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Lassen National Forest is a
United States national forest In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by ...
of 1,700 square miles (4,300 km2) in northeastern
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. It is named after pioneer Peter Lassen, who mined, ranched and promoted the area to emigrant parties in the 1850s.


Wildlife

Animals that are typically found in this forest are black bear,
raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight o ...
,
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological ni ...
,
bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IU ...
,
fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...
,
mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...
,
skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...
,
marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...
,
cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...
, brown creeper, a variety of
chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks may be classified either as ...
species,
mountain chickadee The mountain chickadee (''Poecile gambeli'') is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. Taxonomy The specific name honors naturalist William Gambel. The mountain chickadee was formerly placed in the genus '' Parus'' ...
, a variety of squirrel species,
white-headed woodpecker The white-headed woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus albolarvatus'') is a non-migratory woodpecker that resides in pine forests of the mountains of western North America. Description It has a black body (approximately long) and white head. It has whit ...
,
weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender ...
, a variety of
mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
species, long-toed salamander, and a wide variety of bat species. In 2017, three
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
pups were born in this forest. Their mother is a female wolf of unknown origins. Their father is the son of OR7, a wolf with a tracking device that was the first of its kind in almost a century to migrate into California from
Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...
. As of July 2020, the pack has 14 members, with 8 new pups. The father of the pups is not related to any of the other California wolves and joined the pack in 2019.


Overview

Lassen National Forest is located about east of
Red Bluff, California Red Bluff is a city in and the county seat of Tehama County, California, United States. The population was 14,710 at the 2020 census, up from 14,076 at the 2010 census. It is located north of Sacramento, south of Redding, and it is bisect ...
. It is bordered by Sierra Nevada mountain range to the south, the Modoc Plateau to the east and California's Central Valley to the west. The forest is in parts of
Lassen Lassen is a Danish and Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Lars" (equivalent of Laurentius), and thus a parallel form of the more common surname Larsen. Notable people with the surname include: * Anders Lassen (1920–1945), a Danish reci ...
, Shasta, Tehama, Plumas, and
Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a F ...
counties. Forest headquarters is located in
Susanville, California Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,728 ...
. There are local ranger district offices in
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
, Fall River Mills, and Susanville. The forest was formed in 1905 when it was named one of the National Forest Reserves, which evolved into the National Forest system. The forest was first named the Lassen Peak Forest Reserve because of Lassen Peak, a
volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...
which is in the southernmost portion of the Cascade Range volcanoes. Mt. Lassen erupted with explosive force in 1915. The forest borders
Lassen Volcanic National Park Lassen Volcanic National Park is an American national park in northeastern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Vol ...
. The forest has two major river systems as well as many lakes, cinder cones and lava flows. Surveys estimate the forest contains of
old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
. Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forests ( Coast Douglas-fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii''),
Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...
(''Pinus ponderosa''), and
White Fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges ...
(''Abies concolor'')), Jeffrey Pine (''Pinus jeffreyi'') forests, Red Fir (''Abies magnifica'') forests, and
Lodgepole Pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalp ...
(''Pinus contorta'') forests are the most common types. It is a major source of lumber products.


Wilderness areas

There are three officially designated
wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
s within Lassen National Forest that are part of the
National Wilderness Preservation System The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the N ...
. A small portion of one extends onto land that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (as indicated). * Caribou Wilderness *
Ishi Wilderness The Ishi Wilderness is a 41,339 acre (167 km2) wilderness area located on the Lassen National Forest in the Shasta Cascade foothills of northern California, United States. The Ishi Wilderness is located approximately twenty miles east of Red Bluff ...
(partly BLM) *
Thousand Lakes Wilderness The Thousand Lakes Wilderness is located within the southern portion of the Cascade Range in northeastern California. The wilderness was established in 1964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act and is administered by Lassen National Forest. T ...


