Personal recollections. Worn and faded black-and-white photographs. Journal entries from the first expeditions. Frayed letters from early rangers. Field notes. Authors McClure and Mack assemble these fragments to create a portrait of Gifford Pinchot National Forest's history and provide a glimpse into its past through the eyes of the people who shaped it. Dozens of first-person accounts and photographs supplement the authors impressions throughout the pages. During the late 1930s, Forest Supervisor Kirk P. Cecil asked his rangers to interview local old timers and prepare written historical summaries of their districts. During the 1940s Cecil contacted and corresponded with many of the early forest rangers and guards, asking them to provide recollections of their experiences. Several excerpts from these communications have been included in this book and the authors have drawn liberally from a notebook of personnel data compiled by Cecil in the 1960s. Known by many names since its creation as a forest reserve over a century ago. Today Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses an area of 1,527,761 acres in south-central Washington State. Look back through the eyes of the native Americans, fur traders, explorers, and rangers to gain a deeper understanding of the land we now call Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Chronicles and examines the life of pioneering American conservationist and Progressive politician Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, whose beliefs about conservation and social issues came to be directly related.

"The Fight for Conservation" by Gifford Pinchot is a seminal work in environmentalism, embodying Pinchot's lifelong dedication to conservation and stewardship. As a prominent conservationist, Pinchot passionately advocates for sustainable practices in managing natural resources, emphasizing the importance of ecological balance and preservation. Through his expertise in forestry and land management, Pinchot lays out a comprehensive framework for environmental policy, guiding readers towards a future of sustainable development. With a focus on wildlife protection and the establishment of national parks, Pinchot underscores the critical role of conservation in safeguarding our planet's biodiversity for future generations. At its core, "The Fight for Conservation" embodies Pinchot's vision of responsible stewardship, urging individuals and governments alike to prioritize the long-term health of our ecosystems. Through his eloquent prose and unwavering commitment to environmental advocacy, Pinchot inspires readers to join the fight for conservation, recognizing that the preservation of natural resources is essential for the well-being of both humanity and the planet. This book serves as a timeless manifesto for environmentalists and conservationists, offering invaluable insights into the principles of sustainability and the imperative of protecting our natural heritage.

National Book Award–winner Timothy Egan turns his historian's eye to the largest-ever forest fire in America and offers an epic, cautionary tale for our time. On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in the blink of an eye. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men to fight the fires, but no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan recreates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, and the larger story of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, that follows is equally resonant. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen. Even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by his rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service in ways we can still witness today. This e-book includes a sample chapter of SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER.

John Muir and Gifford Pinchot have often been seen as the embodiment of conflicting environmental philosophies. Muir, the preservationist and co-founder of the Sierra Club. Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service advocating sustainability in timber harvests, instituted conservation. The idealistic Muir saw nature as something special and separate; the pragmatic Pinchot accepted that people used the products of nature. The environmental movement’s original sin, and the root of many of it's difficulties, was its inability to reconcile these two viewpoints—and these two men.So how was it that Muir and Pinchot went camping together—and delighted in each other's company? Does this mean that the seemingly irreparable divide in environmental ethos is not as unbridgeable as it might seem? The perceived rivalry between these two men has obscured a fascinating and hopeful story. Muir and Pinchot actually spent years in an alliance that lead to the original movement for public lands. Their shared commitment to the glories of natural landscapes united their disparate talents and viewpoints to create a fledgling and uniquely American vision of land ownership and management.