Gifford Pinchot

The Fight for Conservation (Dodo Press) Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905-1910) and the Governor of Pennsylvania (1923-1927, 1931-1935). He was a Republican and Progressive. Pinchot is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal. He coined the term conservation ethic as applied to natural resources. Gifford Pinchot was born in Simsbury, Connecticut; he graduated from Yale University in 1889, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He studied as a postgraduate at the French National Forestry School for a year. In 1930, Pinchot won a second term as governor, battling for regulation of public utilities, relief for the unemployed, and construction of paved roads to "get the farmers out of the mud. " This was the achievement he was most proud of. Pinchot ran for Senate in 1914 on the Progressive Party ticket and expressed interest in the presidency.