Emile Grandjean, christened Hans Axel Emil Hanssen Grandjean, governed Idaho's early forests during the transition period from which the modern-day U.S. Forest Service emerged.
As the second supervisor of the Boise National Forest—and former supervisor of the Sawtooth National Forest—he earned a reputation as a conservationist, both of fiscal and natural resources. In the early 1900s, he was among the most educated forest rangers in the country.
"He was a leader with quiet, tactful ways to attain firmness and capable changes from a free, unrestricted use of public resources, into a permitted and regulated department," according to a 1983 biography written by Elizabeth L. Slinger, Grandjean's great-niece.
It was during the time when the West's forests were transitioning from national forest reserves to national forests that Grandjean was at the peak of his influence in the mountains of Central Idaho. The U.S. Forest Service was created in 1905 under direction from President Theodore Roosevelt. Gifford Pinchot, the first forest chief, served until 1910. Although some historians consider Pinchot to be "America's first professionally trained forester," he did not become educated in forestry until five years after Grandjean.
The two men, however, entered the budding federal agency in the same year.
In his own account of the early Forest Service, called "A Short History of the Boise National Forest," Grandjean lends credence to his biographers' assertions that he was a conservation-oriented leader with philosophies closely paralleling Pinchot's.
"Coming as I do from a family of foresters in the old country, it was but natural that I should take a great interest in the protection of our natural resources in this country," Grandjean wrote.
His account is a fascinating study in public land management from the days of the earliest European settlers in the West. It helps prove the adage that, as more things change, the more they stay the same.
His history chronicles fire fighting, sheep and cattle ranching, logging and the ongoing process of mediating between conservation work and extractive industries.
Although the earliest sheep ranching was relatively benign, the impacts quickly became more severe and widspread.
He later came to call sheep ranchers, "our common enemy."
"The sheepmen made a great profit. The cost of running sheep in those days was not nearly as much as at the present time, and though they lost heavily during some winters, it was a very successful business because the forage did not cost anything, and they did not feed during the winter."
The profits, however, soon drew other growers. A few years later, the country began to show the wear.
"It was high time for some provision to be made for the protection of the timber and watersheds," he wrote.
Grandjean pointed out that private industries attempted, and succeeded, to turn the public against the Forest Service, which was attempting to rein in impacts to the forest. The industries did this through "numerous" newspaper articles, as well as through congressional representatives who represented special interests.
"Extensive logging had also taken place on the Boise and Payette rivers, and at points on the drivable streams, timber had been cut in a most wasteful manner."
Also, creation in 1905 of the U.S. Forest Service was something that loggers and sheep ranchers felt threatened by, according to Grandjean.
"... Lumbermen could not be expected to view the creation of the national forests with friendly feeling, and they also attempted to discredit the creation of the forests. ... The sheepmen viewed these movements by the government with alarm and on account of political influence and efforts made by the small towns, which derived a great deal of income from the stockmen, an adverse feeling was created throughout the state, the stockmen thinking that perhaps all sheep would be excluded form the national forests."
Cattle ranchers were the ones who looked favorably on the establishment of the forests because they had been compelled to quit raising cattle because of "the numerous bands of sheep, which devastated the country."
Sometimes, the adversarial relationships between sheep and cattle ranchers bubbled to the surface. Grandjean remembered a time when cattle ranchers repeatedly attempted to destroy some sheep corrals by setting them on fire. He extinguished the flames twice.
"The last and third time I lay in wait fully armed for two nights, thinking that I might catch them in the act, and my mind was fully made up to shoot and disable the guilty parties if I ever caught them."
But, according to Grandjean, the Forest Service still was perceived as the long arm of government stretching into affairs beyond the scope of its mission.
The spring of 1907 found Grandjean in full charge of the Boise National Forest, which then encompassed the modern-day Idaho, Payette, Sawtooth, Boise and parts of the Lemhi, Salmon and Challis forests. During the spring of 1908, the territory was adjusted yet again. The Payette was placed under separate administration, and, out of the Sawtooth National Forest, the Boise National Forest emerged.
"I was now in a position to administer the forest to a better advantage, having been relieved of such an immense territory, (which he covered entirely on horseback). The grazing was adjusted in a better manner; sheep were confined to the higher altitudes; the system already established at the beginning of the administration of the forest, of restricting sheep grazing throughout the Yellow Pine belt, was strictly enforced, being confined to the open areas and the alpine regions."
Telephone lines, trails and new ranger stations were built. A fire patrol was improved. Two small nurseries for experimental purposes were built and considerable planting and seeding done.
"Considerable timber was sold at a fair price. The range was improved; damage by fire greatly reduced."
In 1910, when Pinchot was removed from office, Grandjean called the move a "severe blow" to the Forest Service.
And as management direction in the agency changed, Grandjean offered continuing criticism.
"I am sorry to state that on many forests, the purpose for which the forest was created has apparently been entirely ignored and the sole purpose of the administration seems to have been for making a great showing from the money received from sheep grazing fees.
"This, in my opinion, is entirely wrong, and I do hope that the time will soon come when the Forest Service is strong enough, regardless of political influence, to more fully protect your important timber and watershed resources from our common enemy, the sheepman, without regard to their backing."
In 1923, Grandjean was offered a forest supervisor position in Nevada, but he declined and was retained in the Boise area as assistant forest supervisor.
Accoding to Slinger, he became "embittered and disillusioned" by ensuing changes and retired at the age of 57.
