Know Your Government Forests
Dateline: 08/01/99
Citizens of the United States are blessed with millions of acres of forests that are publicly owned. Most Americans can drive less than one hour and visit a state or federal forest or park. Here is a brief description of these forests with links to most in the United States.
The National Forest System
Congress established the Forest Service
in 1905 to provide
quality water and timber for the Nation’s benefit. Congress responded by directing
the Forest Service to manage national forests for multiple uses to include a sustained
yield of renewable resources such as water, forage, wildlife, wood, and recreation.
Multiple use means managing resources under the best combination of uses
to benefit the American people while ensuring the productivity of the land and protecting
the quality of the environment.
The National Forest System, part of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, covers 191 million acres (77.3 million hectares) of land, which is an
area equivalent to the size of Texas. The job of Forest Service managers is to help people
share and enjoy the forest, while conserving the environment for future generations. You
are a welcomed guest and should consider yourself part owner.
There are 155 national forests. Each forest is composed of several ranger districts in
9 regions. The district ranger and his or her staff may be your first point of
contact with the Forest Service. There are more than 600 ranger districts. Each district
has a staff of 10 to 100 people.
This National Forest System is located
in 44 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The
lands comprise 8.5 percent of the total land area in the United States. The natural
resources on these lands are some of the Nation’s greatest assets and have major
economic, environmental, and social significance for all Americans.
The National Park System
Although Congress set aside Yellowstone National Park in 1872, there
was no real system of national parks until a federal bureau, the National Park Service, was created on August 25, 1916 to manage
those areas then assigned to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The National Park System encompasses approximately 80.7 million acres, of which more than 2.8 million acres remain in private ownership. The largest area is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres it is 16.3 percent of the entire system. The smallest unit in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania, at 0.02 of an acre.
The National Park System of the United States comprises 378 areas in 49 States, the
District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan, and the Virgin Islands.
These areas are of
such national significance as to justify special recognition and protection in accordance
with various acts of Congress.
The State Forest System
Many American states have public forests and parks. They are all
unique in organization and may be managed by either the state forester, the state
conservation department, or the state's parks department. I have tied these state
organizations together as well as the federal agencies managing forestland to give you a
better understanding of you local forests.
Also:
Federal and State Forests of the
United States
Federal and state forest listing from your Forestry About.com Guide.
The Unites
States National Forest System
Forests managed by the National Forest System.
The United States National Park System
Forests managed by the National Park System.
