Happy Birthday to the US Forest Service!
On this day, in 1905, the management of the forest reserves was transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture and Pinchot’s new Forest Service. In 1907, the forest reserves were renamed national forests.
During Pinchot’s era, the Forest Service and the national forests grew spectacularly. In 1905, there were 60 forest reserves covering 56 million
acres; in 1910, there were 150 national forests covering 172 million acres. A pattern of effective organization and management was set during Pinchot’s administration, and the “conservation” (an idea or theme he invented) of natural resources in the broad sense of wise use became a widely known concept and an accepted national goal.
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