PUTTING PEN TO PAPER
3
OVERVIEW
Students read passages from a variety of Pennsylvania authors that reflect the
views of their time periods as well as their own personal feelings toward
forests.
BACKGROUND
Moving toward Conservation:
Notable People Who Made it
Happen
During the late 1800s, it became increasingly clear that the old approaches to
forest use and timber harvesting were
not sustainable. Slowly the forests began
to be viewed as resources that could be
scientifically managed over the long
term for both their products and for the
environmental services they provide.
By 1900 there were 6.3 million people in Pennsylvania; 55 percent lived in
the cities. As the population became
more urbanized, as well as more mobile
and more affluent, this same population
became interested in seeing land set aside
as parks, recreation areas, and reserves.
At the same time, much of
Pennsylvania’s woods were gone.
Estimates of forested land in 1900 vary
between 9 and 13 million acres, compared to 27–28 million when Europeans
first settled here. Most of the original
forest had been clear-cut, some of it repeatedly, and much of it burned — so
that much of what was forested was only
young second growth. Much of this
acreage had only just begun to naturally
regenerate to a hardwood forest.
In 1900, the State owned no land,
had no effective fire-protection system,
and had no technical expertise in forest
management available. In the entire
United States there were only three
foresters, all three were trained in Europe
because as yet there were no American
forestry schools. Providing forests and
their associated benefits for
Pennsylvanians would prove to be a
huge challenge in the coming years.
The following people and events
were critical in helping to shape the history of Pennsylvania’s forest:
Joseph Trimble Rothrock
Shortly before the turn of the century
(1895), Joseph Trimble Rothrock became
Pennsylvania’s first Commissioner of
Section I — Activity 3
Forestry. “Rothrock was energetic, persuasive, involved, and a lover of forests
since childhood. Yet he never professed
to be a forester. His credentials were
those of an informed scientist, botanist
and medical doctor” (DeCoster, 1995,
p. 5). Although not a forester, Rothrock
is known by many as the “father of
forestry in Pennsylvania.”
Rothrock once said during a speech,
“unless we reforest, Pennsylvania highlands will wash to the oceans.” He saw
the need to educate the public about
forestry as not simply a means of saving
trees, but also of harvesting those trees.
One of Rothrock’s accomplishments
as forestry commissioner was the first
purchase of state lands. From 1898 to
1910, a total of 924,798 acres (nearly
half of today’s state forest acres) were acquired with Rothrock’s help. Much of
the very first land that was purchased
was cut-over, burned-over tracts of land
that the iron furnace companies had
owned. When the new coal-fired furnaces replaced those that had used charcoal, the companies were willing to sell
their land. This explains why many of
today’s Pennsylvania parks and state
forests have the word “furnace” as part
of their names.
As commissioner, Rothrock also
started the training of foresters for state
service, initiated the establishment of
tree nurseries, and developed a system of
facilities and people to detect and extinguish forest fires.
GRADE LEVELS:
Grades 5-10
OBJECTIVES: Students will (1) express their own views about trees and
forests, (2) discuss how people’s personal experiences can affect their attitudes
toward trees and forests, and (3) analyze how people’s views toward trees
and forests have changed over time.
PENNSYLVANIA PROPOSED
ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
4.8.7
B. Explain how people use natural resources.
4.2.10
B. Evaluate factors affecting availability
of natural resources.
C. Analyze how man-made systems
have impacted the management and
distribution of natural resources.
ESTIMATED DURATION: One to
two 50-minute class periods
MATERIALS NEEDED: Copies of
Student Page “The Value of Trees and
Forests...as written by Pennsylvania
authors.”
CD ROM: Use the section on “Who
Knows More About the Forest?”
Robert Conklin
When Rothrock became forestry commissioner in 1895, Robert Conklin was
Rothrock’s clerk. At Rothrock’s resignation in 1904, Conklin became the
Commissioner of Forestry and stayed in
that position until 1920. During those
years, Conklin continued much of what
Rothrock had begun, particularly the expansion of state forest acreage.
Two major events occurred during
Conklin’s term, one of which greatly afPutting Pen to Paper 11
fected the forests in Pennsylvania, the
other of which did not. During these
years, the demise of the chestnut trees
had a tremendous impact on the forests.
