Grey Towars Nat.Hist.Landwark Grey Towers National Historic Landmark - Local Links - Historical Information - Gifford Pinchot Page 1 of 3 Grey Towers National Historic Site Historical Information Related Links Conservation Home > Historical Information > Gifford Pinchot Information about the early Conservation Movement and Gifford Pinchot's influence. Gifford Pinchot (1865 - 1946) Gifford Bryce Pinchot Gifford Pinchot was one of America's leading advocates of environmental Son of Gifford and Cornelia, donated conservation at the turn of the twentieth century. Born into wealth and endowed Grey Towers to the USDA Forest with imagination and a love of nature, he shared his money, possessions and Service in 1963 intellect to further the causes of the common good. It was at Grey Towers that James Pinchot first encouraged his son to explore the Gifford Pinchot Performance profession of forestry. But such training did not yet exist in the United States, so, Theatrical production about Gifford after graduating from Yale University in 1889, Gifford went abroad to study at Pinchot and the early conservation L'Ecole Nationale Forestiere in Nancy, France. movement "When I got home at the end of 1890 the nation was obsessed by a fury of Governor Pinchot development. The American Colossus was fiercely intent on appropriating and Gifford served two terms as Governor of exploiting the riches of the richest of all continents." Pennsylvania. With equal fervor Pinchot set to work. In the next two decades he raised forestry and conservation of all our natural resources from an unknown experiment to a nationwide movement. He became head of the Division Maxims of Forestry in 1898 and under President Theodore Roosevelt was named Chief Forester of the redefined U.S. Forest Service. National forest management was guided by Pinchot's principle, "the greatest good of Gifford Pinchot's maxims to guide the greatest number in the long run." His magnetic personal leadership inspired and ignited the new foresters in public office organization. During his government service, the number of national forests increased from 32 in 1898 to 149 in 1910 for Theodore Roosevelt a total of 193 million acres. Pinchot and Roosevelt together made conservation public issue and national Information about Pinchot's relationship policy. Roosevelt considered the enactment of a conservation program his greatest contribution to Americanwith Roosevelt domestic policy. In speaking of Gifford Pinchot's role: Writings " among the many, many public officials who under my administration rendered literally invaluable Selected bibliography of publications by service to the people of the United States, Gifford Pinchot on the whole, stood first." Theodore Roosevelt and about Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot was born at Simsbury, Connecticut, on August 11, 1865, in a house recently purchased by Yale School of Forestry his grandfather, Amos R. Eno. The home had earlier been owned by Gifford's great grandfather, Elisha Endowed by James and Mary Pinchot Phelps, a distinguished politician who served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives during the with summer camp sessions held in 1820's. Milford near Grey Towers Gifford grew up spending his early summers with relatives in Connecticut and the rest of his time in New York City. Because of his father's business interests abroad, the family traveled extensively while Gifford was a child. He prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and in the fall of 1885, entered Yale University. Deciding to pursue forestry, and finding no such beast at Yale, he left for Europe after graduation to pursue his dream. The then renowned German forester, Dietrich Brandis, encouraged him to enroll in the Ecole Nationale Forestiere in Nancy, France. Impatient with the courses at Nancy, Gifford thirsted for practical experience and dropped out after a year. Upon returning to the United States in 1891, he took a job surveying forest lands for the Phelps-Dodge Company. Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous landscape architect and an old friend of Gifford's father, soon recommended him to George Vanderbilt who hired the young forester to work on lands at his Biltmore estate near Asheville, North Carolina. Pinchot set out to prove that forestry could both produce timber for harvest and maintain the forest for future generations. He took on other jobs, gained experience and sowed the seeds of his profession. Fending off constant pressure from his Grandfather Eno to join the family business and make a fortune, Gifford, who had already inherited a fortune, stuck with forestry. Soon he was Chief of the little Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture. His outstanding ability as an administrator generated strong loyalty from the small staff. He flooded the press with the nation's need for forestry and began to influence public opinion. In 1905, he succeeded in getting all the country's Federal forest reserves (later renamed National Forests) transferred to his agency, by then called the Forest Service. http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/local-links/historical-info/gifford/gifford.shtml 7/13/2005 Grey Towers National Historic Landmark - Local Links - Historical Information - Gifford Pinchot Page 2 of 3 Pinchot extended Federal regulation to all resources in the national forests, including grazing, water power dam sites and mineral rights. The close friendship he had with President Theodore Roosevelt catalyzed the achievements of the conservation movement of the early 1900s. The two men held common interests. Pinchot soon became a confidant and a member of the President's inner circle, advising him on all conservation questions and frequently writing his speeches and policy statements. Pinchot also served on a number of Roosevelt's commissions--Commission on the Organization of Government Scientific Work, the Commission on Public Lands, the Commission on Departmental Methods, the Inland Waterways Commission, and the Country Life Commission. The 1908 Governors' Conference on Conservation, largely financed from Pinchot's personal income, brought conservation fully into public view. Attended by governors, members of Congress and the Cabinet, Supreme Court judges and prominent private citizens, it was the first meeting of its kind to address the problem of protection and management of natural resources. Shortly after, Pinchot was appointed chairman of the National Conservation Committee, whose task was to prepare an inventory of the United States' natural resources. In February 1909, the North American Conservation Conference convened at the forester's suggestion. Plans followed for an international conference to be held at The Hague but was aborted by change in administrations. Pinchot did not share with President William Howard Taft the personal relationship he had enjoyed with Roosevelt. Taft was not an advocate of conservation. Nor, in Pinchot's view, was the President's new Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger. Ballinger wanted to turn some Alaskan coal lands in the public domain over to private ownership. After a long battle, the indignant Pinchot, through a Senator, attacked both Ballinger and Taft on the floors of Congress. Taft fired him. The public was outraged, which is what Pinchot wanted, and the eventual backlash brought conservation back into the public arena. The outcry against Pinchot's firing and his continued popularity undoubtedly fueled his thoughts for a political future. He formed and financed the National Conservation Association and served as its president from 1910 to 1925. The organization's two main objectives were to fight the movement to give the national forests over to the states, and to control power development on government property. When Roosevelt failed to win the Republican presidential nomination from Taft in 1912, Pinchot took an active role in founding the new Progressive Party, commonly known as the Bull Moose Party. The forester represented the more radical wing of the party's politics and made strong statements on the need for stricter antitrust laws and innovative social reforms. In 1914, running on the Progressive platform, Pinchot became a candidate for an elective office for the first time with his bid to win a United States Senate seat in Pennsylvania. He lost. That same year, at the age of forty-nine, Pinchot married Cornelia Bryce, great-granddaughter of industrialist Peter Cooper and daughter of Lloyd Bryce, the distinguished publisher of North American Review, U.S. minister to the Netherlands, congressman and novelist. A wealthy woman in her early thirties, Cornelia had already begun an independent political life as a champion of the working woman and an advocate of women's suffrage. Roosevelt considered her to have one of the best political minds he had ever known. Throughout much of his life in politics, Pinchot's name had been occasionally thrown around as a possible Presidential candidate. It never happened. He was eventually elected to public office as Governor of Pennsylvania in 1922, largely through the support of rural counties and the new women's vote. During his 1923-1927 administration, his major goals were the regulation of electric power companies and the enforcement of Prohibition. In a crusade for "clean politics," he reorganized state government, did away with many long-standing political practices, eliminated the state's $23,000,000 deficit, settled the anthracite coal strike of 1923 and was known for his accessibility to the public. Because Pennsylvania governors were then prohibited from successive terms, Pinchot ran again for the Senate and lost. But in 1931, he began his second term as Pennsylvania's governor during the depression years. He advocated Federal economic relief for states and donated a quarter of his own gross salary for one year. He successfully pressed for large reductions in utility rates and built twenty thousand miles of paved rural roads to "get the farmer out of the mud." http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/local-links/historical-info/gifford/gifford.shtml 7/13/2005 Grey Towers National Historic Landmark - Local Links - Historical Information - Gifford Pinchot Page 3 of 3 When Pinchot left office in 1935, he was seventy years old. He made a third run for the Senate and later again for the governorship. Both campaigns stalled in the primaries. During his last decade, he fought the transfer of the Forest Service from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior, an agency he insisted was still corrupt. He assisted his wife in her political career and a third unsuccessful bid for a Congressional seat. During World War II, he developed for the Navy a special fishing kit to help sailors adrift in lifeboats survive. The military commended him for saving countless lives. Shortly before his death, he completed a ten-year effort to write an autobiographical account of his work between 1889 and 1910 and his part in the development of forestry and conservation in the United States. Breaking New Ground, the title excerpted from a Roosevelt accolade, was published posthumously in 1947. Other writings that Pinchot had authored included The Fight for Conservation, a dozen monographs on forestry subjects, a popular book on his journey to the South Seas, and approximately 150 published articles, reports, bulletins, lectures and addresses. On October 4,1946, at the age of eighty-one, Gifford Pinchot died in New York City of leukemia. http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/local-links/historical-info/gifford/gifford.shtm 7/13/2005 Grey Towers National Historic Landmark - Local Links - Historical Information - Cornelia Page 1 of 2 Grey Towers National Historic Site Historical Information Related Links Gifford Pinchot Home > Historical Information > Cornelia Cornelia's husband was the first Chief of the US Forest Service and twice Governor of Pennsylvania. Cornelia Bryce Pinchot (1881 - 1960) Gifford Bryce Pinchot The daughter of wealthy journalist and politician, Lloyd Bryce, Cornelia and Gifford son donated Grey Cornelia grew up in Victorian circles similar to those of the Towers to the US Forest Service in 1963 Pinchots. Known as "Leila" by family and friends, she was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1881, educated in private schools and traveled frequently with her parents in Europe. Her great grandfather, Peter Cooper, founded Cooper Union, a free college of science and engineering in New York City. A natural born rebel, Cornelia had spirit, drive and independent means. Her friend Theodore Roosevelt called her political mind one of the keenest he had ever known. She was attractive, dressed in flamboyant clothes and dyed her hair red. Her crusading nature invaded the Progressive ranks in 1912 and later led to a political career of her own. She met Gifford Pinchot during the Bull Moose campaign and married him in 1914. Theodore Roosevelt attended the wedding. A few days later, Gifford's mother, Mary Pinchot, died. Cornelia's first impression of Grey Towers was of a dreary castle standing naked on a hill. Using much of her own money, she decided to "jazz it up." Her exterior remodeling included additional gardens, an outdoor dining area with a unique water table, a partial moat, an elaborate playhouse for their son and an office for Gifford called the Letterbox. Inside the mansion, she combined rooms, added windows and redecorated extensively. A passionate gardener, Cornelia's visitors often had to grab a rake and head outside if they had any hope for conversation. Her political interests began with woman's suffrage, a cause she supported vigorously. She spoke out for birth control, women's rights and educational reform and blasted sweat shops and those who abused child labor in the work place. Cornelia encouraged women to take an active part in politics and career, served on the local school board, supported prohibition and was one of the first prominent women to take a ride in an airplane. When Gifford Pinchot ran for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1921, Cornelia did more than cast a ballot--a hard won right granted in 1920--she hit the campaign trail. Running. She warned her husband that women wanted more than "hot air and generalities" and contributed significantly to the League of Women Voters supporting him. Starting out with odds against of 100 to 1, the Pinchots campaigned tirelessly for honesty in government and "cleaning up the mess in Harrisburg." When the dust had cleared, Gifford stood victorious. "It was due to Mrs. Pinchot and the women she organized, far more than to any other single factor, that we won." In 1928, promoting trade unionism and labor law reform, Cornelia ran for Congress and lost. Over the next decade she tried twice more for a congressional nomination and once for the governorship, all without success. http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/local-links/historical-info/cornelia.shtml 7/13/2005 Grey Towers National Historic Landmark - Local Links - Historical Information - Cornelia Page 2 of 2 "If you are a woman and marry a Pinchot, or if you elect to buck the dominant political machine (and one follows the other as the night the day), you must expect to lose just so often--possibly half the time. But it is a good game whether one loses or not." Her influence worked its way into Gifford's view of conservation, adding a human component to the scientific management of natural resources. Years later in a speech he said: The conservation problem is not concerned only with the natural resources of the Earth. Rightly understood, it includes also the relation of these resources and of their scarcity or abundance to the wretchedness or prosperity, the weakness or strength of peoples, their leaning towards war or towards peace, and their numbers and distribution over the Earth. In 1949, Cornelia spoke at a dedication in Washington state renaming the Columbia National Forest to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in honor of her late husband. By that time, according to her daughter-in- law, some of the spark had gone out of her eyes. But though she missed Gifford dearly, her interest in public affairs did not end with his passing. Continuing to live in both Milford and Washington, D.C., she held several diplomatic positions and served as a delegate to the United Nations Scientific Conference on Conservation and Utilization of Resources in 1949. She also made goodwill visits to several countries of the Mediterranean at the request of the President of the United States. Dame Margot Fonteyne, the famous British ballerina who joined the Royal Ballet in 1934 and began her acclaimed partnership with Rudolf Nureyev in 1962, once visited Cornelia "One crisp early autumn day Tito drove me to Milford, in the Pocono Mountains, to the house of Mrs. Pinchot, an imposing and very intelligent lady who was the widow of a Pennsylvania Governor, Gifford Pinchot. She looked like Queen Elizabeth I, with Handsome features and red hair." Cornelia died in Washington, D.C. in 1960. http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/local-links/historical-info/cornelia.shtml 7/13/2005 Verizon Yahoo! Mail - eppster2@verizon.net Page 1 of 2 Verizon Yahoo! Mail Verizon Central Yahoo! Search: Web Search YAHOO! Welcome, eppster2@verizon Mail Home All-New Mail Tutorials verizon MAIL Classic [Sign Out, Member Center Help Mail Contacts Calendar Notepad Options Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Folders [Add - Edit] Previous Next I Back to Messages Inbox Delete Reply Forward Move Draft Sent This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Printable View Unread ] Bulk [Empty] Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:02:40 -0700 (PDT) Trash [Empty] "ELIZABETH and RONALD EPP" Add to My Folders [Hide] From: Address Book Add Mobile Alert DorrBio2008 (26) Subject: Gifford Pinchot & George B. Dorr Correspondence Eliz messages To: Imckean@fs.fed.us (5) Horseshoe Pond Dear Lori, Member Information Five years ago we exchanged email regarding my research into the life Ron Archives and times of Acadia National Park Founder George Bucknam Dorr (31) (1853-1944), a lifelong friend of Mr. Pinchot. Prior to my retirement to complete the Dorr biography, I was Director of the Southern New Hampshire University Library. Search Shortcuts My Photos At that time there was some uncertainty about whether Grey Towers My Attachments contained correspondence between the two relative to park and forest conservation issues from 1910-1935. You stated on January 30, 2003 that "we have items here at Grey Towers" and "Forest Service Historian Jerry Williams in Washington DC also has papers." I received no response from Mr. Williams and since I've just secured a commitment from the University of Massachusetts Press to publish the nearly completed Dorr biography, I want to clear up some of these loose ends. Is a finding aid available for the Pinchot correspondence at Grey Towers? I'll be traveling through Milford in August and could arrange a visit with current advance knowledge of the scope of the Pinchot papers at Grey Towers. I look forward to hearing from you and very much appreciate any help that you can provide ! Cordially, Ronald Epp http://us.f842.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=1760_4553713_145014_659_1062. 6/30/2008 Verizon Yahoo! Mail - eppster2@verizon.net Page 1 of 2 Verizon Yahoo! Mail Verizon Central Yahoo! Search: Web Search Welcome, eppster2@verizon Mail Home All-New Mail Tutorials Help YAHOO! P [Sign Out, Member Center MAIL Classic Mail Contacts Calendar Notepad Options Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Folders [Add Edit] Previous I Next I Back to Messages Inbox (1) Delete Reply Forward Spam Move Draft This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread Printable View Sent Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:02:48 -0400 Bulk [Empty] From: "Rebecca Philpot" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert Trash [Empty] Subject: Research request My Folders [Hide] To: eppster2@verizon.net DorrBio2008 (26) CC: "Richard Paterson" Eliz messages (6) Horseshoe Pond Member Information Dear Mr. Epp: Ron Archives (31) I've just recently been made aware of your research request for archival Search Shortcuts material relating to George B. Dorr and G. Pinchot. I apologize on behalf My Photos of Grey Towers that your initial request was apparently lost somewhere My Attachments along the way and did not receive a response. I assure you, it was in no way an intentional oversight. Our archives at Grey Towers is mostly related to Pinchot's time as governor in 1920's-1930's with a few item from his early forestry career, mostly copies from Library of Congres papers. The Pinchot Family collections remains one of the largest collections residing there, occupying approx. 