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47-464: The Land Revision Act of 1891 , enacted during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison , allowed the president to set aside forest reserves on public lands. Harrison established 15 forest reserves containing more than 13 million acres of land. The bill was the result of concerted action by Los Angeles -area businessmen and property owners who were concerned by the harm being done to the watershed of

94-552: A floor vote. According to most historians, neither chamber was made aware of the existence of Section 24 before it being announced for consideration on the House and Senate floors. The newly added section caused heated debate during deliberations. When it was being read aloud in the Senate, Senator Wilkinson Call of Florida interrupted the proceeding, saying "I shall not willingly vote or consent ... to any proposition which prevents

141-523: A law was passed limiting presidential authority to designate forest reserves in certain states and renamed the existing "forest reserves" as " national forests ". Prior to the passage of the General Revision Act of 1891, previous major land policy initiatives had allowed for growing monopolization of western lands by wealthy individuals and corporations. Major concerns centered around the general theft of public natural resources, as well as

188-738: A month after the act was passed, President Harrison established the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve to create a protective boundary around Yellowstone National Park . Harrison went on to set aside more than 13 million acres (53,000 km ; 20,000 sq mi) as forest reserves, in addition to creating Sequoia , General Grant , and Yosemite National Parks . President Cleveland continued Harrison's conservation policies by creating more than 25 million acres (100,000 km ; 39,000 sq mi) of forest reserves. 21 million acres (85,000 km ; 33,000 sq mi) of these were designated in

235-736: A primary threat to forests, as large expanses of timber had recently burned in fires such as Wisconsin's Peshtigo fire in 1871. Watershed protection was also a major concern, especially in the Adirondacks ; supporters of watershed conservation pointed to the creation of the Adirondack and Catskill Preserve in 1885 as a potential model for future forest preserves. However, over 200 congressional forestry bills introduced from 1871 to 1891 failed to pass; according to historian Harold K. Steen, these failures were "not because of opposition but because there [were] too few advocates to sustain [them] through

282-462: A separate bill. Nevertheless, the act was ultimately passed by both chambers and subsequently signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on March 3, 1891. Additional provisions of the act included limiting homestead claims to fewer than 160 acres (although this acreage was insufficient for the arid conditions and necessary dry land farming of the region), limiting future claims other than mineral lands to fewer than 320 acres per person, and adjusting

329-481: A single acre of the public domain from being set apart and reserved for homes for the people of the United States who shall live upon and cultivate them." Other concerns were raised about the act's "extraordinary and dangerous" granting of power over public lands to the executive branch. In the House, Representative Dunnell argued that the added section was significant enough to warrant consideration on its own as

376-542: A single day: Cleveland issued 13 separate proclamations on February 22, 1897, just two weeks before the end of his final term. This action generated a great deal of controversy in the affected states, mainly in the west; the Seattle Chamber of Commerce noted that even "King George had never attempted so high-handed an invasion upon the rights" of American citizens. The Republican -controlled Congress attempted to invalidate Cleveland's actions by passing an amendment to

423-433: Is then applied to the amount of timber to be harvested. The firm will then pay this price to the landowner. Canadian forests exist mainly on what is considered to be crown land, under the provincial governments' control. On Canadian crown land, stumpage is known as the market value of standing trees that must be paid by firms for the right to harvest timber, currently measured in $ /cubic meter. In Canada, legislation dictates

470-768: The American Forestry Association to advocate for stronger laws for the management of the nation's forest land. The resulting act, passed by the 51st United States Congress and signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on March 3, 1891, set out to both protect local watersheds from flooding and erosion as well as to prevent over-exploitation of the country's timber supply. Under the act, President Harrison issued proclamations establishing 13 million acres (53,000 km ) of land as forest reserves; President Grover Cleveland proclaimed 25 million acres (100,000 km ) and President William McKinley 7 million acres (28,000 km ). In 1907

517-747: The Department of Agriculture . Two years later in 1907, Congress renamed forest reserves to national forests through provisions of an agriculture appropriations bill. In addition, the provisions prohibited the creation or enlargement of national forests in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, except by act of Congress. After the bill's passage by Congress on February 25, Chief Forester Pinchot and his staff raced to identify an additional 16 million acres (65,000 km ; 25,000 sq mi) of forest in those states, which President Roosevelt designated as forest reserves prior to signing

