Who was Gifford Pinchot?
As founder and first chief of the USDA Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot implemented the groundbreaking concept of conservation, or sustainable use of our natural resources. An eminent conservationist, he helped crate the National Forest System, which today comprises nearly 193 million acres. As two-term governor of Pennsylvania, Gifford along with his wife Cornelia, made tremendous changes in the economic, social and political climate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
For one thing, he was the nation s first Chief Forester, the first Chief of the Forest Service. But he was more. Almost four decades ago, President John F. Kennedy first came here to dedicate Grey Towers. Gifford Pinchot, he said, was more than a forester; he was the Father of American Conservation. Pinchot made conservation a household word. Thanks to the generosity of the Pinchot family, Grey Towers is more than a piece of our national heritage. It is also a piece of our future. In dedicating the Pinchot Institute for Conservation here at Grey Towers, President Kennedy defined its role. It is far more fitting and proper, said the President, rather than merely honor what [Pinchot] did, to dedicate this institute to active work today. By it s nature, it looks to the future and not to the past. Today, as we look to the future, three points in our national destiny come together at Grey Towers: the turn of the twentieth century and the birth of conservation; the 1960s and a rebirth of con
As founder and first chief of the USDA Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot implemented the groundbreaking concept of conservation, or sustainable use of our natural resources. An eminent conservationist, he helped crate the National Forest System, which today comprises nearly 193 million acres. As two-term governor of Pennsylvania, Gifford along with his wife Cornelia, made tremendous changes in the economic, social and political climate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Grey Towers is about an hour’s drive west of NYC. It’s located on the Eastern end of the Pocono resort area.