1,100 linear feet of shelf space. To my knowledge, we have no originals or copies of correspondence between Dorr and Pinchot at Grey Towers. I've attached a summary index of the GP papers at the LOC that was compiled by Jerry Williams, former historian of the Forest Service, that may be helpful in your research. Jeffrey Flannery, Head of the Reference Section of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress is quite familiar with the Pinchot collection and may also be a resource for you. He can be reached at 202-707-9929 I would also suggest contacting the Forest History Society in Durham, NC at http://www.foresthistory.org/ or 919-682-9319. If you are in the area and wish to make an appointment to talk further, I'd be happy to meet with you. My contact info is listed below. (See attached file: Library of Congress GP Papers -- Summary.doc) http://us.f842.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=4037_9336674_104016_1935_332.. 8/18/2008 rizon Yahoo! Mail - eppster2@verizon.net Page 2 of 2 Rebecca D. Philpot Museum Specialist/Safety Coordinator Grey Towers National Historic Site P.O. Box 188/151 Grey Towers Dr. Milford, PA 18337 570.296.9679, Fax: 570.296.9675 rphilpot@fs.fed.us, http://www.fs.fed.us/gt The best minute you spend is the one you invest in someone else. Attachments Files: Library_of_Congress_GP_Papers, Summary.doc (74k) Scan and Save to Computer Delete Reply Forward Spam Move Previous I Next Back to Messages Save Message Text I Full Headers Check Mail Compose Search Mail Search the Web Copyright © 1994-2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Service - Guidelines NOTICE: We collect personal information on this site. To learn more about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy http://us.f842.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=4037_9336674_104016_1935_332... 8/18/2008 Page 1 of 4 Ronald Epp 9672 From: "Ronald Epp" To: "Lori McKean" Cc: "Ronald Epp" 6/08 Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 12:13 PM Subject: Re: Gifford Pinchot Archives Dear Lori, I appreciate your following up on this matter. I would like to schedule a visit to get an overview of your resources and wondered whether it might be possible for me to speak with you and access the Gray Towers archives on Tuesday, March 11th-- focused on any correspondance between Mr. George Bucknam Dorr and Mr. Pinchot or related to the policies relative to the park and forest service conservation issues from 1915-35. 1900- I'll be in Washington mid-March and would be interested in contacting Mr. Jerry Williams if you would be SO kind as to give me additional information as to how I might reach him. I've spent quite of bit of time at the National Archives but in NPS files and not Forest Service documents SO I appreciate the suggestion. 4/10/03 Toto wit Looking forward to hearing from you. I'm afriad your earlier message never this reached me and was lost in the cofusion of cyberspace. I was about to ring you when your message came through this morning. Thanks again. Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. for Director of the Harry & Gertrude Shapiro Library Southern New Hampshire University 2500 North River Road cusie souch. Manchester, NH 03106-1045 603-668-2211, ext. 2164 603-645-9685 (fax) Original Message From: "Lori McKean" To: "Ronald Epp" Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 10:06 AM Subject: Re: Gifford Pinchot Archives > > Cleaning out my inbox and am wondering if you have had any luck/progress in > accessing the Pinchot archives? We have items here at Grey Towers. Forest > Service HIstorian Jerry Williams in Washington DC also has papers. And of 1/30/2003 Page 2 of 4 > course the Library of Congress has 33,000 individual documents on file. > Let me know how we can help! > > Lori Danuff McKean > Information and Education Specialist > USDA Forest Service > Grey Towers National Historic Landmark > P.O. Box 188 > Milford, PA 18337 > (570)296-9672 > (570)296-9675 (Fax) > > > > "Ronald Epp" > To: > CC: > 12/06/2002 10:16 Subject: Gifford Pinchot Archives > AM > > > > > > > Dear Ms. McKean: > > As you can see from the email exchange below, I have been directed to you > by Yenie Tran who responded to my query about the location of Gifford > Pinchot archival materials. > > If these resources are located at Grey Towers and accessible to those of us > engaged in serious research, I would appreciate some indication of the > access standards applicable to this repository.My research on the > intellectual biography of George B. Dorr that I am preparing has thus far > involved use of the National Archives, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and > other archival collections in New England. As a Pennsylvania native I am > familiar with Grey Towers and have visited the property on several > occasions as I journey through the Delaware Valley enroute to my inlaws in > Allentown. > > Wishing you well in this holiday season... > > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > Director of the Harry & Gertrude Shapiro Library 1/30/2003 Page 3 of 4 > Southern New Hampshire University > 2500 North River Road > Manchester, NH 03106-1045 > 603-668-2211, ext. 2164 > 603-645-9685 (fax) > Original Message > From: Yenie Tran > To: Ronald Epp > Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 9:21 AM > Subject: RE: Gifford Pinchot Archives > > I am not sure if I have replied to your message or not. If I have, I am > sorry, and if not, I am equally sorry that I did not respond sooner. I get > SO many e-mails and sometimes I lose one or two in the jumble. > In any case, Pinchot Institute does not store any archives of the nature > you are looking for. Any Gifford Pinchot archives are stored at Grey Towers > National Historic Landmark in Milford, PA. They are our partners and you > can contact Lori McKean at 570-296-9672 or at lmckean@fs.fed.us who will be > able to direct you further. > Let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with. > > Yenie Tran > > > > Yenie Tran > Pinchot Institute for Conservation > (202)797-6580 > ytran@pinchot.org > > > Original Message > From: Ronald Epp [mailto:r.epp@snhu.edu] > Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 8:48 AM > To: pinchot@pinchot.org > Subject: Gifford Pinchot Archives > > I am current engaged in research on George B. Dorr, Founder of Acadia > National Park and a friend and ally of Gifford Pinchot. > I have copies of manuscript correspondance between the two and would > like to examine the Gifford archives for possible overlap. Could you > direct me to their location? > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > Director of the Harry & Gertrude Shapiro Library > Southern New Hampshire University > 2500 North River Road 1/30/2003 The Grey Towers Legacy U Information and Calendar of Events Volume 11, Issue 1 USDA Forest Service 2008 Message from the Director 2008 Marks 45-Year Anniversary The "Greening" of Grey Towers Reducing one's "carbon footprint" and "going green" are popular buzzwords this year. At Grey Towers, we're doing more than using the words-we're acting on them. "Every great work is in the shadow of Among the most important a man, and I don't of the changes at Grey Towers think many Americans this year is our effort to can point to such a transform Grey Towers into distinguished record as "Green" Towers. We will can Gifford Pinchot." President operate in a more sustainable John F. Kennedy, manner, setting an example Grey Towers, for the hundreds of natural Milford, PA resource leaders who come to Sept. 24, 1963 Grey Towers each year. Perhaps the greenest building Forty-five years ago, Dr. Gifford Bryce Pinchot turned over the keys to the front door of of all is one that is already his family home in Milford, PA, to the American people. The home was Grey Towers, and built, one that has embodied its importance and significance in American conservation history is as large and massive at energy, or energy that has the stone towers that are firmly planted on the hilltop overlooking the Delaware River. already been expended to Driving this generosity was Dr. Pinchot's intention to have Grey Towers actively carry on construct the building. Grey Towers' buildings that already the legacy of his father, Gifford Pinchot, eminent conservationist and twice Governor of exist and are rehabilitated have Pennsylvania. Dr. Pinchot envisioned an institution that would continue the work begun already saved an enormous by his father who, as founder and first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, "made conservation amount of harvesting, an accepted virtue and part of our life which we take for granted today." extraction of materials and In essence, Grey Towers would continue to be a place where we could look to the future, minerals, manufacturing of utilizing the rich history of the past. products, etc. The U.S. Forest Service and its many partners are working hard to achieve that promise A "Green Team" at Grey Towers is looking at all aspects of 45 years ago. Today we continue Pinchot family traditions by offering programs that of our operation-vehicle stimulate the conservation dialogues and debates of the 21st century. Arts programs use, utilities, purchases, and illustrate the link between arts and nature, a concept that James Pinchot recognized more. We hope that you will and supported over a century ago. Education programs introduce resource conservation contribute ideas and do your concepts and promote stewardship ethics. Interpretive tours inform visitors of the part in making Grey Towers a magnitude of impact that one family had on the thinking of an entire nation. Leadership model of sustainable operation. development programs for natural resource professionals impart the same leadership qualities that Gifford