Yellowstone National Forest was first established by the General Land Office on March 30, 1891 as the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve of . On May 22, 1902 it became the Yellowstone Forest Reserve with lands of . The reserve was first suggested by General Philip Sheridan in 1882 after a visit to Yellowstone National Park. Sheridan recommended that the park be expanded to the east and to the south. Legislation was introduced by Senator George Graham Vest to accomplish this, but it was stalled by local opposition. The American Forestry Association took up the cause, preparing legislation that would allow the United States president to set aside lands as "forest reservations" through an executive order. President Benjamin Harrison then proclaimed the reserve, largely following Sheridan's recommendation, on March 30, 1891. Some areas on the northeast portion of the proposed reservation were excluded to allow mining in the headwaters of the

Clarks Fork River The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River (sometimes called the Clark's Fork River) is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, 150 mi (241 km) long in the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. It rises in southern Montana, in the Gallatin ...

. The land was, in effect, the first national forest. For the time being, it was placed under the same military administration that applied to Yellowstone Park proper. In 1902 lands were exchanged with the

Teton Forest Reserve Teton National Forest was first established by the General Land Office on February 22, 1897 as the Teton Forest Reserve with . A commission was established in 1896 to plan for a system of national forest reserves, recommending an expansion of the t ...

and the reserve was placed under civilian administration, with the first ranger station in the nation established at Wapiti on the Shoshone River. Artist and rancher

Abraham Archibald Anderson Abraham Archibald Anderson (1846 – 1940) was an American artist, rancher and philanthropist. Biography Anderson was born in New Jersey as one of ten children of William Anderson (1814 – 1887), a civil engineer turned Dutch Reformed Churc ...

was named as the first Special Superintendent of Forest Reserves. On January 9, 1903 lands of the first Absaroka and Teton Forest Reserves were added, and on March 4, 1907 it became Yellowstone National Forest. In 1905 all federal forests were transferred to the

U.S. 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 in ...

. On July 1, 1908 as part of a major reorganization, the forest was divided into Targhee, Teton, Wyoming, Bonneville, Absaroka,

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

and Beartooth

National Forests A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory. Background The precise application of the terms va ...

, and the name was discontinued.

References

External links

Forest History SocietyListing of the National Forests of the United States and Their Dates
(from the Forest History Society website) ''Text from Davis, Richard C., ed. Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation History. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company for the Forest History Society, 1983. Vol. II, pp. 743-788.'' {{Former National Forests of the United States Former National Forests of Wyoming Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem