Gifford Pinchot
Encyclopedia
Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service
(1905–1910) and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania
(1923–1927, 1931–1935). He was a Republican and Progressive
.
Pinchot is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal. He called it "the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man." Pinchot coined the term conservation ethic
as applied to natural resources.
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest
"as though it were spelled pin'cho, with slight emphasis on the first syllable."
, in 1865; he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy
and Yale University
in 1889, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
. He studied as a postgraduate at the French National Forestry School for a year. He returned home and plunged into the nascent forestry movement, intent on shaping a national forest policy.
Gifford Pinchot's family had made a great fortune from lumbering and land speculation. His father, James, regretted the damage his family's work had done to the land. He made conservation a family affair and suggested that Gifford should become a forester. At Gifford's urging, together James and Gifford endowed the Yale School of Forestry in 1900, and James turned Grey Towers
, the family estate at Milford, Pennsylvania
, into a "nursery" for the American forestry movement. Family financial affairs were managed by Gifford's brother Amos Pinchot
, thus freeing Pinchot to do the more important work of developing forest management concepts. Unlike some others in the forestry movement, Pinchot's wealth allowed him to singly pursue this goal without worry of income.
Pinchot's approach set him apart from the other leading forestry experts, especially Bernhard E. Fernow and Carl A. Schenck
. Fernow had been Pinchot's predecessor in the United States Department of Agriculture
's Division of Forestry before leaving in 1898 to become the first Dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
. Schenck was Pinchot's successor at the Biltmore Estate (widely recognized as the "cradle of American forestry") and founder of the Biltmore Forest School
on the Biltmore Estate
. Their schools largely reflected their approaches to introducing forestry in the United States: Fernow advocated a regional approach and Schenck a private enterprise effort in contrast to Pinchot's national vision.
Perhaps, the men who had the most influence on his development as a forester were Sir Dietrich Brandis
, who had brought forestry to the British Empire, and Sir Wilhelm Schlich, Brandis' successor. Pinchot relied heavily upon Brandis' advice for introducing professional forest management in the U.S. and on how to structure the Forest Service when Pinchot established it in 1905.
Forestry policy and institutio in 6969 every walk a round blowing poeple in a corner , the National Academy of Sciences
formed the National Forest Commission and they appointed him to the Commission, the only nonmember appointed. President Grover Cleveland
later charged him with developing a plan for managing the nation’s Western forest reserves.
In 1898, Gifford Pinchot succeeded Bernhard Fernow as chief of the Division of Forestry, later renamed the United States Forest Service
in 1905. While working for the transfer of the federal forests from the United States Department of the Interior
to his agency in the Department of Agriculture, Pinchot introduced better forestry methods into the operations of the private owners, large and small, by helping them make working plans and by demonstrating good practices on the ground. Doing so gave new forestry school graduates practical experience. Until 1900, students came from only two schools, the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
and the Biltmore Forest School
. In order to provide a professional level of forestry training suited to "American conditions," as Pinchot defined them, the Pinchot family endowed a 2-year graduate-level School of Forestry at Yale University (now the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
). At Pinchot's urging, fellow Yale alumnus Henry S. Graves
, along with James W. Toumey, left the Division in 1900 to start the school. In the fall of 1900, the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
had 24 students, Biltmore 9, and Yale 7.
In 1900, Pinchot established the Society of American Foresters
. Its establishment helped bring instant credibility to the new profession of forestry and was part of the broader professionalization
movement underway in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.
Pinchot sought to turn public land policy from one that dispersed resources to private holdings to one that maintained federal ownership and management of public land. He was a progressive who strongly believed in the efficiency movement
. The most economically efficient use of natural resources was his goal; waste was his great enemy. His successes, in part, were grounded in the personal networks that he started developing as a student at Yale and continued developing throughout his career. His personal involvement in the recruitment process led to high esprit de corps in the Forest Service and allowed him to avoid partisan political patronage. Pinchot capitalized on his professional expertise to gain adherents in an age when professionalism and science were greatly valued. He made it a high priority to professionalize the Forest Service; to that end he ate the Yale School of Forestry as a source of highly trained men.
, who were deeply opposed to commercializing nature.
Pinchot was generally opposed to preservation for the sake of wilderness or scenery, a fact perhaps best illustrated by the important support he offered to the damming of Hetch Hetchy Valley
in Yosemite National Park
.
Pinchot rose to national prominence under the patronage of President Theodore Roosevelt
. In 1905, his department also gained control of the national forest reserves, thereby dramatically increasing the authority of the Forest Service. Pinchot developed a plan by which the forests could be developed by private interests, under set terms, in exchange for a fee. Pinchot embarked on many publicity campaigns to direct national discussions of natural resource management issues.