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564-731: The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 , was a federal law signed in 1891 by President Benjamin Harrison . The Act reversed previous policy initiatives, such as the Timber Culture Act of 1873 , which did not preclude land fraud by wealthy individuals and corporations. The acquisition of vast mineral and timber resources in the Western United States was often cited as a governing motive for such individuals and corporations to claim land rights for future settlement and resource depletion activities. The legacy of

611-493: The National Park Service , extraction of natural resources from national forests is permitted, and in many cases encouraged. Forest products are the resources removed and harvested from national forests. They may be for commercial or personal use such as “lumber, paper, and firewood as well as 'special forest products' such as medicinal herbs, fungi, edible fruits and nuts, and other natural products”. However,

658-529: The Organic Act of 1897 added language that required that any new reserves must protect forest or watersheds and "furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States". Although McKinley did reduce the size of a few of his predecessor's reserves, he ultimately expanded the nation's protected forest by over 7 million acres (28,000 km ; 11,000 sq mi). In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt created

705-694: The San Gabriel Mountains by ranchers and miners. Abbot Kinney and forester Theodore Lukens were key spokesmen for the effort. There have been multiple legislative acts to expand the scope of the national forest system, as well as shrinking it. In 2020, the Trump administration encouraged more forest products to be harvested in order to support a struggling economy. There was a plan to develop around 190 million acres of protected National Forests in order to increase logging, grazing, and energy resources. This would be facilitated through shrinking

752-717: The United States Forest Service , naming Gifford Pinchot the first agency chief. Pinchot was put in charge of the forest reserves to manage them "for the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run". In support of this directive, the Transfer Act of 1905 changed the jurisdiction of the reserves from the United States General Land Office in the Department of the Interior to the new Division of Forestry within

799-471: The grasslands , shrublands , and forest understory are grazed by sheep , cattle, and more recently, rising numbers of elk and mule deer due to loss of predators . Many ski resorts and summer resorts operate on leased land in national forests. National forests include 14 national monuments where resource extraction is restricted. Land Revision Act of 1891 The General Revision Act (sometimes Land Revision Act ) of 1891, also known as

846-510: The Canadian system of determining stumpage fees amounts to a subsidy. Canadian representatives deny this. The OECD has three methods that can be applied to value standing timber. Net present value . Valuation method to value stocks of natural resources. It is obtained discounting future flows of economic benefits to the present period. St = Σ ( At * pT * QT) / (1 + r)T−t Only receipts from harvesting mature timber are included. To reach

893-525: The Desert Land Act of 1877 more tightly for future land sales by requiring a greater degree of evidence of irrigation plans. As an added component, the General Revision Act of 1891 authorized the president (executive branch) to set apart and reserve forested lands as public reservations upon previously unclaimed land parcels. In addition to congressional support in Washington, the act's passage

940-590: The Forest Service to identify, investigate, and protect cultural resources on lands it manages. The U.S. Forest Service also manages all of the United States national grasslands and nearly 50% of the United States national recreation areas . Land management of these areas focuses on conservation , timber harvesting , livestock grazing , watershed protection, wildlife , and recreation . Unlike national parks and other federal lands managed by

987-553: The General Revision Act of 1891 is frequently credited as its serving as a catalyst to a series of federal land reform initiatives, notably under President Theodore Roosevelt . From the Reclamation Act of 1902 to the formation of the United States Forest Service in 1905, the General Revision Act of 1891 acted as a critical first piece of federal legislation granting increased plots of publicly allotted land and decreased extraction rights to privately held western land owners in

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1034-701: The Sundry Civil Appropriations Act, a critical funding bill, forcing the Democratic president to choose "between funding the federal government or preserving his forest reserves". Cleveland decided in favor of the government shutdown and pocket-vetoed the bill on his last day in office. Congress made no further attempt to reverse Cleveland's actions or restrict the president from creating new reserves after Republican William McKinley took office on March 4. In fact, Congress reaffirmed executive authority to designate forest reserves, though

