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Gifford Pinchot may have found another job in the opportunity to take a regiment of foresters to France. Pinchot believes the country will resent Woodrow Wilson, as “it doesn’t pay to be mean in public.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1917-05-19
James H. McGillivray, organizer of the Michigan Forest Scouts, lets Gifford Pinchot know that the clause that Pinchot is requiring to grant approval of the Forest Scouts is “the best kind of a post-Christmas gift.” McGillivray says that there must be an effective body of fire fighters in Michigan, and praises the work his scouts have done in fire prevention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-12-30
Gifford Pinchot agrees with the desire that J. H. McGillivray and Professor Filibert Roth’s have “to improve the work in Michigan.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1913-01-10
Gifford Pinchot writes J. H. McGillivray with additional information for the letter that McGillivray is to publish in his annual report. Pinchot believes that “by far the best work in fire fighting” is done by the National Forest Service and that Michigan’s work should be organized in the same way. Forests need an organization of their own.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1913-01-05
Percival Sheldon Ridsdale, secretary of the American Forestry Association, informs Theodore Roosevelt of the suggestion by Governor Robert P. Bass, president of the Association, that Roosevelt write a brief article on citizen involvement in conservation. Such an article would greatly influence the public.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-08
Gifford Pinchot reports to the Camp Fire Club of America about forest conservation in Adirondack Park. He believes the forests are one of New York’s greatest possessions, supplying resources, commerce and recreation. More should be done to protect the forests from misuse and fire. Good laws and properly trained, well-paid firefighters and forest rangers will help the efforts, as well as replanting programs. Pinchot recommends new laws for logging companies, discusses issues with Section 7 of Article 7 of the Constitution, and recommends changes to that article.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-02
Townsend Cox fears he was unclear during his meeting with Theodore Roosevelt regarding the Forest League’s aim and objectives and thus restates them. While the organization seeks to care for the trees bordering highways and country roads, its primary object is to raise public sentiment on management and conservation. Cox hopes Roosevelt will provide a letter endorsing the work.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-22
Anna Maynard Butler is contemplating writing a book studying the ways in which the forests of Europe are cultivated and maintained and, as she believes she will need more funding in order to properly complete the work, asks Theodore Roosevelt for recommendations for educational or scientific foundations that may be interested in sponsoring such a project. Butler provides credentials linking her with well-respected German institutions of learning, as well as with prominent people.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-04
Anna Maynard Butler thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his reply and explains that Andrew Dickson White knows her and that many foundations employ scholars and researchers to write books for them. She was naive to think that Roosevelt’s interest in forest conservation was genuine and intense. Butler clarifies her identity. She hoped Roosevelt would appreciate that any wide-reaching undertaking is more difficult for “a lady-intellectual worker,” especially when money is required.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-08
Charles H. Dwinelle writes to Theodore Roosevelt to express some of his thoughts on the errors in forestry made by the United States government. Dwinelle notes that he knows of Roosevelt’s interest in conservation. Dwinelle reflects on the topic of forest fires, noting that if small fires were prevented, it would eventually produce conditions that could lead to even greater wildfires, causing considerable destruction. Dwinelle surmises that the reason Western forests survived as they did was a policy by Native Americans of allowing smaller fires to clear underbrush–a policy that Dwinelle seems to advocate. European forestry policies, Dwinelle notes, do not transfer well to American forests.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-25
Bertha M. Clark, head of the science department at the William Penn High School for Girls, asks Theodore Roosevelt if it would be possible to purchase some lantern slide depictions of the various animals he caught in Africa. While Roosevelt was in office, he recommended that slides showing elements of forestry be sold to Clark, and they have been very useful in teaching her classes. Clark apologizes if her question is presumptuous, but emphasizes that she wants to help her students as best as she can.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-26
Ernest S. Jaros discusses his firm’s plan to purchase and distribute seedlings to schoolchildren to plant on Arbor Day for the purpose of interesting them in the importance of trees. He asks Theodore Roosevelt for his opinion and approval.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-25
Byron B. Waters sends Theodore Roosevelt his paper on practical forestry in the San Bernardino mountains.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-09
Anna Roosevelt Cowles writes her brother, President Roosevelt, regarding the selection of a Connecticut Supreme Court Justice. She thinks that either Walter Chadwick Noyes or John J. Beach would be a good choice, although she has heard more about the latter. She also communicates that she is enjoying the summer weather and that her family is doing well in Farmington, Connecticut.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-01
The headmaster of St. Mark’s School asks Senator Platt to help secure a summer position in the Forestry Department for Barrington Moore.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-04
Photograph showing a pack train in the forest in the North Rim. Theodore Roosevelt is on a horse on the right.
1913
Photograph of Theodore Roosevelt and four other unidentified men in a camp in the forest on the North Rim. Roosevelt is the second man from the right, facing away from the camera. Camping equipment can be seen throughout the area.
1913
Photograph of three men in the forest on the North Rim. Two men are on horseback and one man in standing. A body of water is in the foreground and a large hill with trees is in the background.
1913
Photograph showing a group of men and horses from Theodore Roosevelt’s party stopped for lunch in the forest on the North Rim. Two cows can be seen approaching the group in the background on the left.
1913
The Emergency Conservation Committee highlights the importance of the Olympic Peninsula as a habitat for wildlife species and forests, including Roosevelt Elk and Douglas fir trees. It urges the expansion of the Olympic Peninsula National Monument to encompass all the terrain originally reserved for it, prior to President Woodrow Wilson reducing its size, and hopes that this expansion may serve as a prelude to further protections and the establishment of a national park.
1934-06