The situation was exacerbated as often sparks of passing steam locomotives ignited wildfires that prevented the formation of second growth forests.

Knowledge of Forest management practices among the well-informed, then being long in place in France and Germany added impetus to pay attention to the changes signaled by Great Britain's legislative actions.

In the day in Pennsylvania, the lumber and iron companies were more than willing to sell their land since they had depleted the natural resources of the forests,[4] more commercially valuable iron mines were providing ores, and selling the lands eliminated the annual need to pay property taxes.

These demands of this movement were later recognized by sociologists and historians as one earmark of the Progressive Era in United States politics and social reorganization.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a piece of legislation in 1897 that authorized the purchase of "unseated lands for forest reservations."