Central to his publicity work was his creation of news for magazines and newspapers, as well as debates with opponents such as John Muir
. His effectiveness in manipulating information hostile to his boss, President William Howard Taft
led to his firing in January 1910. But his successes became a model for other bureaucrats on how to influence public opinion.
Pinchot’s policies encountered some opposition. Preservationists were opposed to massive timber cutting while Congress was increasingly hostile to conservation of the forests, bowing to local commercial pressures for quicker exploitation. In 1907, Congress forbade the creation of more forest reserves in the Western states. Roosevelt designated 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new National Forests just minutes before his power to do so was stripped by a congressionally mandated amendment to the Agriculture Bill. These were called the Midnight Forests
. For his contributions to conservation , Pinchot was awarded the Public Welfare Medal
from the National Academy of Sciences
in 1916.
Pinchot–Ballinger controversy
Pinchot’s authority was substantially undermined by the election of President William Howard Taft
in 1908
. Taft later fired Pinchot for speaking out against his policies and those of Richard Ballinger, Secretary of the Interior. Pinchot launched a series of public attacks to discredit Ballinger and force him from office in what became known as the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy. That episode hastened the split in the Republican Party that led to the formation of the Progressive Party
, of which Pinchot and his brother were top leaders.
Pinchot ran for Senate in 1914
on the Progressive Party ticket and expressed interest in the presidency. After his campaign, Pinchot promoted American involvement in World War I
, opposing President Woodrow Wilson
's neutrality. The Progressives returned to their old parties and Pinchot rejoined the Republicans.
Pinchot founded the National Conservation Association, of which he was president from 1910 to 1925.
The fire storm of 1910 and the descent of the Forest Service
William (Bill) Greeley the son of a Congregational minister, who finished at the top of that first Yale forestry graduating class of 1904 was hand picked by Pinchot to be Region 1 forester of the Forest Service with responsibility over 41 million acres (165,921.3 km²) in 22 National Forests in 4 western states(all of Montana, much of Idaho, and Washington, and a corner of South Dakota).
One year after the 1910 forest fire inferno, Great Fire of 1910
, the religious Greeley got himself promoted to a high administration job in Washington. In 1920, becoming Chief of the Forest Service. The fire of 1910 convinced him that Satan
was at work and it saw his conversion into a fire extinguishing partisan who elevated firefighting to the raison d'être — the overriding mission — of the Forest Service. Under Greeley, the Service became the fire engine company, protecting trees so the timber industry could cut them down later at government expense. Pinchot was appalled. The timber industry was now the fox in the chicken coop.
Pinchot and Roosevelt had envisioned, at the least, that public timber should be sold only to small, family-run logging outfits, not the big syndicates. Pinchot had always preached of a "working forest" for working people and small scale logging at the edge, preservation at the core.
In 1928 Bill Greeley left the Forest Service for a position in the timber industry becoming an executive with the West Coast Lumberman's Association.
On his trip west in 1937, with Henry S. Graves
, what Gifford Pinchot saw "tore his heart out." Greeley's legacy, modern chain saws, and government forest roads had allowed industrial clear-cuts to become the norm in the western national forests of Montana as in Oregon. Entire mountainsides, mountain after mountain, denuded of all trees.
"So this is what saving the trees was all about." "Absolute devastation" Pinchot wrote in his diary. "The Forest Service should absolutely declare against clear- cutting in Washington and Oregon as a defensive measure", Pinchot wrote.
First term as Governor of Pennsylvania
With Wilson's re-election in 1916
, Pinchot turned to Pennsylvania state politics. Governor William Sproul
appointed him state Commissioner of Forestry in 1920. Pinchot's aim, however, was to become governor. His 1922 campaign for the office concentrated on popular reforms: government economy, enforcement of Prohibition
and regulation of public utilities. He won by a wide margin. In 1924, Pinchot considered challenging President Calvin Coolidge
for the Republican nomination, but ultimately declined to run for the presidency.
In 1926, Governor Pinchot proposed his quasi-public "Giant Power" scheme for the state of Pennsylvania – which was very similar to Charles Steinmetz's plan to transmit electricity by high-voltage lines from power plants located adjacent to Pennsylvania coal mines – critics dismissed it as socialism. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt
such a scheme materialized in the shape of the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA).
Pinchot retired at the end of his term January 18, 1927. Following another unsuccessful attempt at the U.S. Senate
, the Pinchots took a seven-month cruise to the South Seas.
Long road to a second term
In 1930, Pinchot won a second term as governor, battling for regulation of public utilities, the continuance of Prohibition, relief for the unemployed, and construction of paved roads to "get the farmers out of the mud."
Pinchot was worried about mounting a political comeback that year. “I don’t want to make a fool of myself,” he said a month before announcing his candidacy.
Pitted against Francis Shunk Brown, the candidate of William S. Vare
’s powerful Philadelphia machine, and Thomas W. Phillips
, a former two-term congressman from western Pennsylvania, who was enthusiastically supported by the state’s “wet” forces, Pinchot overcame a deficit of nearly 200,000 votes in traditionally Republican Philadelphia to pull into a 12,000-vote lead on election night.
The 281,000 votes cast for former congressman Phillips, most of which came at Brown’s expense, appeared to have given Pinchot a narrow victory in the primary.
Brown’s attorneys immediately challenged the results, contending that some 60,000 ballots in Luzerne County should be tossed out because they had been perforated beforehand by county election officials in an attempt to prevent fraud. The legal battle ensued throughout the summer and nobody knew for sure who the Republican candidate for governor would be, especially since both men periodically claimed to be the nominee.
Ending four months of litigation and political turmoil, on August 20 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, while castigating the Luzerne Common Pleas Court for marking (perforating) the ballots in the first place, upheld an earlier lower court ruling and declared that all 60,000 perforated ballots were valid, thereby certifying Pinchot as the winner of the May 20 Republican primary.
As expected, a number of key Republicans abandoned the former governor during the autumn campaign, one of the most significant defections being that of wealthy William W. Atterbury, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
, who resigned his seat on the Republican National Committee to actively support John M. Hemphill, Pinchot’s Democratic opponent.
Despite the opposition of many in his own party, including not only Vare’s powerful Philadelphia machine, but also many “wets” who revolted and created a separate Liberal Party that autumn — thereby giving the Democratic candidate two lines on the November ballot — Pinchot narrowly prevailed, defeating Hemphill by a margin of 1,068,874 to 1,010,204.
During his second term in office, Pinchot abolished the thug system of Coal and Iron Police appointed by his predecessor, Governor John Fisher
. When Prohibition
was nationally repealed
in 1933, and four days before the sale of alcohol became legal in Pennsylvania again, Pinchot called the Pennsylvania General Assembly into special session to debate regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol; this session led to the establishment of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board
and its system of state-run liquor stores, reflecting Pinchot's desire to "discourage the purchase of alcoholic beverages by making it as inconvenient and expensive as possible."
Later years
In 1934, Pinchot ran unsuccessfully for the senate a third time. Pinchot's final campaign, a bid for the GOP nomination for Governor in 1938, was also unsuccessful.
In his remaining years, the ex-governor gave advice to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
, wrote a book about his life as a forester, and devised a fishing kit to be used in lifeboats during World War II
. He even instructed the U.S. Navy
on how to extract fresh water from fish.
Death and legacy
On October 4, 1946, he died aged 81, from leukemia
. He was survived by his wife, Cornelia Bryce, and his son Gifford Bryce Pinchot. He is interred at Milford Cemetery, Pike County, Pennsylvania
.
Perhaps because of pride in the first Gifford Pinchot's legacy, the Pinchot family has continued to name their sons Gifford, down to Gifford Pinchot IV.
Gifford Pinchot was named for Hudson River School artist Sanford Robinson Gifford
Gifford Senior and his then thirteen-year-old son co-wrote a scientific travel-adventure book, entitled Giff and Stiff in the South Seas, copyright 1933, by the John C. Winston Co. of Philadelphia. Junior Gifford is the actual voice of the adventure, documenting in a young boy's language the scientific studies, observations, and adventures as father, mother, son, and companions sail on the Mary Pinchot from New York
to Key West
and on to the Galapagos, Marquesas and Society Islands
. This Darwin
-like odyssey is accompanied by photos of the journey. Although the book is currently out of print, it can be found.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
in Washington and Gifford Pinchot State Park
in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania
, are named in his honor, as is Pinchot Hall at Penn State University. The Pinchot Sycamore
, the largest tree in his native state of Connecticut
and second-largest sycamore
on the Atlantic coast, still stands in Simsbury
, where he was born. The largest Coast Redwood in Muir Woods, California, is also named in his honor, as is Pinchot Pass in the Kings Canyon National Park in California.
The house where he was born belonged to his grandfather, Elijah Phelps, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places
. http://www.simsbury1820house.com/about.htm Grey Towers
, the family home outside Milford, is a National Historic Landmark
open to the public for tours.
The Pinchot Institute for Conservation is seated in Washington, D.C.
Gifford's son, Dr. Gifford Bryce Pinchot, donated Grey Towers National Historic Site
to the Forest Service in 1963. President John F. Kennedy
accepted this gift from the Pinchot family and then dedicated the Pinchot Institute for Conservation. The Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization as of 1994, and today continues Pinchot's legacy of conservation leadership and sustainability in forestry. They partner with the Pinchot family and the Forest Service
, at both the national level and at the Grey Towers National Historic Site
Their work can be found at Pinchot.org.
