Historians have long viewed the massive reshaping of the American landscape during the New Deal era as unprecedented. This book uncovers the early twentieth-century history rich with precedents for the New Deal in forest, park, and agricultural policy. Sara M. Gregg explores the redevelopment of the Appalachian Mountains from the 1910s through the 1930s, finding in this region a changing paradigm of land use planning that laid the groundwork for the national New Deal. Through an intensive analysis of federal planning in Virginia and Vermont, Gregg contextualizes the expansion of the federal government through land use planning and highlights the deep intellectual roots of federal conservation policy.

"Managing the Mountains is an ambitious book. . . . Readers with interests in Vermont land use and in comparative approaches to historical storytelling (whether involving Vermont or not) will find value and interest in that."—Blake Harrison, Vermont History - Vermont History

"Winner of the 2010 Charles A. Weyerhaueser Book Award as given by the Forest History Society" - Forest History Society

"[A]dmirable . . . [helps] develop a deeper appreciation for the labor of environmental historians, historical geographers, and others who make history available to us, and for citizens and government officials at all levels who attempt to tackle issues of social justice and environmental stewardship in real places."—Cheryl Morse, Journal of Regional Science - Journal of Regional Science