Thereafter the Department of the Interior had active charge of the timberlands.

At that time little was known scientifically about the American forests.

There were no schools of forestry in this country.

During the period 1898-1903, several such schools were established.
President McKinley, during his term of office, increased the number of forest reserves from 28 to over 40, covering a total area of 30,000,000 acres.

President Roosevelt added many millions of acres to the forest reserves, bringing the net total to more than 150,000,000 acres, including 159 different forests.