Cultural significance

Lassen National Forest is also the site of significant events in California history:
Ishi Wilderness The Ishi Wilderness is a 41,339 acre (167 km2) wilderness area located on the Lassen National Forest in the Shasta Cascade foothills of northern California, United States. The Ishi Wilderness is located approximately twenty miles east of Red Bluff ...
was the refuge of the "last wild Indian", Caribou Wilderness was one of the first protected "primitive areas" decades before the federal wilderness system was established, and the volcanic explosion of Mt. Lassen was the first eruption to be witnessed and photographed in the history of the continental United States. On Labor Day 1911, a Native American was discovered outside the slaughterhouse in
Oroville, California Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. The population of the city was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. Following the ...
.
Ishi Ishi ( – March 25, 1916) was the last known member of the Native American Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as many members of their parent tribe, the Yana) were ...
, as he came to be known, became a celebrity. He lived his remaining years at the University of California's Anthropology Museum on Parnassus Heights in San Francisco, under the sponsorship of anthropologist
Alfred Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first ...
. The university had no protocol for keeping a living museum exhibit, so Kroeber arranged for Ishi's employment as assistant janitor. Ishi was Yahi, the southernmost division of the Yana and had spent the majority of his life in hiding in the rugged Deer Creek territory north of Oroville. After his discovery, he would not disclose his name. Ishi, the name given by Kroeber, was the Yahi word for man. Kroeber believed that cultural etiquette prevented Ishi from disclosing his name. In 1908, a utility company crew surprised the small band of survivors in their camp. Ishi and the three others fled. When Ishi was discovered outside the slaughterhouse, he was alone, his hair burned short in mourning. Ishi died in Berkeley in 1916 of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...
. In 1984 Congress established the Ishi Wilderness in the dry, rugged, volcanic terrain, where the last band of Southern Yanas had sought refuge. (Visitors to this wilderness are advised by the United States Forest Service to visit only during cooler months because of a lack of water during the summer.) A year before Ishi's death, Mt. Lassen exploded. Mt. Lassen is officially recognized as Lassen Peak by the United States Board on Geographic Names. Before the eruption on May 22, 1915, the smoking volcano became a tourist draw. Today, within Lassen Volcanic National Park, the area surrounding the volcano is known as the Devastated Area. An ancient volcano, known as Mount Tehama is believed to have been much larger and taller than Lassen Peak. Its erosion is responsible for the topography of the national forest and the national park: a volcanic rim, with elevations beginning at above sea level. The third historical resource is the Caribou Wilderness immediately east of the National Park. Caribou Wilderness received protection as a Primitive Area beginning in 1932. In the 1920s, the managers of the Forest Service engaged in both an internal and external struggle regarding the agency's mission.
Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his ...
and Bob Marshall, Forest Service employees, each advocated setting aside some forest areas as wilderness off-limits to mining, logging, road construction and grazing. The first primitive area was created in 1924 in New Mexico and is now named the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. But creation of primitive areas did not become a forest agency policy until 1929. Externally, the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...
, sought to expand parks from existing public lands, primarily national forest lands. The Forest Service responded by creating primitive areas. Initially these new wilderness areas received no special protections other than the official designation. Caribou Primitive area became a likely candidate for primitive status as it shares the length of its western border with the national park. Caribou Primitive Area received greater protection in 1939, when Interior Secretary Harold Ickes sought to convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to combine the Forest Service and the National Park Service into a new agency under the management of the United States Department of Interior. Roosevelt declined to act, but the threat of moving the Forest Service out of the
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
resulted in greater protections for national forest wilderness areas. A congressional bill had earlier given the President authority to act on this new ''Department of Conservation''. In 1964, Caribou was among the first group of federally protected wildernesses created by the first
Wilderness Act The Wilderness Act of 1964 () was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres (37,000 km²) of federal land. The result of a lo ...
. The Lassen forest also contains the
Thousand Lakes Wilderness The Thousand Lakes Wilderness is located within the southern portion of the Cascade Range in northeastern California. The wilderness was established in 1964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act and is administered by Lassen National Forest. T ...
, also created in 1964.


