Conservation travels: Pinchot's Grey Towers

Gifford Pinchot -- the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and a former Pennsylvania Governor -- is a forefather of the conservation movement. During some time off last week, I visited Pinchot's summer estate, Grey Towers (now a National Historic site), which has been operated by the U.S. Forest Service in Milford, Pike County since it was gifted to the nation and famously dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in September 1963.

"Every sportsman, every vacationist, every nature lover is or should be an earnest protector of the forests. Their help will count more than they know, and more than anyone can tell." 

In 1923. Pinchot wrote those words in a U.S. Forest Service pamphlet entitled "Talks on Forestry." When I visited Grey Towers this summer, it reminded me how prescient his words were and how his conservation vision rings true today.

The Pinchot family were wealthy lumberers in the late 19th century, and this lifestyle and devastation of the forests heavily influenced the young Pinchot's conservation philosophy and determination to do it differently. His long role in developing professional forestry in the U.S. and advocacy on behalf of conservation, working people, and farmers are detailed further on the Grey Towers site. 

Here are just a few of my observations and favorite quotes from a day at Grey Towers:

• Two European copper beech trees, his favorite trees, were planted in 1920 and stand today. Pinchot was said to note that he wished he could "return in 100 years" just to see these two trees. The trees guard the path to an ornamental pool and stone playhouse built for his young son, Gifford Bryce, where they built him a blacksmith forge so that he could learn a discipline and skill.

• Pinchot, elected Governor as a progressive Republican, first worked closely with President Theodore Roosevelt as Chief Forester as, together, they made conservation a national priority for the first time. Later, Pinchot's work camps became a model for the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps organized by the Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt; he advised this President on conservation issues into his retirement.

• Cornelia Bryce Pinchot, Gifford's wife, was a strong voice in the family and one of the early women to campaign. She was also an avid suffragist and child labor activist. She designed the gardens and chose many of the ornamental and landscape plantings which are still there today.

• Lastly, a quote of Pinchot's that reflects what we work toward at PennFuture:  "Encourage others to do things; you may accomplish many things through others that you can’t get done on your single initiative."

Kate Gibbons is PennFuture's northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Wilkes-Barre.