Forestry

Definition Division of DNR that monitors MN forests. –Fires –State Parks –Logging –Planting –State Parks

1821 Federal government builds the first sawmill at St. Anthony Falls to supply timber to build Fort Snelling.

1837 MN’s first logging camp near the Snake and St. Croix rivers where John Boyce carried on logging with 11 men and 6 oxen.

1838 First commercial mill built to saw white pine lumber at Marine on St. Croix, mill in operation for 75 years.

1840 Second commercial sawmill built at Stillwater beginning Minnesota's lumbering boom.

1862 The first railroads reach Minnesota.

1871 First law pertaining to forestry in MN was passed. It provided payments to plant trees on the prairies.

1894 September 1 st the slash-strewn cutover region of Pine County started on fire, eventually destroying the town of Hinckley and killing 418 people.

1895 Minnesota Legislature creates office of the Chief Fire Warden, who was to organize a state-wide system to suppress wildfires. General C.C. Andrews, a long-time forestry pioneer, became Minnesota's first chief fire warden.

1889 Lumber production tops 1 billion board feet with the rapidly growing railroad systems.

1899 Minnesota's lumber industry reaches its peak. The average annual cut of pine is 2.3 billion board feet.

1908 Wildfires burn the city of Chisholm and 20,000 acres of land. No lives were lost.

1910 Wildfires burn more than 300,000 acres of land near the towns of Baudette and Spooner, killing 42 people.

1911 Minnesota Forest Service is created to preserve forests, manage reforestation, and prevent and suppress wildfires.

1918 Cloquet-Moose Lake fire destroys 38 communities and kills 453 people.

1919 Legislature passes Burning Permit Laws to regulate open fires in certain portions of the state.

1927 First law regulating Christmas tree cutting was passed to stop the willful trespass cutting of Christmas trees.

1931 Department of Conservation is created to unite conservation efforts. The Minnesota Forest Service becomes the Division of Forestry.

1933 First State Forest Service camp is established in the Cloquet Valley State Forest for Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers.

1943 MN’s first minimum cutting regulation is established to regulate the size of cut trees and to provide for leaving trees that can naturally reseed logged areas.

1943 Minnesota's Tree Farm program is started.

1944 Keep Minnesota Green movement is organized in MN.

1947 Division of Forestry is authorized to produce planting stock of all species for use on private lands, causing tree production to skyrocket.

1947 First laws were enacted to allow the Division of Forestry to serve and advise private forest landowners about how to manage, select and market timber, and protect forests.

1949 Legislature mandates that tax-forfeited land may be designated as a School Forest to encourage educators to use nature as an outdoor classroom.

1965 The last Friday in April is designated as Arbor Day.

1953 The legislature designates red pine as Minnesota's official state tree.

1971 The Department of Conservation is renamed the Department of Natural Resources.

1982 Legislature passes the Forest Management Act, which requires the Division of Forestry to reforest an amount of state land equal to the amount harvested each year.

1995 Minnesota's Sustainable Forest Resource Act is passed ensuring all Minnesotans can enjoy our forest resources while balancing environmental and economic considerations.

million acres of DNR state forestlands get certified under the Forest Stewardship Council. Minnesota becomes the largest FSC certificate holder in the U.S. and among top ten in the world.

2008 The one-billionth tree seedling is harvested from the state nurseries.

2008 Minnesota Forests for the Future Program was established by the legislature to identify and protect private working forests for their timber, economic, recreation, and habitat values.

2010 Each year more than 15 million seedlings are planted in Minnesota.

2010 Forests cover roughly one-third of Minnesota (33 percent or 16.3 million acres). Quaking aspen is the most abundant tree in Minnesota, equal to 3.5 billion trees. Less than 4 percent of the original forests remain untouched.