Recreation

Lassen National Forest, encompassing a large area, has many recreational opportunities with two large lakes nearby, a
National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...
, and many campgrounds and hiking trails. The forest is easily accessible from San Francisco, Sacramento and Redding. The
Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...
passes through the Forest and Park. Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail follows the rugged Susan River canyon for 16 of the trail's length. Built on what was once the roadbed of Southern Pacific's Fernley and Lassen Branch Railway, it has been converted to a riding and hiking trail. There are 12 river crossings and two tunnels along the trail with the Susan River segment being the most scenic with views of the canyon, river and mountains. Some camping is allowed on portions of the trail but some areas have camping restrictions. The railroad operated from 1914 to 1956 and was officially abandoned by
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was ...
in 1978. The trail has four distinct seasons because of the elevation changes. The trail begins at on the east side of the Sierra and Cascade Ranges in Susanville, rises to a high point of at Westwood Junction then descends to the trails' end in the town of Westwood at elevation. The Subway Cave is a
lava tube A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ...
located 1/2 mile north of Old Station, with developed stairs leading into the cave and guided tours offered seasonally on weekends. Parking and picnic areas are available.Subway Cave
Lassen National Forest
Spencer Meadows National Recreation Trail is a six-mile (10 km) path through
aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...
groves, meadow areas,
incense cedar ''Calocedrus'', the incense cedar (alternatively spelled incense-cedar), is a genus of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae first described as a genus in 1873. It is native to eastern Asia and western North America. The generi ...
, and bubbling springs. Beginning at the junction of state routes 36 and 89, it goes through the forest and the Park, then connects with other trails inside the Park. Heart Lake National Recreation Trail is more than three miles (5 km) in length and follows Martin Creek with views of Lassen Peak and
Brokeoff Mountain Mount Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano or Brokeoff Mountain) is an eroded andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range in Northern California. Part of the Lassen volcanic area, its tallest remnant, Brokeoff Mo ...
within the national park. An historic emigrant trail established in 1852 is the Nobles Emigrant Trail. A prospecting party led by William Nobles crossed from Indian Valley to Honey Lake Valley. Nobles was later hired to shift the stream of emigrants to the town of Shasta in hopes of increasing settlers' traffic into the town. The trail goes through
Susanville Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,728 a ...
and past the north side of Lassen Volcanic National Park. The Hat Creek Recreational Area of the forest has seven campgrounds scattered along the creek as well as large lava flows, lava tubes, hiking trails and views of Mount Lassen. Highway 89 follows Hat Creek through much of the forest. Lake Almanor is just south of the forest with Forest Service land and campgrounds on the west shore.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...
(PG&E) operate the lake which was acquired from Great Western Power Company in 1930 when they merged with P.G. and E. The North Fork of the Feather River is the primary source for Lake Almanor, as well as a number of freshwater springs and smaller rivers. The name of the lake is derived from the Great Western Power Company's vice president, Guy C. Earl, who combined the names of his three daughters, Alice, Martha and Elanor. The Forest Service maintains 63 developed recreational sites and an indeterminate number of primitive campgrounds.


History


Peter Lassen

Peter Lassen will be long remembered with having a hospital, college, high school, street, mountain peak, creek, national park, county, and national forest each carrying his name. He was ambitious, his timing was perfect, and, like his contemporary pioneer,
Johann Augustus Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant of Mexican and American citizenship, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area th ...
, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Lassen was murdered by an unknown person in the
Black Rock Desert __NOTOC__ The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe eco-region) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt ...
, Nevada Territory, two months after being profiled by Hutching's California Magazine. The profile is contained in the February 1859 edition of Hutching's. Lassen was murdered April 26, 1859. The murderer was never found, but the list of suspects is long: Disgruntled clients of the
Lassen Trail Lassen is a Danish and Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Lars" (equivalent of Laurentius), and thus a parallel form of the more common surname Larsen. Notable people with the surname include: * Anders Lassen (1920–1945), a Danish reci ...
or various business associates were among those suspected. The conclusion of the magazine profile includes this quote from Lassen: "Beware of bad partners, and nine-tenths of the lawyers, and if need be, add the other tenth, and thus eschew law and lawyers altogether." Apparently his killer heeded the advice. Lassen, Edward Clapper and Americus Wyatt, were on a silver mining expedition, camped in the Black Rock Desert north of
Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boomt ...
Territory. This was the beginning of the Comstock silver excitement in northern Nevada. Clapper and Lassen were both shot and killed as the trio was breaking camp. Wyatt survived and was the only witness. Officially a band of Paiute Native Americans received blame but few pioneers believed the story. Lassen's body was recovered and buried near his cabin at Honey Lake Valley. Clapper's remains remained in what is now known as Clapper Canyon. A partial skeleton was discovered there by hikers in 1991, and Clapper's remains have since been interred near Lassen's grave. Susanville, the seat of Lassen County is in the Honey Lake Valley. Lassen was born on October 31, 1800 in Farum, Denmark and emigrated to Mexican California around 1840 from the Oregon Territory. Like Sutter, he acquired Mexican citizenship (1844) and applied for a land grant (1843) of 5 square leagues on the south bank of Deer Creek in what is now
Butte County, California Butte County () is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. In the 2020 census, its population was 211,632. The county seat is Oroville. Butte County comprises the Chico, CA metropolitan statistical area. It is ...
. This grant provided access to the
Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...
, an important issue during the pioneer period for transportation of goods and people. Lassen lost his estate around 1851 by mortgaging the land to further his business interests. He then migrated to the Honey Lake Valley where he attempted mining, and which is in modern-day Lassen County. Lassen County was established on April 1, 1864, five years after his death.


