut nationally greatly exceeded that of forest growth. There were no provisions for reforestation in our system of laws. Aside from a few experimental programs, long-term forest management was not practiced. Also at the turn of the century, wood was still relatively cheap. Because of this, large quantities were left behind after logging. Sawmills were inefficient. The use of wood in buildings was based on custom, rather on sound engineering. Huge volumes of wood simply rotted. Massive clearing of forest land for agriculture continued. In the last 50 years of the 19th century, forest cover in many areas east of the Mississippi had fallen from 70 to 20 percent or less. In the last decade of the 19th century, America's farmers cleared forests at the average rate of 13.5 square miles per day.”