Gifford+Pinchot

**Gifford Pinchot** (August 11, 1865 – October 4, 1946) was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905–1910) and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania (1923–1927, 1931–1935). Gifford Pinchot was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1865. He went to Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University and graduated in 1889. He was part of the Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He is well known for something he calls, conversation ethic. This is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection (wikipedia). Hi s family made their living from lumbering. They were very wealthy however, his father regretted how his business hurt the land. He wanted Gifford to become a forester. Together they made the school Yale School of Forestry in 1900; he also established the Society of American Foresters in this year. Since his family was wealthy Gifford had an advantage over other environmentalists. He could spend all of his time and energy into his passion not worrying about how he would make a living (wikipedia). "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 Muir, who were deeply opposed to commercializing nature" (wikipedia). 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. "He became head of the Division of Forestry in 1898 and under President Theodore Roosevelt was named Chief Forester of the redefined U.S. Forest Service" (Gifford Pinchot).

At the time of this photo he was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service. ||
 * Gifford Pinchot, 1909, by Pirie MacDonald.

Works Cited- "Gifford Pinchot." //United States History//. Google. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. . "Gifford Pinchot." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. 07 Feb. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. .