ICYMI, the Chattahoochee National Forest turned 86 years old on Saturday!
Watch a short video summarizing this history from the Georgia Historical Society and Georgia Public Broadcasting: http://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/.../chattahoochee...
Find more historical photographs at:
Celebrate #nationalforestweek by sharing birthday wishes to the only national forest in Georgia! Today the @ChattOconeeNF was established 83 years ago.
In the beginning, the Chattahoochee NF was part of the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests in North Carolina and Tennessee. In the early days, managing the national forests for the "greatest good" was difficult. Travel over the forest was mostly on horseback. Accommodations were rustic log cabins or tents, (acquisition camps) set up for land examiners making additional purchases to the national forest. Many of these purchases were old homesteads but rangers slept out "in the field" on these management trips because many of the abandoned farm dwellings were infested with bed bugs. The goal to manage timber, wildlife, soil and water, and recreation resources in the proper balance was hard to do.
On July 9, 1936, the Chattahoochee National Forest was proclaimed as a separate National Forest. At that time, Forest Service managers began to restore these lands by planting trees, fighting wildfires, controlling erosion and introducing wildlife and fish back into their natural habitat. As a result of a concentrated effort by the Forest Service and the Department of Natural Resources personnel, the deer and trout populations which had been virtually eliminated, were brought back to today's healthy and productive level.
Learn more about the history of the @ChattOconeeNF at https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/conf/learning/history-culture
Watch a short video summarizing this history from the Georgia Historical Society and Georgia Public Broadcasting: http://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/.../chattahoochee...
A more thorough history of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests: https://www.fs.usda.gov/.../learning/history-culture/...
Pictures included with this post are a few select pages from a detailed history of federal forest management in the Southern Appalachians 1900-81.
From the report:
"By improving its own lands, the Forest Service had enhanced the value of its neighbors' lands as well." - Mountaineers and Rangers: a history of federal forest management in the Southern Appalachians, 1900-81
Download (22MB): https://www.fs.usda.gov/.../FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd641587.pdf
Original source can be found here.
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