The Copeland Report was the result of a United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

ional investigation of forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

 for the purpose of outlining a coordinated plan that would "insure all of the economic and social benefits which can and should be derived from productive forests by fully utilizing the forest land." The investigation was called for by Senator Royal S. Copeland

Royal S. Copeland

Royal Samuel Copeland was an American academic, homeopathic physician, and politician who held elected offices in both Michigan and New York . He represented New York in the United States Senate from 1923 until 1938.-Early life and medical career:Born in Dexter, Michigan to parents Roscoe P....

 of New York in Senate Resolution 175 (72d Congress, 1st sess., 1932)
Earle Clapp, later Chief Forester of the US Forest Service, supervised the report.

The report was finished in April 1933 and was a two-volume, 1,677-page document titled A National Plan for American Forestry which described and evaluated all aspects of forestry from timber, water, range and wildlife to recreation, state aid and fire protection. This report became the blueprint

Blueprint

A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....

 for forestry in President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

's New Deal

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

 and had its beginnings in a senatorial discussion of unemployment, where reforestation might be a source for jobs. Previous reports had given the state of the forests, but without offering a plan for improvement.

In the Copeland Report the main recommendations were: (1) A large extension of public ownership

Public land

In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries...

of forest lands, and (2) more intensive management on all forest lands.