North Cascades

STEWARDSHIP OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN:
GOVERNMENT IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CHRONOLOGY OF FEDERAL STEWARDSHIP

National Forests

By Act of Congress on March 4, 1907, the name "forest reserves" was changed to "national forests." The new (in name only) Washington National Forest (WNF) retained its sizable boundaries only one more year. In 1908 a series of executive orders established four smaller forests from the larger WNF and transferred portions of the land to a fifth, already established national forest. These management decisions resulted in the creation of the Chelan and Washington National Forests, whose common boundary was the summit of the North Cascades, and included land which is now part of the national park.

The Chelan and Washington National Forests were administered by a regional office in Portland, Oregon, which had great decision-making authority. The regional office was augmented by smaller district offices. The Chelan National Forest (CNF) was the largest of the twenty national forests in the Pacific Northwest; the Washington National Forest (WNF) was a close second in size. [4] Districts within today's park boundaries were the Stehekin District in the CNF, with headquarters located in Stehekin; and the Skagit and Glacier Districts in the WNF, headquartered in Marblemount and Glacier respectively. Forest rangers were stationed and lived in these districts, monitoring and assuring the proper and legal use of forest resources. The rangers constructed "on-the-ground forest management camps," otherwise known as ranger stations, which served as home and office. [5] They lived simple, busy lives, and although many rangers were accompanied by wives and families, it was for most an isolated existence.

In 1911, the Chelan National Forest was further divided and a portion became the Okanogan National Forest. Over the course of many years, Stehekin and surrounding lands reaching west to the divide were transferred periodically between these two forests, whose boundaries were continually changing, growing larger or smaller in response to political and administrative demands. To alleviate confusion on the part of the public, the WNF's name was changed in 1924 to the Mount Baker National Forest (MBNF). The MBNF underwent several boundary alterations as well, occasionally transferring and acquiring acreage to and from surrounding forests over the duration of its sixty-year existence.

Within the boundaries of the MBNF, sections of land were sequestered by the USFS and declared special-use areas. Responding to increasing numbers of vacationers and recreationists, the USFS created the Mount Baker Recreation Area in 1926. Embodying nearly 75,000 acres and the namesake peak itself, this area was administered chiefly in the interest of recreation, although the USFS continued to permit logging, mining, and hydroelectric projects. State game preserves, where hunting and firearms were prohibited, were established within the forests during these years. The Mount Baker Game Preserve of 188,000 acres encompassed Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan; the upper Skagit Game Preserve included nearly 74,000 acres of land surrounding Diablo Lake, Ross Dam, and the town of Newhalem. [6]