Gifford Pinchot III
, grandson of the first Gifford Pinchot, is co-founder and president of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute
, which offers a Master of Business Administration
degree integrating environmental sustainability
and social responsibility
with innovation and profit.
See also
External links
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
(1905–1910) and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
(1923–1927, 1931–1935). He was a Republican and Progressive
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
.
Pinchot is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal. He called it "the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man." Pinchot coined the term conservation ethic
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
as applied to natural resources.
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest
Literary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
"as though it were spelled pin'cho, with slight emphasis on the first syllable."
Education and early life
Gifford Pinchot was born in Simsbury, ConnecticutSimsbury, Connecticut
Simsbury is a suburban town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 23,234 at the 2000 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's twenty-first town in May 1670.-Early history:...
, in 1865; he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1889, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
. He studied as a postgraduate at the French National Forestry School for a year. He returned home and plunged into the nascent forestry movement, intent on shaping a national forest policy.
Gifford Pinchot's family had made a great fortune from lumbering and land speculation. His father, James, regretted the damage his family's work had done to the land. He made conservation a family affair and suggested that Gifford should become a forester. At Gifford's urging, together James and Gifford endowed the Yale School of Forestry in 1900, and James turned Grey Towers
Grey Towers National Historic Site
Grey Towers National Historic Site, also known as Gifford Pinchot House or The Pinchot Institute, is located just off US 6 west of Milford, Pennsylvania, in Dingman Township...
, the family estate at Milford, Pennsylvania
Milford, Pennsylvania
Milford is a borough in Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat. Its population was 1,021 at the 2010 census. It was founded in 1796 by Judge John Biddis, one of the state's first four circuit judges, who named the settlement after his ancestral home in Wales.Milford has a...
, into a "nursery" for the American forestry movement. Family financial affairs were managed by Gifford's brother Amos Pinchot
Amos Pinchot
Amos Richards Eno Pinchot was an American reformist. He never held public office but managed to exert considerable influence in reformist circles and did much to keep progressive ideas alive in the 1920s....
, thus freeing Pinchot to do the more important work of developing forest management concepts. Unlike some others in the forestry movement, Pinchot's wealth allowed him to singly pursue this goal without worry of income.
Carl A. Schenck
Carl Alwyn Schenck was a pioneering forestry educator in North America, known for his contributions as the forester for George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate, and the founder of the Biltmore Forest School in 1898, near Asheville, NC....
. Fernow had been Pinchot's predecessor in the United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
's Division of Forestry before leaving in 1898 to become the first Dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
The New York State College of Forestry at Cornell was a statutory college established in 1898 at Cornell University to teach scientific forestry. The first four-year college of forestry in the country, it was defunded by the State of New York in 1903, over controversies involving the college's...
. Schenck was Pinchot's successor at the Biltmore Estate (widely recognized as the "cradle of American forestry") and founder of the Biltmore Forest School
Biltmore Forest School
The Biltmore School of Forestry was the first school of forestry in North America. The school of "practical forestry" was founded by Carl A. Schenck in 1898 on George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina.-History:...
on the Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore House is a Châteauesque-styled mansion near Asheville, North Carolina, built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. It is the largest privately-owned home in the United States, at and featuring 250 rooms...
. Their schools largely reflected their approaches to introducing forestry in the United States: Fernow advocated a regional approach and Schenck a private enterprise effort in contrast to Pinchot's national vision.
Perhaps, the men who had the most influence on his development as a forester were Sir Dietrich Brandis
Dietrich Brandis
Sir Dietrich Brandis, KCIE, FRS was a German forester who worked in India. He is considered the father of tropical forestry.-Early life:...
, who had brought forestry to the British Empire, and Sir Wilhelm Schlich, Brandis' successor. Pinchot relied heavily upon Brandis' advice for introducing professional forest management in the U.S. and on how to structure the Forest Service when Pinchot established it in 1905.
Forestry policy and institutio in 6969 every walk a round blowing poeple in a corner , the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
formed the National Forest Commission and they appointed him to the Commission, the only nonmember appointed. President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
later charged him with developing a plan for managing the nation’s Western forest reserves.
In 1898, Gifford Pinchot succeeded Bernhard Fernow as chief of the Division of Forestry, later renamed the United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
in 1905. While working for the transfer of the federal forests from the United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
to his agency in the Department of Agriculture, Pinchot introduced better forestry methods into the operations of the private owners, large and small, by helping them make working plans and by demonstrating good practices on the ground. Doing so gave new forestry school graduates practical experience. Until 1900, students came from only two schools, the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
The New York State College of Forestry at Cornell was a statutory college established in 1898 at Cornell University to teach scientific forestry. The first four-year college of forestry in the country, it was defunded by the State of New York in 1903, over controversies involving the college's...
and the Biltmore Forest School
Biltmore Forest School
The Biltmore School of Forestry was the first school of forestry in North America. The school of "practical forestry" was founded by Carl A. Schenck in 1898 on George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina.-History:...
