National Forestry - Summary of Federal Laws Affecting Forestry

Since 1890, more than (a)   laws affecting forestry have been passed by the United States Congress and signed by the President.

Authorized the President of the United States to set aside public lands bearing forests as public reservations commonly called Forest Reserves.

• Creative Act of 1891

• Weeks Law of 1911

• Wilderness Act of 1964

• National Forest Management Act of 1976

Authorized a comprehensive Forest Service research program. (This act was repealed and supplanted by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978.)

• Organic Administration Act of 1897

• McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928

• Clark-McNary Act of 1924

• Weeks Law of 1911

Established additional standards and guidelines for managing the national forests, including directives for national forest land management planning and public participation.

• National Forest Management Act of 1976

• Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978

• Creative Act of 1891

• Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act of 1960

Provided that the Forest Reserves, later to be called National Forests, were established to improve and protect the forest, to secure favorable conditions of water flow, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber.

• National Forest Management Act of 1976

• Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978

• Organic Administration Act of 1897

• McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928

Established the Forest Stewardship Program, a program designed to encourage multiple resource forest management on nonindustrial private forest lands. A companion program, the Stewardship Incentives Program, was designed to provide cost-share assistance funding to encourage the implementation of management practices.

• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

• Renewable Resources Extension Act of 1978

• Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (1990 Farm Bill)

• Food Security Act of 1985 (1985 Farm Bill)

Authorized expanding the forest and rangeland renewable resources portion of the extension education program.

• Clean Air Act of 1963

• Wilderness Act of 1964

• Renewable Resources Extension Act of 1978

• Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978

Established a Federal-State Cooperative Extension program to provide education for the public in agriculture and natural resources.

• Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act of 1960

• Smith-Lever Act of 1914

• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

• Clarke-McNary Act of 1928

Authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to work in cooperation with State Foresters in nine cooperative forestry assistance programs. Among these programs is the Forestry Incentives Program, a federal cost-share program designed to encourage the management of private forest lands.

• Weeks Law of 1911

• Wilderness Act of 1964

• Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978

• Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978

Transferred the administration of the Forest Reserves from the United States Department of the Interior to the United States Department of Agriculture.

• Smith-Lever Act of 1914

• Wilderness Act of 1964

• McIntyre-Stennis Act of 1962

• Transfer Act of 1905