This will be discussed in more detail in a
later section.World War I also transpired
(1914–1918) while Conklin was commissioner. During World War I, the forests of
Pennsylvania were not used significantly
as a wood supply as they would later be
during World War II. While this first
world war affected a great many things
in the world, it had a minimal affect on
the forests of the Commonwealth.
Gifford Pinchot
In the summer of 1885, as Gifford
Pinchot was about to enter Yale, his father asked him a remarkable question.
He asked his son whether he would like
to be a forester. What made this a remarkable question was that at this time,
forestry could not be studied anywhere
in the United States. So, after graduating
from Yale, Pinchot traveled to Europe to
study. There he became the first
American-born, trained forester.
Pinchot worked as head of the
United States Department of Agriculture’s
Division of Forestry (1898–1905). In addition, he was the first Chief of the
USDA Forest Service (1905–1910). He also
was the first trained forester to become a
Pennsylvania forestry commissioner. He
served in that position for two years,
1920–1922. By 1921, the Forestry
Department was operating seven state
forest parks which covered more than
200 acres. By 1922, Pennsylvania ranked
number two in the nation in state-owned
forests (with 1,126,236 acres).
In 1923, the Pennsylvania
Department of Forestry was reorganized
into the Department of Forests and
Waters. The stated purpose of the
Department was the “acquisition and
management of state forest lands, development of state parks, improvement of
waterways, protection of water supply,
supervision of flood control projects and
protection of state and private lands.”
Unlike some of his contemporaries
such as John Muir, Gifford Pinchot considered himself a conservationist, not a
preservationist. He felt that the natural
world deserved preservation, not so
much for its own sake, as much as for
the sake of the people who used it.
Pinchot wrote that, “Conservation
means the wise use of the earth and its
resources for the lasting good of men.”
12 Putting Pen to Paper
Conservation is the foresighted utilization, preservation, and/or renewal of
forests, waters, lands, and minerals for
the greatest good of the greatest number
for the longest time.
In addition to being Pennsylvania
Forestry Commissioner, Gifford Pinchot
also served as Governor of Pennsylvania
for two terms (1923–1926, 1930–1933).
Although he is later known to have said,
“I have been…a governor now and then,
but I am a forester all the time — have
been, and shall be, all my working life”
(Pinchot as quoted in Miller, 1994).
In his later years, Pinchot wrote the
book Breaking New Ground which is considered by some to be one of the central
documents of the American conservation movement.
The Great Depression, the CCC, and
World War II
In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt
was searching for ways to help pull the
United States out of the Great Depression. One of the programs he created
was the Civilian Conservation Core
(CCC). The first to be recruited were unmarried men ages 18–25 from families
on government relief. Roosevelt’s idea
was to combine men out of work and
land, which was also not working, and
to put them to work together.
Gifford Pinchot was governor when
the CCC came to Pennsylvania and he
placed the CCC as a high priority.
Between 1933 and 1941, 100 CCC
Camps were established and 160,000
people were put to work in Pennsylvania,
building new roads, fire towers, forest
campsites, trails and tree plantations.
Much of the work of these young men is
still in place and still in use today
throughout the Commonwealth.
Starting in 1940, the CCC program
was phased out. The United States was
preparing to enter World War II. Most
European timber resources had been used
up or destroyed during World War I. So
in this second world war, the North
American forests, including
Pennsylvania’s, were relied on heavily to
supply the needed wood until the war’s
end in 1945.
After the end of World War II,
thoughts turned back to conservation efforts and some new programs for private
forest owners were developed. Examples
of such programs are (1) the industrysponsored Tree Farm System, which was
instituted in Pennsylvania in 1947 and
Section I — Activity 3
(2) the “Keep Pennsylvania Green
Program” which began in 1949 to try to
educate the public about forest fire
prevention.
