Industrialized logging at the turn of the twentieth century did not exactly have a lot of nuance. It basically involved going into an area, cutting down all the trees, and then moving on. At a time when large numbers of people were emigrating west and a growing world population was boosting demand for lumber to previously ludicrous levels, the uncut old growth forests of the western U.S. seemed like a gift from god. Unfortunately, it was a limited gift. Rapid technological innovation allowed loggers to keep up with demand, clearing large swaths of forest in a relatively short period of time. This rapid pace of deforestation freaked the hell out of conservationists, who convinced President Teddy Roosevelt to lock up millions of acres of timber into protected reserves which became today’s national forest system. This move did not really please the logging companies, or their investors, but overall it did little to slow the pace of logging. After all, there was still a crap ton of available timber on private property, and the logging companies went after it with a gusto, becoming one of the primary economic drivers of the region.
The conservation movement of the period was a strange combination of groups with some fairly disparate ideas about what the future should look like. On one end of the spectrum were the resource conservationists, who saw trees as a renewable resource which needed to be properly managed. On the other end were the preservation conservationists, those who wished with a religious fervor to preserve forests, amongst other landscapes, as pristine wild parks, free of the dirty destructive hands of human beings. Despite their significantly different visions, throughout the early twentieth centuries these two sides collaborated and were the driving force behind many of the early environmental policies. One example being state governments taking control of already clear cut areas and re-planting them with new trees, which was the genesis of the state owned forest lands in many western states.
The supply of old growth timber on private land largely sustained the logging industry in the western United States into the 1940’s. However, as available supplies began to run low, the U.S. government found itself in a bit of a quandary. Being right in the middle of a freaking war to end fascism, they needed wood, so against the objections of conservationists, they began opening the national forests up to logging. This policy continued after the war ended. Countless Americans were moving into the suburbs, sparking a boom in new home construction, and exports were needed to help rebuild Europe and stave off the spread of communism. The war also had an effect on how logging was carried out. Throughout the early twentieth century, logs were cut in increasingly distant forests and either floated on rivers or hauled by rail to large mills in major urban centers. After the war, factories built to supply trucks for the war effort shifted to the civilian market, largely replacing trains to move goods across the country. As a result, it made more sense to build smaller mills in more rural areas, and the entire industry shifted out of cities to smaller towns along the edges of national forests in a relatively short period time, creating a new economic boom for these areas.
It goes without saying that conservationists were not all that happy with the opening of the national forests to logging. However, the U.S. government split the old coalition by requiring such logging to be better managed to help guarantee the long-term viability of the industry. While clear cutting was still the normal method of harvesting timber, it was not done over as large of areas. Reforestation policies were put in place as well. With the resource conservationists placated, the preservation conservationists found themselves without the political clout to really offer much resistance to the new policies.
The opening up of national forests for logging, though controversial, did have one extra benefit in that letting in loggers created a patchwork of newly created prairies, which served to help reduce the severity of fires. New roads to facilitate logging also opened better access to areas to fight fires. The acres burned by wildfires in the national forests dropped significantly in the late 1940’s, stabilizing at lower levels in the early 1950’s. The Forest Service shifted from an organization mostly focused on fighting fires, to one mostly focused on replanting trees in clear cuts. However, they kept to their policy of putting out every fire they could as quickly as possible.