Proclamation 6311—National Forest System Month, 1991

This year we Americans proudly celebrate the 100th anniversary of our National Forest System, an unparalleled national resource. A century ago, the designation of the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve marked the beginning of a great movement to conserve a portion of America's forests for all our people. Today the National Forest System -- 191 million acres of magnificent National Forests and National Grasslands -- stretches from Alaska to Puerto Rico and from Michigan to Texas.

This anniversary celebrates what many historians consider to have been the watershed event in American conservation history. With the first forest reserve, America made a fundamental change in its policies regarding the administration of public lands. As a Nation, we recognized that there are important public values, both environmental and economic, in holding public lands in trust and managing them for long-term public benefits. The National Forest System embodies this conservation ideal.

Our National Forest System provides an excellent example of efficient and responsible management of valuable natural resources. Indeed, the development of our National Forest System has introduced the world to new ideas for sound resource management -- including multiple-use, sustained yield and the preservation of wilderness areas and scenic rivers.

All Americans can be proud of the management of our National Forest System because it demonstrates how precious natural resources can be conserved while being used to meet a variety of public needs.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 159, has designated the month of June 1991 as "National Forest System Month" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 1991 as National Forest System Month and encourage all Americans to join in celebrating the past 100 years of natural resource stewardship in the United States.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America to two hundred and fifteenth.

GEORGE BUSH