The United States Forest Service came to northern Wisconsin to address forest protection, restoration, and utilization. Between 1934 and 1936, the Medford Administrative Site was created to service the forest and today serves the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. A home once stood in front of the site facing the river and housed the Forest Service ranger and his family, while the administration buildings across the tree line remain in use today. Work conducted from this site has assisted in timber management, fire protection, control of invasive species, and recreation for more than half a century, helping the Forest Service carry out its mission of caring for the land and serving people in Medford. Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, pioneered forestry practices still used today and promoted administering national resources for the greatest good of the greatest number of people in the long run. Wisconsin's booming lumber industry brought immigrants from across Europe, and between 1870 and 1920 lumbermen cleared about one million acres of forest land and floated logs down rivers such as the Black River, helping create what is now the city of Medford. In 1993, two separate forests combined to form the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest; the Medford Administrative Site was initially part of the Nicolet but passed to the Chequamegon side in 1934.