Maurice Goddard and Multiple Use
Management
In 1955, Maurice Goddard became the
Secretary of Forests and Waters (the position previously known as Forestry
Commissioner). Goddard held that position until he retired 24 years later in
1979. During Goddards early years as
Secretary, the demand for public outdoor
recreation rapidly increased. From 1955
to 1961, the number of visitors to state
parks rose from 8 million to 24 million
each year. In fact, increasing demands by
a variety of forest users encouraged a
shift in management focus to one of
multiple use management. With multiple use management, all the collective
benefits of the forest were taken into
consideration when management decisions were being made.
Among his many concerns, Goddard
worried that there was not more public
land near Pennsylvania cities. He set the
goal to have a park or a forest recreation
facility within 25 miles of most
Pennsylvanians and began working toward that goal.
In 1962, Goddard separated state
park operations from forestry and created the Bureau of State Parks. Under
Goddard’s direction, the Department was
involved in a variety of environmental
projects as Pennsylvania moved with the
rest of the nation toward a new phase of
public environmental awareness.
The Environmental Movement
April 22, 1970 was the very first Earth
Day. It was the largest organized demonstration in United States history.
Thousand of schools, colleges and universities and millions of ordinary citizens demonstrated their concern about
the environment and its degradation.
Many feel that it was this event that
started the modern environmental
movement. As a result, the United States
and other countries began to address
some of the most pressing environmental problems.
Environmental concerns seemed to
fall into the background again in the
late 1970s and the 1980s; but, after the
twentieth anniversary of Earth Day, the
environmental movement experienced a
needed resurgence during the 1990s.
Section I — Activity 3
The attitudes of Pennsylvanians towards Pennsylvania’s forests and how
they should be managed and used, have
reflected these general changes in public
attitude.
PROCEDURES
1. Ask students to think about their
connections to the land and how
they view its uses. In class, or as a
homework assignment, have students
express their views in a creative writing form (i.e., essay, poem, collage of
words).
2. Have students share their creative
writings in small groups. Have them
discuss in these same groups whether
any specific events in their lives have
influenced their attitudes towards
land use.
3. Pass out copies of the Student Page,
“The Value of Trees and Forests…as
written by Pennsylvania authors.”
Explain that each of these authors
has a connection to Pennsylvania.
Perhaps they were born and/or raised
in Pennsylvania, or they spent a portion of their adult life living and
working here. Each passage was chosen because it expresses the author’s
views and/or a viewpoint from his or
her time period concerning trees,
forests and land use. Give students
time to read the passages and the biographical sketches.
4. In the same small groups, have students discuss how the views expressed differed among the authors.
After students have discussed the different views, have them come back
together for a large group discussion.
Examples of discussion questions
might include:
◆ How does each author express his
or her perceptions?
◆ How could events during each author’s lifetime have affected his or
her view?
◆ Which of these passages come
closest to your own perceptions?
How so?
◆ Was there any particular event in
your life that changed your perception over time?
◆ Compare the writing styles of the
different authors. How is the writing style influenced by the intended audience? How have writing
styles changed over time?
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EXTENSION
■ In small groups, have students
choose one of the authors to research and add to the brief biographical sketch already provided.
In particular, students should
focus on events in the author’s life
that might have shaped his or her
view about trees, forests and land
uses. Students can use encyclopedias, periodicals, anthologies,
“Who’s Who,” or they can look
for biographical information within the authors’ works. Have students share their information with
the rest of the class through a
written or oral report, or by creating a display.
■ Organize a “Pennsylvania Authors
Day.” Have books by these and
others authors available. If any
group of students developed a display on their author use it as part
of the celebration. To stimulate interest, give students an entire class
period (or more) to read an essay
or to begin reading one of the author’s books.
■ If a student becomes particularly
interested in one of the authors,
have the student read a complete
work by that author and write a
personal reflection about what
they read.
ASSESSMENT
A rubric should be developed for the writing assignments. Students should have researched all appropriate information on
the author(s). The reports should be
based on facts not opinions. Background
materials provided with this activity
should be shared with students for clarity
and accuracy of their reports. Students
should include how these particular individuals helped to move Pennsylvania toward conservation education and a more
sustainable Pennsylvania.
Adapted from Project Learning Tree, American
Forest Foundation, 1975 “In the Good Old Days”
pp. 349–352 and in Project Learning Tree Focus on
Forests Secondary Module, “Words to Live By” pp.
42–46.
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Section I — Activity 3