The
Weeks Act is a federal law (36 Stat. 961) enacted by the
United States Congress on March 1, 1911. Introduced by
Massachusetts Congressman
John W. Weeks and signed into law by President
William Howard Taft, the law authorized the
US Secretary of Agriculture to "Examine, locate and recommend for purchase ... such lands within the watersheds of navigable streams as ... may be necessary to the regulation of flow of navigable streams...." This meant that the federal government would be able to purchase private land if the purchase was deemed necessary to protect
rivers' and
watersheds'
headwaters in the
eastern United States. Furthermore, the law allowed for land acquired through this act to be preserved and maintained as national forest territory. Six years earlier, the
Transfer Act of 1905 transferred control over the federal forest reserves from the
General Land Office of the
Department of the Interior to the
Department of Agriculture and its
Forest Service. Responsibility for land purchased through the Weeks Act was not given to former Chief Forester
Gifford Pinchot because he resigned in 1907, with the stipulation that he would only resign if he could appoint his successor. This stipulation led to the Forest Service's tradition of picking a head with forestry knowledge. With the land acquired through the Weeks Act, Pinchot's successor obtained the power to issue permits for water power development on National Forests. The Weeks Act appropriated $9 million to purchase 6 million acres (24,000 km
2) of land in the eastern United States.