It was evident that trained American Foresters would be needed in considerable numbers, and a forest school was established at Yale to supply them.
In 1901, at my suggestion as President, the Secretary of the Interior, Mr.Hitchcock, made a formal request for technical advice from the Bureau of Forestry in handling the National Forests, and an extensive examination of their condition and needs was accordingly taken up.

The same year a study was begun of the proposed Appalachian National Forest, the plan of which, already formulated at that time, has since been carried out.

A year later experimental planting on the National Forests was also begun, and studies preparatory to the application of practical forestry to the Indian Reservations were undertaken.

In 1903, so rapidly did the public work of the Bureau of Forestry increase, that the examination of land for new forest reserves was added to the study of those already created, the forest lands of the various States were studied, and cooperation with several of them in the examination and handling of their forest lands was undertaken.

While these practical tasks were pushed forward, a technical knowledge of American Forests was rapidly accumulated.