Pinchot embodied as a gifted administrator. Dr. Pinchot's vision of 45 years ago is alive today. Grey Towers National Historic Site is not only the keeper of America's conservation history, but a promulgator of the nation's conservation future. To contribute your thoughts on how we might improve at this task, Richard Paterson please contact us at 570-296-9630 or send us an e-mail at greytowers@fs.fed.us. The Grey Towers Legacy U Information and Calendar of Events Volume 8, Issue 1 USDA Forest Service Spring 2005 Message from the Director 2005: Forest Service Centennial Year It is with absolute pleasure that I write One hundred years ago, Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt cre- my first Legacy message as Director of ated the USDA Forest Service, a unique public agency designed to manage America's Grey Towers. I have inherited a very public forests and grasslands "for the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the talented and productive staff, an in- credible facility, and an active network longest run." of partners and supporters. Pinchot's founding principle still drives the agency today. Grey Towers, Pinchot's ancestral home, figures prominently in this national Centennial celebration and we I originally am from the Scranton invite the community to join us throughout the year as we help celebrare our past area and for most of my career I have and envision how best to conserve America's natural heritage through the next cen- managed programs and facilities that help people enjoy natural and heritage tury. To date, Grey Towers has already hosted a Centennial Forum on Organizational resources. History and Philosophy and participated in the national Centennial Congress. We Most recently, I was Deputy Director worked with a national committee to have the Milford Valley Quilters Guild assem- of Recreation, Heritage, and Wilder- ble the heritage block for a national Centennial Quilt. We organized and coordinated ness for the Forest Service in Wash- a national Centennial Road Tour, with historian Char Miller delivering 30 presenta- ington DC and led the Forest Service leadership development program. tions across the nation on the history of forestry in America. During this Centennial year, we look forward to an exchange program with Grey Towers for me is not only the France, where Gifford Pinchot received his formal forestry training; a National right place, but I feel I have arrived Honor Day event; participation in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, focusing on at the right time. It has not looked how the Forest Service has affected American culture over the past century; our first better since the Pinchots lived here. The new parking/visitor services facil- annual Festival of Wood (see back page); a story about Gifford Pinchot in Highlights ity will open this year. Also, this year for Children (August issue); release of a new children's book, Midnight Forests, about the Forest Service marks its 100-year Gifford Pinchot and the founding of the US Forest Service; and regional viewings of anniversary and Grey Towers plays a the new documentary, The Greatest Good. prominent role in the history of this We hope you will be joining us in this celebration! agency to incorporate my prior experi- ences to help lead Grey Towers into the next Century of Service. Grey Towers Designated a National Historic Site Our challenges in the coming years include planning for and accom- Legislation that designates Grey Towers as a National Historic Site was passed modating the increased demand as recently and gives formal authorization to our mission while increasing our status as a national asset. a conference center, as a tourism destination, and as a center for natural resource leadership development. We The legislation, sponsored in the House by Congressman Don Sherwood and in realize the importance of sharpening the Senate by Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, gives the Forest Service our focus to ensure that our programs more flexibility to accomplish its goals at Grey Towers. carry forward the conservation legacy of Gifford Pinchot. We plan to rely When the Pinchor family donated Grey Towers and 102 acres to the U.S. Forest on visitors, community, partners, Service, Grey Towers was designated as a National Historic Landmark - a fed- volunteers and others to help us stay eral status that is concerned with historic preservation but does not spell out any on course. additional mission. Since 1963, the Forest Service and its non-profit partner, the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, have worked closely to not only preserve the I look forward to seeing you at Grey Towers and meeting as many of you as historic character of Grey Towers but also to maintain it as a center of learning and possible. leadership. Designation as a National Historic Site makes clear that the mission of Grey Tow- ers includes education, research, leadership development, public recreation and enjoyment, and the preservation of the buildings, grounds, facilities and archives Richard Paterson associated with Gifford Pinchot. Director