1081-732: The United States One Trillion Trees Interagency Council" in order to further the Federal Government's participation in this effort and repeal the current $ 30 million annual funding cap for the Reforestation Trust Fund. The United States national forest comprises about 132 million acres. There are 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands containing 193 million acres (297,000 mi/769 000 km) of land. These lands comprise 8.5 percent of

1128-413: The United States, much of the land used for harvesting timber is private wherein, "stumpage prices are determined by the market". Competitive auctions determine the stumpage fees to be paid. The difference between the cost of acquisition of harvested timber between the United States and Canada is the cause of the ongoing Canada-United States softwood lumber dispute . The United States' representatives claim

1175-814: The West, that Congress passed a new law (as an emergency rider to the Sundry Civil Appropriations Act of 1897 ) setting out guidelines and funding for the administration of the forest reserves. The passage of the Forest Reserve Act, along with recent establishments of national parks and monuments, signaled a shift in public land policy, from disposal to homesteaders to retention for the public good. The natural resources these reserves contained were to be managed for future generations rather than exploited by private citizens. The act and subsequent environmental policies ultimately resulted in

1222-701: The Yellowstone Valley, the first of an eventual 13 million-acre reserve campaign throughout the Harrison presidency. Early advocates of federal forest reserves included Franklin B. Hough , later the first chief of the United States Division of Forestry , and Harvard botanist George Barrell Emerson , along with other members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS advocated for

1269-424: The act into law on March 4. In total, Roosevelt would quadruple the nation's forest reserves from 50 million acres (200,000 km ; 78,000 sq mi) to nearly 200 million acres (810,000 km ; 310,000 sq mi). From 1891 to 1900, over 50 million acres of land were withdrawn from private entities and added to the public domain following passage of the General Revision Act of 1891. Given

1316-502: The blatant fraud that was occurring under existing homesteading policy. The Timber Culture Act of 1873 was passed to foster cultivation of timber in arid regions by making available 160 free acres of land to anybody willing to plant trees upon 40 acres of it. However, the new law had numerous loopholes that allowed non-residents to claim land for speculation purposes, and family members to give land to other family members to circumvent formal ownership and avoid taxation. In addition, there

1363-468: The commission of a forest protection study, which Minnesota Congressman Mark H. Dunnell proposed in an 1874 bill. Although that bill failed to pass Congress, Dunnell was successful two years later by adding a rider to an existing agriculture appropriations bill. This legislation created the Office of Special Agent for forest research within the U.S. Department of Agriculture . Wildfires were considered

1410-468: The development of strategic reserves of such commodities, the protectionist view advocates the idea of delayed consumption best fitting the country's domestic demands. Initially section 24 caused substantial confusion as to what the law specifically was intended to allow. The main issue was that the act only authorized the president to set aside forest reserves but not to administer them, nor designate any funding for their management. It also did not establish

1457-565: The early 20th century. The law gives the President of the United States the authority to unilaterally set aside forest reserves from land in the public domain . After newspapers began to publicize the fraud and speculation under the previous Timber Culture Act of 1873 that granted additional land to homesteaders agreeing to plant trees, scientists of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) joined with

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1504-400: The establishment of 155 national forests, 20 national grasslands, and 20 research and experimental forests; these, plus additional special reservations, total 191 million acres (770,000 km ; 298,000 sq mi) of public land. Stumpage Stumpage is the price a private firm pays for the right to harvest timber from a given land base. It is paid to the current owner of

1551-417: The establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof. The original section 24 was a rider added at the last minute to "An act to repeal timber culture laws, and for other purposes," a massive bill intended to reform public land law. It was added by a joint House-Senate conference committee, but was not referred back to the originating Public Lands Committee of either chamber and instead went straight to

1598-634: The first-designated wilderness areas , and some of the largest, are on national forest lands. There are management decision conflicts between conservationists and environmentalists and natural resource extraction companies and lobbies (e.g. logging & mining) over the protection and/or use of national forest lands. These conflicts center on endangered species protection, logging of old-growth forests , intensive clear cut logging , undervalued stumpage fees, mining operations and mining claim laws, and logging/mining access roadbuilding within national forests. Additional conflicts arise from concerns that

