Forestry

Definition

• Division of DNR that monitors MN forests.– Fires– State Parks– Logging– Planting– State Parks

1821• Federal government builds the first sawmill at St.

Anthony Falls to supply timber to build Fort Snelling.

1837• MN’s first logging camp near the Snake and St.

Croix rivers where John Boyce carried on logging with 11 men and 6 oxen.

1838• First commercial mill built to saw white pine

lumber at Marine on St. Croix, mill in operation for 75 years.

1840• Second commercial sawmill built at

Stillwater beginning Minnesota's lumbering boom.

1862

• The first railroads reach Minnesota.

1871

• First law pertaining to forestry in MN was passed. It provided payments to plant trees on the prairies.

1894• September 1st the slash-strewn cutover region of

Pine County started on fire, eventually destroying the town of Hinckley and killing 418 people.

1895• Minnesota Legislature creates office of the Chief

Fire Warden, who was to organize a state-wide system to suppress wildfires. General C.C. Andrews, a long-time forestry pioneer, became Minnesota's first chief fire warden.

1889• Lumber production tops 1 billion board feet

with the rapidly growing railroad systems.

1899• Minnesota's lumber industry reaches its

peak. The average annual cut of pine is 2.3 billion board feet.

1908

• Wildfires burn the city of Chisholm and 20,000 acres of land. No lives were lost.

1910• Wildfires burn more than 300,000 acres of

land near the towns of Baudette and Spooner, killing 42 people.

1911

• Minnesota Forest Service is created to preserve forests, manage reforestation, and prevent and suppress wildfires.

1918• Cloquet-Moose Lake fire destroys 38

communities and kills 453 people.

1919• Legislature passes Burning Permit Laws to

regulate open fires in certain portions of the state.

1927• First law regulating Christmas tree cutting was

passed to stop the willful trespass cutting of Christmas trees.

1931• Department of Conservation is created to unite

conservation efforts. The Minnesota Forest Service becomes the Division of Forestry.

1933

• First State Forest Service camp is established in the Cloquet Valley State Forest for Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers.

1943• MN’s first minimum cutting regulation is

established to regulate the size of cut trees and to provide for leaving trees that can naturally reseed logged areas.

1943

• Minnesota's Tree Farm program is started.

1944

• Keep Minnesota Green movement is organized in MN.

1947• Division of Forestry is authorized to produce

planting stock of all species for use on private lands, causing tree production to skyrocket.

1947

• First laws were enacted to allow the Division of Forestry to serve and advise private forest landowners about how to manage, select and market timber, and protect forests.

1949• Legislature mandates that tax-forfeited land may

be designated as a School Forest to encourage educators to use nature as an outdoor classroom.

1965

• The last Friday in April is designated as Arbor Day.

1953• The legislature designates red pine as

Minnesota's official state tree.

1971• The Department of Conservation is

renamed the Department of Natural Resources.

1982• Legislature passes the Forest Management Act,

which requires the Division of Forestry to reforest an amount of state land equal to the amount harvested each year.

1995• Minnesota's Sustainable Forest Resource Act is

passed ensuring all Minnesotans can enjoy our forest resources while balancing environmental and economic considerations.

2005• 4.9 million acres of DNR state forestlands get

certified under the Forest Stewardship Council. Minnesota becomes the largest FSC certificate holder in the U.S. and among top ten in the world.

2008• The one-billionth tree seedling is

harvested from the state nurseries.

2008• Minnesota Forests for the Future Program was

established by the legislature to identify and protect private working forests for their timber, economic, recreation, and habitat values.

2010• Each year more than 15 million seedlings

are planted in Minnesota.

2010• Forests cover roughly one-third of Minnesota (33

percent or 16.3 million acres). Quaking aspen is the most abundant tree in Minnesota, equal to 3.5 billion trees. Less than 4 percent of the original forests remain untouched.