2. John Muir was an active conservationist who founded the Sierra Club and several national parks. John Muir believed that the forests should be preserved and not used as a long term commercial asset. This clashed with Pinchots beliefs because Pinchots also believed the forests should be preserved but used as a renewable resource and that they should be harvested at a rate that could be sustained. This lead to Pinchot leading a group of people calling themselves the “conservationists” and Muir leading a group called the “preservationists.”
3. As the first federal land managers, the Forest Service faced many conflicting interests: cattle ranchers, shepherds, miners, loggers, homesteaders, developers of water for drinking, irrigation and hydropower, as well as those who favored no use of the national forests. Forest officers, given broad authority to make local decisions,