The U.S. Land Revision Act of 1891 gave the president the authority to "set aside and reserve...any part of the public lands wholly or partly covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not." However, it did not explicitly authorize the use or development of resources on the reserved lands. Future legislation was passed for the development and maintenance of the reserved land. It repealed the old Pre-emption

Preemption Act of 1841

The Preemption Act of 1841, also known as the Distributive Preemption Act , was a federal law approved on September 4, 1841. It was designed to "appropriate the proceeds of the sales of public lands.....

 and Timber Culture

Timber Culture Act

The Timber Culture Act was a follow-up act to the Homestead Act. The Timber Culture Act was passed by Congress in 1873. The act allowed homesteaders to get another of land if they planted trees on one-fourth of the land, because the land was "almost one entire plain of grass, which is and ever...

 laws, reduced Desert Land

Desert Land Act

The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on March 3, 1877 to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western states...

entries to 320 acres (1.3 km²) while lightening irrigation requirements, and extended from 6 to 14 months the time needed to commute a homestead claim into a preemption right under which title could be bought for $1.25 an acre.

External links

• Wilma, David (February 28, 2003). HistoryLink, "Congress establishes the first federal forest reserves on March 3, 1891." Accessed January 15, 2006