I'm sure you know about Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot's "Midnight Forests" when they created 21 reserves and 11 expansions on current reserves (16 million acres) right before Roosevelt had to sign a very important agricultural appropriations bill, which included a caveat that would strip him of his power to set aside these forest reserves. It was one of those sneaky political moves by Congress to provide more land for lumber and mining interests and their powerful (and wealthy) backers. Pinchot was the head of the nascent Forest Service, and he had his team work around the clock to map out these critical places. Roosevelt signed them into law just hours before he lost the power to do so. I think it was genius!
I'm sure you know about Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot's "Midnight Forests" when they created 21 reserves and 11 expansions on current reserves (16 million acres) right before Roosevelt had to sign a very important agricultural appropriations bill, which included a caveat that would strip him of his power to set aside these forest reserves. It was one of those sneaky political moves by Congress to provide more land for lumber and mining interests and their powerful (and wealthy) backers. Pinchot was the head of the nascent Forest Service, and he had his team work around the clock to map out these critical places. Roosevelt signed them into law just hours before he lost the power to do so. I think it was genius!
I did not know about that. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.