. In order to provide a professional level of forestry training suited to "American conditions," as Pinchot defined them, the Pinchot family endowed a 2-year graduate-level School of Forestry at Yale University (now the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies is one of the graduate professional schools of Yale University. Founded to train foresters, it now trains leaders and creates new knowledge that will sustain and restore the health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people...
). At Pinchot's urging, fellow Yale alumnus Henry S. Graves
Henry S. Graves
Henry Solon Graves was a forest administrator in the United States. He founded the Yale School of Forestry in 1900, the oldest continuous forestry school in the United States...
, along with James W. Toumey, left the Division in 1900 to start the school. In the fall of 1900, the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
The New York State College of Forestry at Cornell was a statutory college established in 1898 at Cornell University to teach scientific forestry. The first four-year college of forestry in the country, it was defunded by the State of New York in 1903, over controversies involving the college's...
had 24 students, Biltmore 9, and Yale 7.
In 1900, Pinchot established the Society of American Foresters
Society of American Foresters
The Society of American Foresters is a scientific and educational 501 non-profit organization, representing the forestry profession in the United States of America...
. Its establishment helped bring instant credibility to the new profession of forestry and was part of the broader professionalization
Professionalization
Professionalization is the social process by which any trade or occupation transforms itself into a true "profession of the highest integrity and competence." This process tends to involve establishing acceptable qualifications, a professional body or association to oversee the conduct of members...
movement underway in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.
Pinchot sought to turn public land policy from one that dispersed resources to private holdings to one that maintained federal ownership and management of public land. He was a progressive who strongly believed in the efficiency movement
Efficiency Movement
The Efficiency Movement was a major movement in the United States, Britain and other industrial nations in the early 20th century that sought to identify and eliminate waste in all areas of the economy and society, and to develop and implement best practices. The concept covered mechanical,...
. The most economically efficient use of natural resources was his goal; waste was his great enemy. His successes, in part, were grounded in the personal networks that he started developing as a student at Yale and continued developing throughout his career. His personal involvement in the recruitment process led to high esprit de corps in the Forest Service and allowed him to avoid partisan political patronage. Pinchot capitalized on his professional expertise to gain adherents in an age when professionalism and science were greatly valued. He made it a high priority to professionalize the Forest Service; to that end he ate the Yale School of Forestry as a source of highly trained men.
Methods
Pinchot used the rhetoric of the market economy to disarm critics of efforts to expand the role of government: scientific management of forests was profitable. While most of his battles were with timber companies that he thought had too narrow a time horizon, he also battled the forest preservationists like John MuirJohn Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
, who were deeply opposed to commercializing nature.
Pinchot was generally opposed to preservation for the sake of wilderness or scenery, a fact perhaps best illustrated by the important support he offered to the damming of Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir...
in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
. In 1905, his department also gained control of the national forest reserves, thereby dramatically increasing the authority of the Forest Service. Pinchot developed a plan by which the forests could be developed by private interests, under set terms, in exchange for a fee. Pinchot embarked on many publicity campaigns to direct national discussions of natural resource management issues.
Central to his publicity work was his creation of news for magazines and newspapers, as well as debates with opponents such as John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
. His effectiveness in manipulating information hostile to his boss, President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
led to his firing in January 1910. But his successes became a model for other bureaucrats on how to influence public opinion.
Pinchot’s policies encountered some opposition. Preservationists were opposed to massive timber cutting while Congress was increasingly hostile to conservation of the forests, bowing to local commercial pressures for quicker exploitation. In 1907, Congress forbade the creation of more forest reserves in the Western states. Roosevelt designated 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new National Forests just minutes before his power to do so was stripped by a congressionally mandated amendment to the Agriculture Bill. These were called the Midnight Forests
Midnight Forests
Midnight Forests was a nickname given to the forests created by President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt near the end of his term as president....
. For his contributions to conservation , Pinchot was awarded the Public Welfare Medal
Public Welfare Medal
The Public Welfare Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare." It is the most prestigious honor conferred by the Academy...
from the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
in 1916.
Pinchot–Ballinger controversy
Pinchot’s authority was substantially undermined by the election of President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
in 1908
United States presidential election, 1908
The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft, his close friend and Secretary of War, to become his successor...
. Taft later fired Pinchot for speaking out against his policies and those of Richard Ballinger, Secretary of the Interior. Pinchot launched a series of public attacks to discredit Ballinger and force him from office in what became known as the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy. That episode hastened the split in the Republican Party that led to the formation of the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
, of which Pinchot and his brother were top leaders.
