Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot, America's first professionally trained forester and two-time governor of Pennsylvania, rose to national prominence as a conservationist in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt.

After studying at Yale, Pinchot furthered his education at a French forestry school, where he learned the value of selective rather than unrestrained harvesting of forests. In 1898, Pinchot was appointed chief of the Division of Forestry (later the Bureau) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a recognition of his advanced training in forestry and the need to protect American forests. In 1905, the Bureau was given control of the national forest reserves, and was renamed the Forest Service.

It was Roosevelt and Pinchot who gave the name "conservation" to the movement for the preservation and wise use of all natural resources. They observed what they considered to be the reckless exploitation of these resources for private profit, and they predicted that unless scientific management of resources was required, America would fail to meet its future needs. Under Pinchot, the Forest Service added millions of acres to the national forests, controlled their use, and regulated their harvest.

In 1922, Pinchot was elected governor of Pennsylvania. He served one term, left office, and was re-elected in 1930. In his second term as governor, he battled for the regulation of public utilities, relief for the unemployed, and construction of paved roads to "get the farmers out of the mud." "Pinchot Roads" were promoted for the benefit of the farmer to transport his product to the consumer. Economical, but adequate, means were devised to pave 20 thousand miles of road. A limited amount of machinery was used so that more work could be given to the unemployed. This was probably the accomplishment for which Pinchot was best remembered as governor.

In his later years, Pinchot was heard to say, "I am a governor now and then, but I am a forester all the time."

Source: Gifford Pinchot. Historic Pennsylvania Leaflet No. 39. Published by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Harrisburg, 1976. Text by Patricia E. Bixler; edited by Harold L. Myers.

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