Content area
Full text
The Society of American Foresters (SAF) was among the first to recognize the startling significance of the Weeks Act (36 Stat. 961). Shortly after President William Howard Taft signed the bill on Mar. 1 , 1911, granting the federal government the authority to purchase cutover lands in the eastern portion of the United States, the Forestry Quarterly (what would become the Journal of Forestry in 1917) was quick to praise the act's passage. It devoted a portion of its "News and Notes" segment to the momentous moment: convinced that the Weeks Act was "a new stage in the development of forest policies in the United States," it reprinted the act in full because "We consider this radical change in attitude between federal and state authority so important" (SAF 1911).
The Weeks Acts stop-the-press newsworthiness is every bit as important today as it was then. The bill has proven itself to be one the most significant pieces of environmental legislation in modern American history, just as SAF had predicted in 1911. Yet few American have ever heard of it or know of its importance to their lives (and that might include a few contemporary members of SAF!). The Act's centennial, then, gives us a golden opportunity to appreciate its transfotmative power; we may also derive lessons from its complex history that may help us better respond to the challenges we face in this era of climate change.
The Weeks Act's most obvious impact lies in its legislative authority that led to the purchase of millions of acres of national forests in 26 eastern states. Its...