Have you enjoyed the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire or the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont? If so, you have a Newtonian to thank for that: John Wingate Weeks, congressman from Massachusetts’ 12th District, who sponsored the Weeks Act in 1911.

This Act led to the federal government purchasing significant amounts of land in the eastern part of the United States for the creation of new national forests. The Weeks Act also led to increased cooperation between state and federal departments in fighting wildfires in the western part of the country, which has had a significant impact in decreasing the amount of wildfire damage.

Environmental conservation in the United States was born at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, as naturalists sought to have the relatively untouched Western parts of the US be preserved as much as possible. This led to the federal government purchasing large amounts of Western land. Those on the East Coast, which had had significant development for centuries, saw this and wanted government land ownership as well.

One of those East Coast residents who supported this was John Weeks, who was born in Lancaster, N.H. After serving in the U.S. Navy and as fire chief of Orlando, Fla., he co-founded the Boston financial firm Hornblower & Weeks.

He lived in Newton, where he was an alderman from 1899 to 1902 and served as mayor from 1903 to 1904. But he had bigger dreams, and he successfully ran for Congress as a Republican in 1905, a position he held until he became a Massachusetts senator in 1913.

Weeks was concerned about the impact logging had on the White Mountains, where he grew up and still owned a home. New Hampshire had a timber monopoly that was clearcutting numerous forests. This clear-cut land was left in unusable condition, and the residents were powerless to do anything.

Weeks introduced several bills that went nowhere. House Speaker Joseph Cannon was notoriously anti-conservation, famously saying, “Not one cent for scenery.” But Cannon told Weeks that if Weeks could come up with a pro-business argument for forest conservation, Cannon would try to get it passed.

There had been previous unsuccessful attempts at Eastern forestry bills. Some, especially in the South, were suspicious of the federal government buying large amounts of land in their state. Westerners thought it was an unfair Eastern handout. Others felt it was a poor use of funds. But it was becoming increasingly clear that the vast amount of clear-cut land had a negative impact on everyone.

One particular issue was flooding, since trees help prevent flooding in various ways. In 1907, a flood caused $100 million dollars in damage in the Monongahela Valley, which includes Pittsburgh. Tree roots keeping soil in place would also help with the issue of waterways becoming too narrow for navigation, which was also a large economic concern at the time.

Still, not everyone was convinced. Then the Great Fire of 1910 burned 3,000,000 acres of land in Montana, Idaho, Washington and British Columbia. The United States Forest Service was new, poorly funded, and with poorly trained firefighters. There were millions of dollars in damages and 87 people died.

Representatives from the West Coast realized a new forestry bill could help them as well, and Congress passed the Weeks Act in 1911.

The Weeks Act led to the purchase of over 20 million acres of land in the eastern United States, not only in Vermont and New Hampshire, but places like Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina, the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania and the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan.

Much of this newly purchased land would be reforested during the New Deal as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps work, which also created many campgrounds and trails that can still be enjoyed today. The Weeks Act also set aside significant funds for state forest agencies, provided that the state itself created a fire protection plan and was willing to contribute as much to forest fire prevention as the federal government was. It would later be expanded with another act in 1924 to include the purchase of even more land and even more money to fight forest fires.

What, then, became of Weeks? He left his congressional position to become one of Massachusetts’ U.S. senators in 1913. This was before the direct election of Senators, and so he was appointed by a majority vote from Massachusetts’ then heavily Republican state legislature.

He ran for president in 1916 but was defeated by a significant margin at the Republican convention by Charles Hughes, who would himself lose to Democratic President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1913, the Constitution was amended by the passage of the 17th amendment. No longer would senators be chosen by state legislatures, but rather directly elected by voters. Weeks, a conservative, Protestant businessman, was popular among his brethren in the state legislature, but he was less so with voters. He also held some positions—he opposed giving women the right to vote, and was against the sale of alcohol—that were controversial in Massachusetts.

In 1918, when voters finally had a say, they elected James Walsh, a progressive Irish Catholic Democrat who would introduce Irish nationalist leader Éamon de Valera at Fenway Park.

A frustrated Weeks would move back to New Hampshire, with a jaunt back to D.C. to serve as Secretary of War from 1921 to 1925.

His son, Sinclair Weeks, would also serve as mayor of Newton from 1930 to 1935. He would open a new junior high school named for his father, now The John W. Weeks House, an affordable housing development.

There’s also a bridge named for him over the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge.

Weeks’ former home on West Newton Hill is a private residence, but appropriately, his former estate in New Hampshire is a state park.