Appendix I: Significant Dates in American Environmental History 287
April 10 designated as Arbor Day as a result of a campaign spearheaded by J.
Sterling Morton.
1873 Timber Culture Act gives land to individuals who agree to plant trees on a portion
of it.
1875 American Forestry Association, the first nonprofit U.S. conservation organization,
founded to promote forestry.
1876 Franklin B. Hough appointed special agent in Department of Agriculture to study
forest conditions.
Appalachian Mountain Club founded.
1877 Desert Land Act allows individuals to purchase federal lands cheaply on the con-
dition that they begin irrigating the land within three years of date of purchase.
1878 Free Timber Act (Timber Cutting Act) sets rules for the acquisition of timber
from federal public lands.
1879 U.S. Geological Survey established.
National Board of Health formed.
1881 Division of Forestry created within the Department of Agriculture for the pur-
pose of fact finding.
1882 Thomas Edison builds first central electric power station. American Forestry Con-
gress organized.
1885 Act Establishing the Adirondack Forest Preserve (now called Adirondack State
Park) in New York State.
Niagara Reservation created to protect Niagara Falls through the cooperative
effort of New York State and the Canadian province of Ontario.
The Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammology (predecessor of the U.S.
Biological Survey) established within the Department of Agriculture.
1886 Audubon Society founded by George Bird Grinnell.
Mission of the Division of Forestry is expanded and Bernhard E. Fernow is named
division director.
1887 Boone and Crockett Club founded.
1891 Forest Reserve Act/Repeal of Timber Culture Acts authorizes President Benjamin
Harrison to set aside 13 million acres in public domain as forest reserves (later to
become national forests).
Animal Inspection Act.
Yosemite National Park established.
National Irrigation Congress organized.