Childhood
Gifford Pinchot was the first forester in America. He was born in 1865. He was born in Simsbury, Connecticut. When he was a child he loved to play outdoors in the water. He would rather collect bugs and worms than go to any of his parent’s get-togethers in a white suit. Gifford’s father, James Pinchot liked the outdoors, too. They liked to go on trails and scavenger hunts together.
 US Forest Service |
How It All Began
James did like the outdoors yet he was
worried about all the forests being destroyed and trees being cut down.
James wondered about this the whole summer of 1885. Finally James asked
his son,” What would you think about becoming a forester?” Gifford wasn’t
quite sure what a forester did but he knew they spent a lot of time in
the woods, which was what he liked to do.
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College
By college, that fall, Gifford was sure
he wanted to be a forester. In 1889 he met a man
who was a forester, Bernhard Fernow. Bernard
suggested that Gifford be a botanist or a gardener instead, because the
government doesn’t do much to help forests. Just a few weeks before Gifford
would graduate from Yale, his grandfather also wanted Gifford to
drop the idea of being a forester. His
Grandfather believed that he should take on the family business. But Gifford
wasn’t planing on giving up his dream.
 US Forest Service |
Shortly after he graduated, he traveled
to France and England to meet professional foresters. Finally, Gifford
was getting the firsthand experience he needed. In France, Gifford learned
everything he needed to Know about harvesting trees. In England Gifford
attended many classes for foresters. The more he learned about the forest
the more he loved it. Gifford returned to the United States. There he met
his lovely wife, Cornelia Bryce. They were married on August 14, 1914.
Gifford and His Family US Forest Service |
George W. Vanderbilt’s estate took up more than 7,000 acres across the French Broad River in North Carolina. He had farms, but because of poor soil, his crops never grew. Gifford was offered the job of managing the forests by George Vanderbilt and he accepted in December of 1891. He had a big challenge. He would have to manage forests that had been burnt, slashed and over grazed.
And to top it all off, Biltmore would be
the first American woodland to be managed by a forester. Gifford had to
prove that forestry worked. First Gifford would have to get out into the
forest. He counted and sorted and logged the trees. Gifford became a great
forester.
He spent so much time with trees; he almost
lived with them. After Gifford’s first year of being a forester, he had
already cut down diseased trees and made the forests healthier and bigger.
Gifford decided he had worked for George
so long that he was ready to start his own business… and that’s just what
he did. He contacted people who had struggling forests
and gave them tips on how to make their
forests better. Gifford traveled around the United States Examining
trees and damage to them. Gifford managed to convince President Cleveland
to set up 13 new forest reserves.
Gifford worked so hard he was given the
privilege of Chief Forester in 1898. Gifford took his job very seriously
and traveled near and far managing forests and making them better.
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Teddy Roosevelt
When the new president, Theodore Roosevelt
came into office in 1901, he started to admire Gifford’s work. Gifford
and Teddy became great friends. Teddy set up lookout towers for people
to look for forest fires. More forests were popping up all over the nation.
George Vanderbilt contacted Gifford.
George W. Vanderbilt had bought hundreds of thousands more acres to add to his lot. He needed Gifford again to manage his forests. Gifford gladly agreed.
Soon after Gifford died in 1946 Vanderbilt’s
lot became Pisgah National Forest.
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 Gifford and Theodore Roosevelt standing on a boat going down the Mississippi River |