Pinchot ran for Senate in 1914
United States Senate election, 1914
With the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, the U.S. Senate elections of 1914 was the first time that all seats up for election were popularly elected instead of chosen by their state legislatures...
on the Progressive Party ticket and expressed interest in the presidency. After his campaign, Pinchot promoted American involvement in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, opposing President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's neutrality. The Progressives returned to their old parties and Pinchot rejoined the Republicans.
Pinchot founded the National Conservation Association, of which he was president from 1910 to 1925.
The fire storm of 1910 and the descent of the Forest Service
William (Bill) Greeley the son of a Congregational minister, who finished at the top of that first Yale forestry graduating class of 1904 was hand picked by Pinchot to be Region 1 forester of the Forest Service with responsibility over 41 million acres (165,921.3 km²) in 22 National Forests in 4 western states(all of Montana, much of Idaho, and Washington, and a corner of South Dakota).
One year after the 1910 forest fire inferno, Great Fire of 1910
Great Fire of 1910
The Great Fire of 1910 was a wildfire which burned about three million acres in northeast Washington, northern Idaho , and western Montana...
, the religious Greeley got himself promoted to a high administration job in Washington. In 1920, becoming Chief of the Forest Service. The fire of 1910 convinced him that Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
was at work and it saw his conversion into a fire extinguishing partisan who elevated firefighting to the raison d'être — the overriding mission — of the Forest Service. Under Greeley, the Service became the fire engine company, protecting trees so the timber industry could cut them down later at government expense. Pinchot was appalled. The timber industry was now the fox in the chicken coop.
Pinchot and Roosevelt had envisioned, at the least, that public timber should be sold only to small, family-run logging outfits, not the big syndicates. Pinchot had always preached of a "working forest" for working people and small scale logging at the edge, preservation at the core.
In 1928 Bill Greeley left the Forest Service for a position in the timber industry becoming an executive with the West Coast Lumberman's Association.
On his trip west in 1937, with Henry S. Graves
Henry S. Graves
Henry Solon Graves was a forest administrator in the United States. He founded the Yale School of Forestry in 1900, the oldest continuous forestry school in the United States...
, what Gifford Pinchot saw "tore his heart out." Greeley's legacy, modern chain saws, and government forest roads had allowed industrial clear-cuts to become the norm in the western national forests of Montana as in Oregon. Entire mountainsides, mountain after mountain, denuded of all trees.
"So this is what saving the trees was all about." "Absolute devastation" Pinchot wrote in his diary. "The Forest Service should absolutely declare against clear- cutting in Washington and Oregon as a defensive measure", Pinchot wrote.
First term as Governor of Pennsylvania
With Wilson's re-election in 1916
United States presidential election, 1916
The United States presidential election of 1916 took place while Europe was embroiled in World War I. Public sentiment in the still neutral United States leaned towards the British and French forces, due to the harsh treatment of civilians by the German Army, which had invaded and occupied large...
, Pinchot turned to Pennsylvania state politics. Governor William Sproul
William Cameron Sproul
William Cameron Sproul was the 27th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1919 to 1923. He was born near Octoraro and Andrew's Bridge, Colerain Township, Lancaster County. He was born in a structure currently known as the John Douglass HouseHe served as a member of Pennsylvania State Senate from 1897 to...
appointed him state Commissioner of Forestry in 1920. Pinchot's aim, however, was to become governor. His 1922 campaign for the office concentrated on popular reforms: government economy, enforcement of Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
and regulation of public utilities. He won by a wide margin. In 1924, Pinchot considered challenging President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
for the Republican nomination, but ultimately declined to run for the presidency.
In 1926, Governor Pinchot proposed his quasi-public "Giant Power" scheme for the state of Pennsylvania – which was very similar to Charles Steinmetz's plan to transmit electricity by high-voltage lines from power plants located adjacent to Pennsylvania coal mines – critics dismissed it as socialism. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
such a scheme materialized in the shape of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
(TVA).
Pinchot retired at the end of his term January 18, 1927. Following another unsuccessful attempt at the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, the Pinchots took a seven-month cruise to the South Seas.
Long road to a second term
In 1930, Pinchot won a second term as governor, battling for regulation of public utilities, the continuance of Prohibition, relief for the unemployed, and construction of paved roads to "get the farmers out of the mud."
Pinchot was worried about mounting a political comeback that year. “I don’t want to make a fool of myself,” he said a month before announcing his candidacy.
Pitted against Francis Shunk Brown, the candidate of William S. Vare
William S. Vare
William Scott Vare was an American construction contractor and Republican Party politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S House and won a contested election to the United States Senate.-Youth:Bill Vare was the youngest of three Vare brothers who were all...
