University of North Carolina at Asheville
D.H. Ramsey Library
Special Collections/University Archives

Gifford Pinchot
(1865- 1946)
Biography Pinchot is well-known as one of America's leading advocates of the environment and conservation at the turn of the 20th century. He was born in 1865 to a wealthy family and in later years was able to use his money and his love of nature in order to raise awareness for the protection of the environment. He graduated from Yale in 1889 and from there moved to France to study forestry at L'Ecole Nationale Forestiere. In 1890 he returned to the U.S. and turned forestry conservation and environmental awareness into a national movement. He was appointed as Head of the Division of Forestry in 1898 by Theodore Roosevelt and was later named Chief Forester of the United States Forest Service. Under Pinchot, national forests in the USA increased from 32 in 1898 to 149 in 1910 and encompassed an area of 193 million acres. Together, Pinchot and Roosevelt made environmental conservation a public issue and a significant part of domestic policy.  
Subjects Pinchot, Gifford
United States Forest Service
Forests and Forestry --- United States
Forestry and Community
Forestry Extension North Carolina
Forestry Extension Southern States
Forestry Industry
Forestry Innovations
Forestry Schools and Education
Forestry Schools and Education --- North Carolina
United States Department of the Interior

Bibliography

Rothrock, Joseph T. editorial concerning Forestry at the Columbian Exposition. Forest Leaves (PA), December 1893.

Sargent, Charles S. Mr. Vanderbilt’s Forest. Garden and 
Forest February 21, 1894.

Holmes, Joseph A. Letters Concerning Gifford Pinchot and the NCGS. North Carolina Department of Cultural History, April 
and May 1894.

Ashe, W. W. and Pinchot, Gifford. Timber Trees and Forests of North Carolina. NCGS Bulletin #6. M.I.-J.C. Stewart Public Printers, 1897.

Pinchot, Gifford. A Primer of Forestry: Part 1 – The Forest. Bulletin #24. US Government Printing Office, 1903. 
{original edition September 22, 1899; second edition October 
24, 1900.}

Pinchot, Gifford. A Primer of Forestry: Part 2 – Practical Forestry. Bulletin #24. US Government Printing Office, 1905. 
{transmitted June 26, 1903}

Pinchot, Gifford. Statement of Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Chief of Forest Service of the United States Dep. of  Agriculture. Agriculture Approp. Bill, US Congress, House of Representatives, January 30, 1908. {pg 730-732}

Munns, E. N. and Brown R. M. Volume Tables for the Important Timber Trees of the United States. USDA-Gov. Print. Office, 1925.  
{Part II - Eastern Conifers has one of Pinchot’s tables for red spruce in NY}

Editors of the Journal of Forestry. Our Charter Members.
Journal of Forestry (SAF), November 1940. {pgs 831-845}

Munns, E. N. A Selected Bibliography of North American Forestry (Volume I). USDA - Government Printing Office (Miscellaneous Publication # 364), 1940.  {forty-seven publications by Gifford Pinchot are listed in Authors Index}

Editors of the Journal of Forestry Gifford Pinchot – Eighty Years Young. Journal of Forestry (SAF), August 1945.                                
{contains articles by numerous men who worked with Gifford Pinchot}

Pinchot, Gifford. Breaking New Ground. Island Press, 1947 [1974].

Winters, Robert K. Fifty Years of Forestry in the U.S.A. Society of American Foresters, 1950.

Pinkett, Harold T. Gifford Pinchot at Biltmore. North 
Carolina Historical Review, July 1957.

Hosmer, Ralph L. The Society of American Foresters: An Historical Summary. Journal of Forestry (SAF), October 
1960.

Clepper, Henry and Meyer, Arthur B. American Forestry: 
Six Decades of Growth Society of American Foresters, 1960.

Pinkett, Harold T. Gifford Pinchot: Private and Public Forester. University of Illinois Press, 1970.

Eliot, John L. Teddy Roosevelt’s Wilderness Legacy. National Geographic, September 1982.

