U.S. Forest Service
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Markham House, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation, Midwest Office
The National Forest System contains 193 million acres of federal land spread over 155 forests and twenty grasslands in forty-four states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Forest Service estimates that there are 40,000 buildings in its inventory characterized as "administrative" (such as ranger stations, guard stations and fire lookout complexes) and "recreational" (including cabins, lodges, campgrounds, and picnic shelters). Many of these buildings have not been evaluated for their eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. Sixty-percent or 24,000 are more than thirty years old and many of those are historic by cultural resource standards. A third category of cultural resources called "heritage assets" include archaeological sites and structures related to mining, railroad and the timber industry and total more than 300,000. Some sites are also categorized as "multi-use." For example, a historic ranger station could be both an administrative site and a heritage asset.
Rourke Ranch, Comanche National Grasslands, Colorado
Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation, Mountains-Plains Office
According to the National Trust's recently released report, The National Forest System: Cultural Resources at Risk, over three hundred thousand places of landmark historic or cultural significance, including Native American sacred sites and Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields, are at risk of ruin. The report states that historic and cultural resources throughout the National Forest System are threatened by grazing, logging, mining, off-highway vehicles, insufficient funding and the lack of political will on the part of senior agency officials to protect them. Although some of the nine Forest Service regions have taken steps to comply with federal directives to preserve our nation's heritage, the Forest Service as a whole "regularly chafes" at laws that interfere with the management of timber and watersheds—the agency's original mandate from Congress.
The report also states that of the approximately 325,000 identified sites with historic or cultural significance in the National Forest System, 200,000 have never been evaluated to determine their eligibility for listing in the National Register, and only 2,000 have actually been listed. Additionally, only 20 percent of Forest Service lands have been surveyed for historic and cultural resources.
Because historic and cultural resources are a low priority within the agency, and the Forest Service lacks the legal mandate and staff to protect them, the report strongly recommends that Congress should explicitly direct the Forest Service to manage national forests not only for timber and watersheds, but also for the protection of historic and cultural resources. In all, the report makes eleven recommendations to improve the Forest Service's ability to protect historic and cultural sites, which date from prehistoric times and include historic farmsteads, trails used by the Lewis and Clark expedition, fire lookout towers and ranger cabins.
Act now to help protect cultural and historic resources on the National Forest System:
- Send a letter to Congress asking them to help save these historic and culturally significant places that help to tell our nation's story.
- Join with the U.S. Forest Service to save a historic place in a National Forest near you. The National Trust's Mountains/Plains Office has held volunteer work days with the Forest Service in Colorado, and is planning another for early September at Comanche National Grassland near La Junta, CO. To contact the Mountains/Plains Office about upcoming volunteer activities, send a message to mpro@nthp.org. To volunteer for a historic preservation project through the Forest Service's Passport in Time program, click here: http://www.passportintime.com.
Learn more about the National Trust's efforts to protect cultural and historic resources on the National Forest System:
Resources
Testimony of Richard Moe on the Management of OHVs on Public Lands (June 5, 2008)
National Trust President Richard Moe's written testimony on the management of off-highway vehicles by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management provided to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Press release for the National Trust's report, The National Forest System: Cultural Resources at Risk.
A Legacy in Limbo: Historic and Cultural Resources on Forest Services Lands (May 15, 2008)
National Trust President Richard Moe's speech at the Denver Press Club regarding the management of historic and cultural resources by the U.S. Forest Service.
Report Urges Forest Service To Protect its Historic Sites (May 15, 2008)
Preservation Magazine article concerning the National Trust's report, The National Forest System: Cultural Resources at Risk.