’s powerful Philadelphia machine, and Thomas W. Phillips
Thomas Wharton Phillips, Jr.
Thomas Wharton Phillips, Jr. was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Thomas W. Phillips, Jr., , was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania...
, a former two-term congressman from western Pennsylvania, who was enthusiastically supported by the state’s “wet” forces, Pinchot overcame a deficit of nearly 200,000 votes in traditionally Republican Philadelphia to pull into a 12,000-vote lead on election night.
The 281,000 votes cast for former congressman Phillips, most of which came at Brown’s expense, appeared to have given Pinchot a narrow victory in the primary.
Brown’s attorneys immediately challenged the results, contending that some 60,000 ballots in Luzerne County should be tossed out because they had been perforated beforehand by county election officials in an attempt to prevent fraud. The legal battle ensued throughout the summer and nobody knew for sure who the Republican candidate for governor would be, especially since both men periodically claimed to be the nominee.
Ending four months of litigation and political turmoil, on August 20 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, while castigating the Luzerne Common Pleas Court for marking (perforating) the ballots in the first place, upheld an earlier lower court ruling and declared that all 60,000 perforated ballots were valid, thereby certifying Pinchot as the winner of the May 20 Republican primary.
As expected, a number of key Republicans abandoned the former governor during the autumn campaign, one of the most significant defections being that of wealthy William W. Atterbury, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, who resigned his seat on the Republican National Committee to actively support John M. Hemphill, Pinchot’s Democratic opponent.
Despite the opposition of many in his own party, including not only Vare’s powerful Philadelphia machine, but also many “wets” who revolted and created a separate Liberal Party that autumn — thereby giving the Democratic candidate two lines on the November ballot — Pinchot narrowly prevailed, defeating Hemphill by a margin of 1,068,874 to 1,010,204.
During his second term in office, Pinchot abolished the thug system of Coal and Iron Police appointed by his predecessor, Governor John Fisher
John Stuchell Fisher
John Stuchell Fisher was Pennsylvania's 29th Governor, a Republican.Fisher was born in South Mahoning Township, Pennsylvania, in 1867...
. When Prohibition
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...
was nationally repealed
Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition...
in 1933, and four days before the sale of alcohol became legal in Pennsylvania again, Pinchot called the Pennsylvania General Assembly into special session to debate regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol; this session led to the establishment of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is an independent government agency that manages the beverage alcohol industry in Pennsylvania. It is responsible for licensing the possession, sale, storage, transportation, importation, and manufacture of wine, spirits, and malt or brewed beverages in the...
and its system of state-run liquor stores, reflecting Pinchot's desire to "discourage the purchase of alcoholic beverages by making it as inconvenient and expensive as possible."
Later years
In 1934, Pinchot ran unsuccessfully for the senate a third time. Pinchot's final campaign, a bid for the GOP nomination for Governor in 1938, was also unsuccessful.
In his remaining years, the ex-governor gave advice to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, wrote a book about his life as a forester, and devised a fishing kit to be used in lifeboats during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He even instructed the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
on how to extract fresh water from fish.
Death and legacy
On October 4, 1946, he died aged 81, from leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
. He was survived by his wife, Cornelia Bryce, and his son Gifford Bryce Pinchot. He is interred at Milford Cemetery, Pike County, Pennsylvania
Pike County, Pennsylvania
-National protected areas:* Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area * Middle Delaware National Scenic River * Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River -Demographics:...
.
Perhaps because of pride in the first Gifford Pinchot's legacy, the Pinchot family has continued to name their sons Gifford, down to Gifford Pinchot IV.
Gifford Senior and his then thirteen-year-old son co-wrote a scientific travel-adventure book, entitled Giff and Stiff in the South Seas, copyright 1933, by the John C. Winston Co. of Philadelphia. Junior Gifford is the actual voice of the adventure, documenting in a young boy's language the scientific studies, observations, and adventures as father, mother, son, and companions sail on the Mary Pinchot from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
and on to the Galapagos, Marquesas and Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
. This Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
-like odyssey is accompanied by photos of the journey. Although the book is currently out of print, it can be found.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in southern Washington, USA. With an area of 1.37 million acres , it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the Columbia River. It includes the 110,000 acre Mount St....
in Washington and Gifford Pinchot State Park
Gifford Pinchot State Park
Gifford Pinchot State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Warrington Township, York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park contains wooded hillsides, reverting farm fields, and Pinchot Lake. It is near York and Harrisburg in the south-central part of the state.The park is named...
in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania
Lewisberry, Pennsylvania
Lewisberry is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 362 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Lewisberry is located at ....
