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U.S. Forest Service History

FHS has long had an interest in documenting the history of the U.S. Forest Service, the federal agency with responsibility for managing the largest number of forested acres in the United States. Below are publications that have resulted from this interest.

 


The Companion Book to the Film
The Forest Service and The Greatest Good:
A Centennial History


by James G. Lewis

The Forest Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial History traces the agency's development from its beginnings as a one-man research outfit to today's broad-based operation of over 30,000 employees overseeing 191 million acres of public land. Richly illustrated, The Forest Service and the Greatest Good provides an entertaining and informative account of the Forest Service's first one hundred years as it enters a new century of service.

Order the DVD and Book Together and Save!
 

The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film

The Greatest Good tells the story of the U.S. Forest Service and the public lands the agency manages. Produced by the U.S. Forest Service and distributed by the Forest History Society, the film weaves historic footage and still photographs with interviews with historians, timber industry and environmental leaders, and Forest Service employees to illuminate the past one hundred years of accomplishments and controversies experienced while managing 191 million acres of America's land. Throughout the film, the question is asked: what is the greatest good? Narrated by Charles Osgood, the two-hour film is available as part of a 3-disc DVD set.

The Greatest Good film

 

The Soundtrack to the Documentary "The Greatest Good."
"This Project is dedicated to all the foresters, past and present, for their heroic work in protecting and preserving our National Forests." - Lance Bendiksen, composer and producer.

 
Songs on the CD
The Greatest Good CD cover 1. Grey Towers
2. Smoke Chaser
3. Boundary Boys
4. Learning the Land
5. Teddy Roosevelt
6. Pinchot's Theme
7. Forest Fires
8. Rangers
9. Rangers - Solo
10. Bridges
11. Cut and Run
12. Leopold's Theme
13. Moving West
14. A Wolf's Story
15. The Wilderness
16. For the Greatest Number
17. In the Long Run
18. The Funeral
19. Mann Gulch
20. The Forest Service Family
21. Young Pinchot
22. Elers Koch
23. White Hats
24. The Greatest Good
25. A President's March
26. The Founding
27. Reserves
About the composer:
Brooklyn-born producer and musician Lance Bendiksen's career began on the stage. As the son of a rehearsal pianist mother and an off-Broadway singer father, he easily adapted to the troubador lifestyle. Prior to his role as independent producer, he had performed in over 3000 shows and released four of his own records. Beginning in 1993, as Staff Producer/Studio Manager of Colorado's Avalanche Recording, he worked in conjunction with KBCO to produce studio performances such as Sarah McLachlan and The Cowboy Junkies, while also overseeing numerous recordings for MTV and over two hundred local, regional and national projects.
In 1996, he created his own company, Bendiksen Productions, as an independent resource for television, radio and film which he expanded in 2001 to include original music production and artist development. In addition to a combined forty years of industry experience in music production, management and publicity, Bendiksen and his staff utilize a large talent pool of A-list session players, engineers and music business professionals. He has been honored with a 2000 Silver Telly (PBS production - There Was A Time), a 1997 Emmy for Best Theme Music (PBS production - Lifewise), an Aurora, and many Colorado Broadcasting Awards.


Proceedings of the U.S. Forest Service Centennial Congress: A Collective Commitment to Conservation
(Edited by Steven Anderson)
 
Convened in January 2005, the U.S. Forest Service Centennial Congress was more than a birthday celebration for America's oldest federal land management agency. It was an occasion to reflect on its past as a starting poiOctober 31, 2008 the environmental and academic communities, all sorts of user groups, and the agency's partners in government at every level gathered to discuss what that future might hold and what their own stake in it might be. The proceedings demonstrate that there is a wealth of opinion about what the Forest Service should do with the public's land and how it should do it - and even some question of whether the Forest Service should do it. They also make clear that the public's commitment to conservation which led to the agency's creation in 1905 is alive and welll and will help guide the Forest Service as it embarks on its second century.
Steve Anderson is president of the Forest History Society.
ISBN softcover (0-89030-067-1): $24.95
Published in Durham, N.C., by the Forest History Society, 2006;
xviii + 494 pp., 59 photos.
 

CD : Free with $5.00 shipping and handling
Contains the full proceedings from the Congress plus a bonus photo gallery, the full text of the 1905 Proceedings of the American Forest Congress, and the trailer from The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film.

To order, contact the Forest History Society at 919-682-9319 or order online.

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Updated: October 30, 2008