U.S. Forest Service History Books
The Forest History Society 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. In addition to maintaining the U.S. Forest Service Headquarters History Collection, FHS has also published numerous materials documenting the history of the agency.
Lands Worth Saving: The Weeks Act of 1911, the National Forests, and the Enduring Value of Public Investment
In 1911, Congress passed the Weeks Act, one of the most transformative conservation laws in U.S. history. Designed to establish national forests in the East, the Weeks Act has helped restore more than 24 million acres around the country. The law also provided a cooperative agreement between the Forest Service, the states, and private landowners…
Read More
The Forest Service and The Greatest Good: A Centennial History
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, thought-provoking, and informative account of the…
Read More
The U.S. Forest Service: A History
With a new preface by the author, this edition of the classic history (originally published in 1976) provides a broad perspective on the Forest Service’s administrative and policy controversies and successes. In his preface, author Harold Steen updates the book with discussions of the spotted owl issue; wilderness and roadless areas; new research on habitat,…
Read More
The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot
Diary entries of conservationist and forester Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), describing his work as the first chief of the United States Forest Service, his relationship with President Teddy Roosevelt, his influence on forest policies and politics, and his interaction with prominent contemporaries such as botanist Charles Sargent, preservationist John Muir, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted….
Read More
View From the Top: Forest Service Research
View From the Top features oral history interviews with three former U.S. Forest Service deputy chiefs of research regarding fire prevention, forest experiment stations, forestry research, international forestry, the Society of American Foresters, the International Society of Tropical Foresters, and the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations. ISBN softcover (9780890300497) : $13.00
Read More
Forest Service Research: Finding Answers to Conservation’s Questions
Traces the early years of U.S. Forest Service research efforts, how the program strove for independence, the expansion of research efforts, and how the research has related to the environment. ISBN softcover (9780890300565) : $10.95
Read More
The Chiefs Remember: The Forest Service 1952 – 2001
Excerpts from interviews with Forest Service chiefs whose tenures span fifty years. It was a half-century of rapid change and increasing controversy, marked by words that still clang with contention: wilderness, civil rights, public participation, clearcutting, ecosystem management, spotted owl, environmentalist, timber salvage. ISBN hardcover (0890300640): $29.00 / ISBN softcover (0890300631): $20.00
Read More
Jack Ward Thomas: The Journals of a Forest Service Chief
Forest Service chief during the early years of the Clinton administration, Thomas kept journals of his thoughts and daily experiences. The issues Thomas dealt with lie at the heart of recent Forest Service policy and controversy, starting with President Clinton’s Timber Summit in Portland, Oregon, dealing with the spotted owl issue, and the 1994 loss…
Read More
Proceedings of the U.S. Forest Service Centennial Congress: A Collective Commitment to Conservation
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 point for discussing the agency’s future. Delegates from industry, the environmental and academic communities, all sorts of user groups, and…
Read More
Forest Management for All: State and Private Forestry in the U.S. Forest Service
Forest Service national historian Lincoln Bramwell engagingly captures the State and Private Forestry branch’s history, demonstrating why, time and again, it was able to overcome numerous challenges to its purpose—and at times its existence—to become the federal leader in providing and coordinating technical and financial assistance to landowners and resource managers. In doing so, says…
Read More