, are named in his honor, as is Pinchot Hall at Penn State University. The Pinchot Sycamore
Pinchot Sycamore
The Pinchot Sycamore is a large American sycamore in Simsbury, Connecticut. It is the largest tree in Connecticut. When measured by the Connecticut Botanical Society in 1998, the Pinchot Sycamore was 26 feet around and 95 feet tall, with an average canopy diameter of 140 feet...
, the largest tree in his native state of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and second-largest sycamore
American sycamore
Platanus occidentalis, also known as American Sycamore, American plane, Occidental plane, and Buttonwood, is one of the species of Platanus native to North America...
on the Atlantic coast, still stands in Simsbury
Simsbury, Connecticut
Simsbury is a suburban town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 23,234 at the 2000 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's twenty-first town in May 1670.-Early history:...
, where he was born. The largest Coast Redwood in Muir Woods, California, is also named in his honor, as is Pinchot Pass in the Kings Canyon National Park in California.
The house where he was born belonged to his grandfather, Elijah Phelps, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. http://www.simsbury1820house.com/about.htm Grey Towers
Grey Towers National Historic Site
Grey Towers National Historic Site, also known as Gifford Pinchot House or The Pinchot Institute, is located just off US 6 west of Milford, Pennsylvania, in Dingman Township...
, the family home outside Milford, is a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
open to the public for tours.
The Pinchot Institute for Conservation is seated in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Gifford's son, Dr. Gifford Bryce Pinchot, donated Grey Towers National Historic Site
Grey Towers National Historic Site
Grey Towers National Historic Site, also known as Gifford Pinchot House or The Pinchot Institute, is located just off US 6 west of Milford, Pennsylvania, in Dingman Township...
to the Forest Service in 1963. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
accepted this gift from the Pinchot family and then dedicated the Pinchot Institute for Conservation. The Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization as of 1994, and today continues Pinchot's legacy of conservation leadership and sustainability in forestry. They partner with the Pinchot family and the Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
, at both the national level and at the Grey Towers National Historic Site
Grey Towers National Historic Site
Grey Towers National Historic Site, also known as Gifford Pinchot House or The Pinchot Institute, is located just off US 6 west of Milford, Pennsylvania, in Dingman Township...
Their work can be found at Pinchot.org.
Gifford Pinchot III
Gifford Pinchot III
Gifford Pinchot III is the grandson of Gifford Pinchot. He has carried on his grandfather's work in conservationism.In 1985 he wrote the best-selling book "Intrapreneuring" on the topic of Intrapreneurship; a revised edition, entitled "Intrapreneuring in Action" is currently published.In 2002, Mr...
, grandson of the first Gifford Pinchot, is co-founder and president of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute
Bainbridge Graduate Institute
The Bainbridge Graduate Institute is based in Bainbridge Island, Washington and Seattle, Washington. BGI offers an MBA in Sustainable Business, an MBA in Sustainable Systems and a Certificate in Sustainable Business. BGI's unique and pioneering curriculum infuses social- and...
, which offers a Master of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
degree integrating environmental sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
and social responsibility
Social responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual or organization has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the...
with innovation and profit.
See also
- List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s (23 Nov. 1925)
- Gifford Pinchot State ParkGifford Pinchot State ParkGifford Pinchot State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Warrington Township, York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park contains wooded hillsides, reverting farm fields, and Pinchot Lake. It is near York and Harrisburg in the south-central part of the state.The park is named...
a Pennsylvania state park in York CountyYork County, PennsylvaniaYork County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 434,972. It is in the Susquehanna Valley, a large fertile agricultural region in South Central Pennsylvania....
, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... - Gifford Pinchot National ForestGifford Pinchot National ForestGifford Pinchot National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in southern Washington, USA. With an area of 1.37 million acres , it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the Columbia River. It includes the 110,000 acre Mount St....
a United States National ForestUnited States National ForestNational Forest is a classification of federal lands in the United States.National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. Land management of these areas...
in Washington - National Irrigation CongressNational Irrigation CongressThe National Irrigation Congress was held periodically in the Western United States beginning in 1891 and ending in 1916, by which time the organization had changed its name to International Irrigation Congress. It was a "powerful pressure group."...
External links
- Gifford Pinchot at the Forest History SocietyForest History SocietyThe Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history. The society was established in 1946 and incorporated in 1955....
- Pinchot Institute for Conservation
- Pike County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society
- http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/Grey Towers National Historical Site, Milford, PennsylvaniaMilford, PennsylvaniaMilford is a borough in Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat. Its population was 1,021 at the 2010 census. It was founded in 1796 by Judge John Biddis, one of the state's first four circuit judges, who named the settlement after his ancestral home in Wales.Milford has a...
] - Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science
- Dramatic Portrayal of Gifford Pinchot
- Bainbridge Graduate Institute