Highlights in the History of Forest Conservation

Many of the present National Forests existed asForest Reserves before this name was changed to National Forests in1907. The first reserve, the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve, wasset up March 30, 1891 by President Benjamin Harrison.

Over the years, the names, number, and acreage ofNational Forests have changed considerably as new ones were set up andexisting ones were consolidated for economy and efficiency ofadministration, or transferred to other uses and agencies. Large areasbecame National Parks. In many cases two or more smaller forests whichstill retain their names are administered by one supervisor, for economyand efficiency. (This can be noted where forests have the sameheadquarters in the list below. For instance, in the South, where manyforests are small, there are 33 forests but only 14 supervisors, 10 ofwhich supervise all the National Forests in their States.) One verylarge forest, the Tongass in Alaska, has three area managers in lieu ofa forest supervisor.

Thus in 1975 there are 155 National Forests, but only124 forest supervisors, covering 183.0 million acres. Virtually all thisland is open to public recreation, and about 14.6 million acres are inWilderness or Primitive Areas, closed to timber cutting, mechanicalvehicles, and works of man. Besides the National Forest lands, there areabout 3.8 million acres on 19 National Grasslands, bringing the totalNational Forest System lands to 186.8 million acres. The grazing areasin the Great Plains and Great Basin, plus millions of acres ofrelatively open National Forest land, are available for regulated use ofdomestic livestock and for wildlife habitat.

The research organization of the Forest Serviceincludes the world-famous Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis.; 8Forest and Range Experiment Stations which serve various regions; andthe Institute of Tropical Forestry.

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National Forests—Dates Established and Location of Headquarters

REGION 1—NORTHERN REGION
(Montana, northern Idaho, northwestern South Dakota, northeasternWashington)

REGION 2—ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
(Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming)

REGION 3—SOUTHWESTERN REGION
(Arizona, New Mexico)

REGION 4—INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
(Utah, southern Idaho, western Wyoming, Nevada, a small part ofCalifornia)

REGION 5—CALIFORNIA REGION
(California, western Nevada, a small part of Oregon)

REGION 6—PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION
(Oregon, Washington, a small part of California)

REGION 8—SOUTHERN REGION
(Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, NorthCarolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas)

REGION 9—EASTERN REGION
(Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Maine, Maryland,Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey,New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, andWisconsin.)

REGION 10—ALASKA REGION

Puerto Rico

FOREST AND RANGE EXPERIMENT STATIONS

STATE AND PRIVATE FORESTRY