Walsh, Barry W. Natural Cycles. Wilderness (TWS), Winter 1989.  
{photo of Pinchot in old age}

Tight, Ben T. Bernhard Fernow and Prussian Forestry in America. Journal of Forestry (SAF), February 1990.

Spokane Daily Chronicle. Pinchot, In His Fighting Mood, 
Defies Corporate Interests and Delegates Cheer. Transitions, March 1991.

Pinchot, Gifford. The Lines Are Drawn (reprint of JOF, December 1919). Transitions, March 1991.

Miller, Char. The Prussians Are Coming! Journal of Forestry (SAF), March 1991.

Clow, Richmond L. Timber Users, Timber Savers. Forest History Today (FHS), 1998.                                                                                
{details a Gifford Pinchot trip to the Black Hills (fall 1897) and accompanying events} 

Ellefson, Paul V. Has Gifford Pinchot’s Regulatory Vision 
Been Realized? Journal of Forestry (SAF), May 2000.

*Miller, Char. Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism. Island Press, 2001.

*Steen, Herald K. The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot. Forest History Society, 2001.

Balogh, Brian. Scientific Forestry and the Roots of the 
Modern American State: Gifford Pinchot’s Path to Progressive Reform. Environmental History, April 2002.

Miller, Char. Gallery – Char Miller on Gifford Pichot, Photographer. Environmental History, April 2003. (pgs 312-
315)

Some Sources That Refer to Pinchot:

Frome, Michael. Whose Woods These Are. Doubleday & Company Inc., 1962.

Schenck, Carl A. The Birth of Forestry in America: 
Biltmore Forest School 1898-1913. Forest History Society, 1974.

Ogburn, Charlton. The Southern Appalachians: A Wilderness Quest. 1975.  
{mentions Pinchot and Holmes}

Steen, Harold K. The U. S. Forest Service: A History. University of Washington Press, 1976 [1977–1991].

Powell, William S. Gifford Pinchot. The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1979-1994.

Davis, Richard C. Conference of Governors. Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation History – Macmillan Publishing Company, 1983.  (pgs 97-98)

Davis, Richard C. Society of American Foresters. Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation History Macmillan Publishing Company, 1983.  
{a history of the society is on pgs 612-613}

Meine, Curt Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work. University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.  {pgs 75-80 etc.}

Wolf, Tom. The Los Utes Case: Forestry Seeks Its Soul. American Forests (AFA), December 1990.

Hirt, Paul W. A Conspiracy of Optimism: Management of 
the National Forests Since World War Two. University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Earley, Lawrence S. Forestry for the New Millennium.
Wildlife in North Carolina, November 1998.

Williams, Gerald W. The USDA Forest Service: The First Century. USDA Forest Service, 2000.

Pinchot, Gifford. What It All Means. Wild Earth, summer 2000.

Miller, Char. Thinking Like a Conservationist. Journal of Forestry (SAF), December 2002.

Limerick, Patricia N. Forestry and Modern 
Environmentalism: Ending the Cold War. Journal of Forestry (SAF), December, 2002.

Note: Two different photos of G. Pinchot were found in 
Forestry and Irrigation (AFA), Dec. 1902 &  Dec. 1904.

* sources found in libraries or archives but not acquired.
Relation Pinchot, Gifford. Biltmore Forest. New York:  Arno, 1970.  (Reprint of 1893 edition, available at UNCA Ramsey Library Special Collections) ;  Pinchot, Gifford. Breaking New Ground. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1947.  (Autobiography, published posthumously, available in UNCA Ramsey Library General Collection).  Pinchot, Gifford.  A primer of forestry.  Washington : G.P.O., 1899-1905.  (Available in both UNCA Ramsey Library General Collection and Special Collections).  Pinchot, Gifford and W.W. Ashe.  Timber trees and forests of North Carolina.  Winston, M. I. & J. C. Stewart, public printers, 1897.  (Available in UNCA Ramsey Library Special Collections).
Citation  U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Processed by Special Collections staff - Erica Ojermark