1645-439: The land. Historically, the price was determined on a basis of the number of trees harvested, or "per stump". Currently it is dictated by more standard measurements such as cubic metres , board feet , or tons . To determine stumpage, any stand that will be harvested by the firm is first assessed and appraised through processes aimed at finding the volume of timber that is to be harvested. A given stumpage rate, measured in $ /volume,

1692-425: The legislative process." Dunnell continued to press for action, however, and intended to repeal the earlier Timber Culture Act, which had resulted in substantial land and timber fraud masquerading as homesteading, and replace it with an improved forest management law. Both provisions ended up in the final bill. The last section of the act signaled a shift in public land policy from disposal to retention by authorizing

1739-426: The method by which stumpage fees are calculated according to market conditions. Each Canadian province has its own calculation method based on market-based benchmark prices. Long-term agreements are reached regarding the management and harvesting performed on each province's crown land. These long term agreements, are "rolling renewable" provisions, whereby the firm has fulfilled all the obligations associated to it. In

1786-520: The net present value, discounting using a discount rate of r for each of the ( T − t ) years until harvest must be applied. Stumpage value method . A simplified net present value method where the value of the stock is obtained by multiplying the current volume of standing timber by its stumpage price, assuming the rate of discount is equal to the natural growth rate. S = A * p * Q Value of standing timber = A rea * p rice per m * Q uantity of timber. Consumption value method. A variant of

1833-549: The passage of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 . In this case, landowners could receive rent payments at a market driven price from the railroads anticipating western growth over privately held land plots. The induction of increased government held land is argued to reduce such rents and diminish the incentives for westward expansion. However, the protectionist argument sterns from the conservation of commodities such as timber , coal and phosphates . By arguing for

1880-464: The president to set aside timber reserves: Sec. 24. That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations; and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare

1927-401: The purpose for these reserves. As a result, the first such reserves and the natural resources they contained were simply considered off-limits: activities such as logging and livestock grazing were forbidden, prohibitions were placed on hunting and fishing, and even setting foot inside the reserve boundaries was considered illegal. It was not until 1897, after many complaints and near-rebellion in

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1974-534: The rules and regulations required to get permits to conduct such business. In October 2020, the Trump administration proclaimed its goal of "strengthening markets for wood products and incentivizing innovative manufacturing techniques" and reported "The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service sold 3.3 billion board feet of timber from national forests in fiscal year 2019 — the highest output since 1997". Furthermore, President Trump signed an executive order to "establish

2021-506: The total land area of the United States, an area about the size of Texas . About 87 percent of national forest land lies in the Western United States , mostly in mountain ranges. Alaska has 12 percent of all national forest lands. Within the national forest system, there are 1,200 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 23 are National Historic Landmarks . The National Historic Preservation Act requires

2068-419: The volume of land changing hands at this time, there was public debate over the scale of government purchasing activities of land. Specifically, the debate ranged between the privately held, expansionist and free market school of thought against a public oriented, protectionist and conservation camp. The argument for privatization is often cited alongside the growth of the railroad building activities, namely after

2115-684: Was concern for the preservation of watersheds, protection of the forests from fires, and the desire to regulate timber sales. Initiatives such as the Desert Land Act of 1877 were also passed, giving 640 acres of land at $ 1.25 per acre to anybody willing to irrigate the land within three years. These conditional land contracts allowed groups such as stock ranchers, timber/mining companies, and land speculators to acquire vast acreage of land for little cost or consequence. The Jeffersonian ideal of small-scale land ownership could not be achieved under these circumstances, as monopolization of private lands

2162-493: Was occurring at a rapid pace, often spanning 67,000 to million acres per purchase. Despite these transactions, the federal government had secured some large-scale land reserves prior to the General Revision Act's passage. These reserves included Yosemite , secured in 1864 as a permanent trust, as well as two million acres within the Yellowstone Valley in 1872. Upon the General Revision Act's passage in 1891, President Harrison immediately withdrew 1.2 million additional acres from

2209-445: Was supported by professional foresters and western water companies. Professional foresters supported limiting commercial over-exploitation of western timberlands, as they hoped to secure timber capital for future extraction and development. Similarly, western water companies supported the act on the grounds of increased watershed protection for irrigation purposes by the maintenance of previously forested lands. On March 30, less than

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