OpenHistoricalMap/Projects/US Forest Service
The United States Forest Service manages the National Forests and National Grasslands of the United States. These lands started as public domain of the United States Federal government, first administered by the General Land Office under the Department of the Interior. The Forest Reserves Act of 1891 enabled the President of the United States to proclaim public domain lands as Forest Reserves, in effect withdrawing them for grants or settlement. Many of these public domain lands were formerly Native American tribal lands whose nations were coerced into treaties to forfeit their dominion. Later Acts of Congress enabled further reduction of tribal reservation land holdings, some of which were transferred into public domain as Forest Reserves and National Forests. Documenting this transition may increase awareness and assist with claims of Federally-recognized tribes under the Tribal Forest Protection Act and other means to reclaim some sovereignty over their traditional lands.
In 1905, Forest Reserves were transferred to the US Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry, which was then renamed the United States Forest Service. The Forest Reserves became National Forests and National Grasslands were added later. Many areas within National Forests have since been designated Experiment Forests, Experimental Ranges, National Recreation Areas, Research Natural Areas, Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas, Primitive Areas, had many other denominations. Following proclamations added or subtracted lands from the National Forests and Executive Orders further modified these by combining, separating, or renaming National Forests. Ranger Districts, the lowest organizational unit of National Forests were often themselves renamed, combined, or transferred.
Many ranger stations- often remote compounds of office buildings, residences, workshops, warehouses, corrals and barns, have been designated as National Historic buildings. During the period of the Works Project Administration, many Civilian Conservation Corps camps were established on National Forest lands and built much infrastructure such as roads, trails, campgrounds and recreation facilities. Many of the remaining CCC-built structures now also have National Historic designations. Other facilities such as forest guard stations, fire lookouts, and other structures built to support National Forest operations or inherited from previous ownership, mining claim or other special use permits like summer recreational cabin occupancies also have merited Historic Designation.
Resources
Many public domain sources relating to the United States Forest Service. For instance, the Wikimedia Commons categories United States Forest Service publications and Old maps of National Forests of the United States contain histories, period directories and maps from the Forest Service.
- Forest Atlas of National Forests of the United States - a publication series originally for internal agency use by each National Forest depicting the proclaimed forest extent by a set of topographic maps with thematic schemes applied.
- Recreation Maps of the United States Forest Service- early publication series of the Forest Service for public use, by National Forest, sometimes with multiple maps depicting different geographic extents (i.e. north and south parts, or by administrative divisions).
- United States Geological Survey Topographic Quadrangles - often contain many details of National Forest facilities but varies by edition. Historic Topo Quads are available through TopoView or USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer
- United States Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders- these often include maps and legal descriptions and can be found through the Library of Congress as published in the US Statutes at Large, US National Archives and Record Administration, or various sources like the UC Santa Barbara Presidential Documents Project. Various indices of Proclamations and Executive Orders are also available.