Fire was King (1905 to 1956)

[abercrombie]

Re: Fire was King (1905 to 1956).

The Forest Service history and demographics have changed a lot over the last 100 plus years.... and I'd bet most folks never followed the story nor cared to.

The Forest Service was founded primarily to protect western developments from wildfire threats; protect and preserve watersheds; and protect the forests from commercial exploitation of the timber and other natural resources. At all times, the Forest Service has always been viewed as public servants.

Originally, the key mission of a Forest Service "Ranger" was to meet the above needs, primarily fire protection. That vision continued into the mid 1940's when "somehow" TIMBER became "King". Contrary to much of the comments of others, TIMBER became "King" only after changes within the Forest Service that were a result of a commonly known problem called "The Baby Boom".

The "Baby Boom" required an extensive change to the Forest Service to meet the needs of the the stakeholders (the public) following World War 2. The eastern forests of the United States were depleted for the war effort, and the previously used European forests were obliterated by combat. The Forest Service and the American people had to look westward towards their previously held "forest reserves".

After WW 2, the Knutson-Vandenberg Act of 1930 (KV Act) was exploited to fund a mission that wasn't being properly funded for its original purpose. Timber became "King". The Forest Service, like all federal agencies at the time, was left to " fund itself" until the war debt could be made up. The Forest Service viewed this as a chance to build up sustainable funding, and even added on other additional revenue sources charged to the timber companies. One such charge came under brush disposal (BD) funding.

The Multiple Use, Sustained Yield Act of 1960 was another attempt at funding the agency properly by recognizing the agricultural products that come from our western forests. It completely backfired, and in less than 10 years, fire control and management became "back seaters" because they now were ONLY supporting the mission... NOT key to the mission. In the early 1970's, the Forest Service agreed to do away with the 0456 Fire Control Series and merge them into the 0462 Forestry Technician Series to more properly align with the agricultural mission and hide the fact that most of the fire preparedness funding that was envisioned and funded from 1905-1956 no longer existed.

In the late 1980's, the power of TIMBER as "King" was sliding, but the Forest Service was now an unruly, unmanageable bureaucracy based upon a shell game of who funded what and what were the agency priorities.

Fire is once again began funding the mission of the Forest Service. Everything came full circle, where once again... The FIRE MISSION is "King" and focusing on the original use book. Now, the top heavy Forest Service (filled by ologists, analysts, and ever other type of specialty) has outlived it's funding sources once again... and is throwing off it's wildland firefighters to the wolves.

Gizmo

Reference (Truncated)

Forest Service Use Book, 1905

Fire Control Notes

Fire Management Today

Newspaper Articles (1887 - 1947)

U.S. Laws (1897 - Present)