The U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service celebrates its centennial in 2005. With a new preface by the author, this edition of Harold K. Steen’s classic history (originally published in 1976) provides a broad perspective on the Service’s administrative and policy controversies and successes. Steen updates the book with discussions of a number of recent concerns, among them the spotted owl issue; wilderness and roadless areas; new research on habitat, biodiversity, and fire prevention; below-cost timber sales; and workplace diversity in a male-oriented field.

Harold K. Steen is former president of the Forest History Society and currently teaches conservation history at New Mexico State University.

Illustrations

Preface to the Centennial Edition

Preface to the Original Edition

I. Forestry in Agriculture: An Accident of History

II. The Watershed of the Nineties

III. Growth and Cooperation

IV. Pinchot, the President, and the Conservation Movement

V. Administration, Cooperation, Research

VI. Reorganization, Recreation, Range, and Routine

VII. Fire and Taxes: A Cooperative Solution

VIII. New Deal Planning and Programs

IX. A Contest of Authority and Crisis of Identity

X. The War and After

XII. Multiple Use: The Greatest Good of the Greatest Number

XIII. Multiple Use Tested: An Environmental Epilogue

Appendix 1: Chronological Summary of Events Important to the History of the U.S. Forest Service

Appendix 2: Chronology of Administrations

Appendix 3: Organizational Charts of the Forest Service

Notes on Sources of Forest Service History

Index