.svg) | |
| Other short titles |
|
|---|---|
| Long title | An Act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes. |
| Acronyms (colloquial) | FRA |
| Nicknames | Creative Act |
| Enacted by | the 51st United States Congress |
| Effective | March 3, 1891 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 51-561 |
| Statutes at Large | 26 Stat. 1095 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 16 U.S.C.: Conservation |
| U.S.C. sections created | 16 U.S.C. ch. 2, subch. I § 471 et seq. |
| Legislative history | |
| |
The General Revision Act (sometimes Land Revision Act) of 1891, also known as the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, was a federal law signed in 1891 by President Benjamin Harrison. The Act reversed previous policy initiatives, such as the Timber Culture Act of 1873, which did not preclude land fraud by wealthy individuals and corporations.[1] The acquisition of vast mineral and timber resources in the Western United States was often cited as a governing motive for such individuals and corporations to claim land rights for future settlement and resource depletion activities. The legacy of the General Revision Act of 1891 is frequently credited as its serving as a catalyst to a series of federal land reform initiatives, notably under President Theodore Roosevelt. From the Reclamation Act of 1902 to the formation of the United States Forest Service in 1905, the General Revision Act of 1891 acted as a critical first piece of federal legislation granting increased plots of publicly allotted land and decreased extraction rights to privately held western land owners in the early 20th century.[2][3]
The law gives the President of the United States the authority to unilaterally set aside forest reserves from land in the public domain.[4] After newspapers began to publicize the fraud and speculation under the previous Timber Culture Act of 1873 that granted additional land to homesteaders agreeing to plant trees, scientists of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) joined with the American Forestry Association to advocate for stronger laws for the management of the nation's forest land. The resulting act, passed by the 51st United States Congress and signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on March 3, 1891, set out to both protect local watersheds from flooding and erosion as well as to prevent over-exploitation of the country's timber supply.[5]
Under the act, President Harrison issued proclamations establishing 13 million acres (53,000 km2) of land as forest reserves; President Grover Cleveland proclaimed 25 million acres (100,000 km2) and President William McKinley 7 million acres (28,000 km2). In 1907 a law was passed limiting presidential authority to designate forest reserves in certain states and renamed the existing "forest reserves" as "national forests".[5]
- ^ Walton 2010, p. 277
- ^ Walton 2010, p. 278
- ^ Wilma, David (February 28, 2003). HistoryLink, "Congress establishes the first federal forest reserves on March 3, 1891." Accessed January 15, 2006
- ^ "Gifford Pinchot National Forest: Early History". U.S. Forest Service. Archived from the original on 21 June 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ a b Willma, David (28 February 2003). "Congress establishes the first federal forest reserves on March 3, 1891". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 9 April 2020.