Gifford Pinchot was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, United States on August 11, 1865 and died on October 4, 1946. He was the son of a wooden baron who later regretted the damage he had done to the American forest.
Pinchot is the son of James W. Pinchot, a quite successful wallpaper dealer in New York City, and a mother named Mary Eno, the daughter of one of the richest real estate developers in New York City, Amos Eno.
Pinchot graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and in 1889 graduated from Yale University where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He has a brother, Amos Pinchot and Antoinette’s sister.
A Career from Gifford Pinchot
His career continued when President Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States asked him to lead the U.S. Forestry Service. Pinchot served as the first United States Forestry Service Head from 1905 until his dismissal in 1910.
When he worked, he gained a lot of resistance, he openly fought John Muir for the destruction of the wilderness like Hetch Hetchy in California, while he was also criticized by timber companies for closing land for their exploitation.
Pinchot was the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania, served from 1923 to 1927, and served again from 1931 to 1935. Most of his life was as a member of the Republican Party, although he also joined the Progressive Party for a relatively short period.
Pinchot is known as a person who reforms forest management and development in the United States and struggles to advocate for conservation of the country’s reserves with planned uses and updates.
He called it “the art of producing from any forest that can produce to serve humans.” Pinchot created the term of conservation ethics as applied to natural resources.
Pinchot’s main contribution is promoting scientific forestry and beneficial forest use and other natural resources so that the results will be for the benefit to all humanity.
Pinchot was also the first to demonstrate the practicality and profitability of managing forests for sustainable planting. During his tenure, he has succeeded in placing forest conservation on America’s priority list.
Gifford Pinchot and his contribution to the environment
Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington and Gifford Pinchot State Park in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, are named in honor of his services. As well as the name given to Pinchot Hall at Penn State University. Similarly, the Pinchot Pass on the John Muir Trail in Kings Canyon National Park in California is given to honor its services.
Pinchot Sycamore is the largest tree in the state of Connecticut and the second largest sycamore on the Atlantic coast and the tree still stands in Simsbury. The house where Pinchot was born belonged to his grandfather, Captain Elisha Phelps, and the house was included in the List of National Historic Places.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy handed over a family summer retreat home named Pinchot institute or Gifford Pinchot house to give to the U.S. Forestry Service. The house was donated by his son Dr. Gifford Bryce Pinchot. The house remains the only National Historic Landmark operated by the federal agency.
Despite budget cuts and damage due to Hurricane Sandy but thanks to assistance from the Heritage Association, the general public can still see and visit the house in the summer.
The Pinchot family also provides the Pinchot Conservation Institute, whose offices continue to operate at the Gray Towers and headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Institute continues the conservation heritage and environmental sustainability of the leadership of Gifford Pinchot.