Lassen Peak Reserve

The beginnings of Lassen National Forest began in 1891 with congressional passage of what has become known as the Forest Reserve Act. This bill was actually entitled: "An Act To Repeal Timber Culture Laws And For Other Purposes.". The first federal forest reserves were created soon after President
William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...
signed the repeal into law. Section 24 of the act authorized the President of the United States to set aside
public land In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land ( Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countri ...
s as forest reserves without further permission from Congress. In addition to Harrison, President
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in t ...
set aside forest lands, as did President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, until
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
put a stop to the practice in 1907, by banning additional set asides in six western states. California was not among those six states but was later added to the ban. Lassen Peak Reserve was not created until 1905, less than a month before Congress approved the Transfer Act, which took the reserves away from the
General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department ...
and the Department of Interior. Instead, the newly created U.S. Forest Service managed the lands under the Department of Agriculture. The reserves then became the National Forests. In 1908 Lassen absorbed portions of
Diamond Mountain National Forest Diamond Mountain National Forest was established as the Diamond Mountain Forest Reserve by the U.S. Forest Service in California on July 14, 1905 with . It became a United States National Forest, National Forest on March 4, 1907. On July 1, 1908 ...
and exchanged lands with Plumas National Forest and Shasta National Forest. Lassen National Park was carved from the Lassen National Forest in 1916, when Congress approved the creation of the National Park Service, administered by the Interior department. Lassen Peak already enjoyed protection as a
National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...
, set aside by Roosevelt in 1907. The uneasy relationship between the
US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
and the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...
continued for several decades, perhaps culminating in 1931 when Congress forbade Lassen National Park from expanding its boundaries. Earlier, in 1906,
Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Penns ...
, Chief Forester in the Department of Agriculture, sought to move the national parks into the forest service. Pinchot was thwarted by Congressman
John F. Lacey John Fletcher Lacey (May 30, 1841 – September 29, 1913) was an eight-term Republican United States congressman from Iowa's 6th congressional district. He was also the author of the Lacey Act of 1900, which made it a crime to ship illegal gam ...
, an ardent
preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...
. Pinchot's goal was to subject the Parks to logging and other aspects of his ''scientific management philosophy''. Later, in 1939, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes proposed the opposite-of combining the national parks and forests into an agency that would take a preservationist approach.Gerard, David ''The Origins of the Federal Wilderness System'' p.4, Ch.6


See also

*
Geology of the Lassen volcanic area The Lassen volcanic area presents a geological record of sedimentation and volcanic activity in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California, U.S. The park is located in the southernmost part of the Cascade Mountain Range ...
* Transfer Act of 1905


References

* http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/cnchron4.html Library of Congress American Memory - Documentary Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement, 1847–1920
Lassen National Forest official website



Footnotes


External links


official Lassen National Forest website

Lassen National Forest Hiking

Volcanic Legacy Byway website


— ''3 hour 5 minute ecosystem video of the Lassen Region.'' {{Authority control National Forests of California Protected areas of Lassen County, California Protected areas of Shasta County, California Protected areas of Tehama County, California Protected areas of Plumas County, California Protected areas of Butte County, California Cascade Range