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The first state forestland in the northeast was created in 1902 when 2,854 acres were purchased in Lackawanna County.
Since then, the growth of the state forest in our area has been widespread, totalling nearly 48,000 acres across Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna and Wayne counties.
It’s only fitting that the expansive holding be named after someone whose impact on conservation was equally significant.
In early August, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources renamed the Lackawanna State Forest District the Pinchot Forest District. It’s a good choice.
For practical reasons, the previous name created some confusion among visitors to tracts that are located outside of Lackawanna County. Having a state forest district that carries the same name as a county but is spread across several others made it hard for some visitors to grasp exactly what was located where.
Even more confusing was the Lackawanna State Forest, which was in the former Lackawanna State Forest District and includes more than 27,000 acres across Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. To clarify things, the DCNR also renamed this acreage the Pinchot State Forest.
The name change is good for more than just practical reasons, however.
It’s fitting for historical reasons as well.
Gifford Pinchot, after whom the forest district is now named, was a pioneer in the forestry field both nationally and right here in Pennsylvania. He’s considered the nation’s first forester and served as the Division of Forestry chief under president Theodore Roosevelt for several years. During that time, Pinchot led the push for government purchases of land across the west to be integrated into the national forest system.
The purchases totalled millions of acres and Pinchot pioneered the effort not as a “land grab” but for reasons of conservation. He saw the vast clearcuts that left the landscape barren, and Pinchot listened with concern to the common belief that timber was an inexhaustible resource.
It wasn’t, and Pinchot knew the mindset had to change. Pinchot was unique at the time because he believed the forests could be managed for sustainability. They needed to be conserved and protected yet still allowed to yield timber in a manageable fashion.
It’s a principle that’s widely applied to forest management today, but during a time when trees were being cut with reckless abandon and the landscape transformed into a barren wasteland, Pinchot was ahead of his time.
After Pinchot’s work on the national level came to an end in the early 1900s, he came to Pennsylvania where his conservation efforts continued.
As part of his legacy, Pinchot left behind numerous quotes that exemplify his belief in conservation. One of the most popular Pinchot quotes – “Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run,” refers to his belief in managing forests to benefit future generations.
My favorite Pinchot statement was the answer he gave when his father asked if he’d like to be a forester.
“I had no more conception of what it meant to be a forester than the man in the moon….But at least a forester worked in the woods and with the woods – and I loved the woods and everything about them.”
I agree.
Still, Pennsylvania isn’t the only place where Pinchot’s work as a conservationist is remembered.
In Washington state, there is a 1.3 million acre tract that’s named the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
It’s fitting that a person who had such a far-reaching impact on forestry and conservation be remembered by having his name attached to such expansive tracts of forest, from northeastern Pennsylvania all the way to Washington state.