Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot, born in 1865 in Simsbury, Connecticut, grew up in an upper class family where he was given a number of opportunities to travel around the country and the world where he grew a great appreciation for the forests. He loved being in the forests and learning about them, so when his father asked him when he was enrolling in Yale how he would feel about becoming the first person in the United States to make forestry his profession, it only seemed natural to do so.

Unfortunately, Yale did not offer any classes that were remotely close to forestry, so after graduation Pinchot went to France to further his studies. After a year, he came back to the United States to pursue his dream of forestry. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the Chief of the division of Forestry in 1898 as a part of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1905, the Department of Agriculture added a new Forest Service where Pinchot became chief, getting the nod from President Theodore Roosevelt.

In his time as the Chief of Forestry, Pinchot restructured forestry in the United States by expanding the forests and making them more healthy. Pinchot has been known as the father of American conservation because of his development of forests as well as forestry programs in the states.

http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/people/Pinchot/Pinchot.aspx