Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism (Pioneers of Conservation) by Char Miller

by Char Miller

"...an absorbing, well-researched, and illuminating life of an American leader who now receives the full attention he deserves." -MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, EDITOR OF AMERICAN HERITAGE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENTS"Char Miller's lively, insightful account of the life and world of American forester Gifford Pinchot fills a vitally important gap in environmental and conservation history. Anyone captivated by the issues and controversies surrounding the preservation and development of the nation's natural heritage should read this engaging, carefully researched biography." -CAROLYN MERCHANT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, AUTHOR OF THE DEATH OF NATUREGifford Pinchot is known primarily for his work as first chief of the U. S. Forest Service and for his argument that resources should be used to provide the "greatest good for the greatest number of people." But Pinchot was a more complicated figure than has generally been recognized, and more than half a century after his death, he continues to provoke controversy.Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism, the first new biography in more than three decades, offers a fresh interpretation of the life and work of the famed conservationist and Progressive politician. In addition to considering Gifford Pinchot's role in the environmental movement, historian Char Miller sets forth an engaging description and analysis of the man -- his character, passions, and personality -- and the larger world through which he moved.Char Miller begins by describing Pinchot's early years and the often overlooked influence of his family and their aspirations for him. He examines Gifford Pinchot's post-graduate education in France and his ensuing efforts in promoting the profession of forestry in the United States and in establishing and running the Forest Service. While Pinchot's twelve years as chief forester (1898-1910) are the ones most historians and biographers focus on, Char Miller also offers an extensive examination of Pinchot's post-federal career as head of The National Conservation Association and as two-term governor of Pennsylvania. In addition, he looks at Pinchot's marriage to feminist Cornelia Bryce and discusses her role in Pinchot's political radicalization throughout the 1920s and 1930s. An epilogue explores Gifford Pinchot's final years and writings.Char Miller offers a provocative reconsideration of key events in Pinchot's life, including his relationship with friend and mentor John Muir and their famous disagreement over damming Hetch Hetchy Valley. The author brings together insights from cultural and social history and recently discovered primary sources to support a new interpretation of Pinchot -- whose activism not only helped define environmental politics in early twentieth century America but remains strikingly relevant today.

Genres: Biography, History, Environment, Conservation, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two people Gifford Pinchot and John Muir are responsible for the American conservation movement
both with a different vision of what it should be. Char Miller's book deals with Pinchot with an
emphasis on his environmental career. It kind of shortchanges the political, but Pinchot as he is
known today it is for being our original environmentalist public official.

Pinchot came from a wealthy Pennsylvania family born in 1865 and was quite an outdoorsman as a
youth. He studied in Europe where in Third Republic France and Bismarck's Germany conservation
and in that case preservation of forests was a movement before it took hold here. In 1905 he was
appointed Chief of the Forestry Service of the federal government and had the good fortune to work
for the first president to make environmentalism an issue, Theodore Roosevelt. There's was a friendship that lasted until TR's death in 1919.

He continued in service until he got into a nasty controversy with Interior Secretary Richard Ballinger in the succeeding Taft administration. William Howard Taft backed up his cabinet appointee and fired Pinchot. Pinchot backed Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 when he ran as the Progressive Party (Bull Moose) candidate for president.

Pinchot ran for the US Senate as a Progressive against Senator Boies Penrose and Democratic candidate and future Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and finished second in 1914. He got
appointed chief forester for his home state of Pennsylvania.

In 1923 Pinchot ran and became Governor of Pennsylvania. He gave the state a generally liberal
administration and also had a short lived candidacy for the White House which was quickly aborted
in 1924. One thing he did do which his neighboring governor to the north Al Smith did not was
try to have his state enforce Prohibition. At that time Governors of Pennsylvania could not succeed
themselves so he ran and lost in a GOP primary for Senator to Representative William S. Vare of
Philadelphia. Vare won and won the Senate seat, but the levels of expenditure was so vast he was
not seated. Pinchot pushed that quite heavily.

Pinchot ran again and won for Governor in 1930 and pushed state relief programs and favored the
New Deal of that other Roosevelt. He made a final try for the Senate in 1934 losing to incumbent
Republican Senator David A. Reed in the primary who then in turn lost to Democrat Joseph Guffey.

Pinchot made one final run for Governor and lost the GOP primary in 1938.

I was interested to learn that one of his best friends was Rabbi Stephen Wise. In 1932 Pinchot
appeared at an anti-Nazi rally in New York City and this was before Hitler came to power. He might well be the first elected official to speak out against the Nazis.

In retirement Pinchot wrote and lectured extensively on environmentalism. He dies in 1946. His
story should be read by any and all concerned with environmental issues.

[Alex Mclane · Rating 3 out of 5]

The battle for the Hetch Hetchy reservoir between Gifford Pinchot and John Muir is one of the most interesting political developments in American History in my opinion. What finally tipped the scale in favor of Pinchot's view was the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and the desperate need for the city to rebuild and have a reliable water supply. The creation of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir inside Yosemite National Park brings up questions of whether anything that's reserved as "natural" with the highest designation for protection against development is really sacred. Or if given enough time and population growth everything on Earth will be developed and exploited for human consumption. Pinchot's philosophy on natural resource management was the great good for the greatest people. So as the population of San Francisco exploits over the next two centuries what's to stop the government from damming Yosemite River Valley if the need for potable water is so great. With the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir as part of our history it seems like given the right circumstances everything is up for human exploitation and/or consumption.
The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir debate reminds me of The Bible and the story of humankind's original sin. God told Adam and Eve that they can eat and enjoy anything in the vast Garden of Eden God had created for them but there was one special apple tree that was off-limits from human consumption. Just like the Adam and Eve story God's Apple Tree and the Hetch Hetchy river valley succumbed to human consumption.
The Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park ruins a free flowing natural river valley in the sense that a giant man made lake is there now but I think environmentalists sometimes get too caught up in protection from human influence to allow properly managed balanced concessions to occur with environmental management on protected land. Would the beauty and mystic of Yellewstone be more tarnished if they were to allow bicycles to ride on dirt trails? Pinchot's life work was to promote and market forests to be looked at like an agricultural commodity such as a corn stalk. A properly administered management program could replenish forested areas while protecting it from harsher alternatives which would damage ecosystems if not permanently than for a much longer period of time.
Muir's life work was to promote and market the idea of natural areas as being inherently beautiful and spiritual. Whether it's the spirit of the holy trinity or the Native American spirits.
The book does a good job in highlighting where Pinchot got some of his influence such as the book "The Earth as Modified by Human Action" by, George Perkins Marsh claiming that "environmental despoliation had been central to the collapse of these once-powerful [Mediterranean] civilizations" (p.55). Miller also downplayed Pinchot's forest management role at the Vanderbilt estate Biltmore. Miller claims that Pinchot was mostly putting on the finishing touches to a plan conceived by Olmstead.
One conflict that the book highlights in the Pinchot-Muir relationship was the sheep grazing in the Pacific Northwest. Muir thought Pinchot was selling out to the wool growers association because Pinchot agreed with Muir's premise that that sheep's trampling and chewing did a great deal of harm to mountain grasslands. Pinchot thought that under a new platform the damage could be mitigated. But as it turns out over a century later per-Columbian ecosystem revitalization have a new culprit of wild mountain goats doing the destruction now. The difference in world view between Pinchot and Muir is also fascinating to me. Muir's steadfastness that certain areas of the country needs to remain free from human influence while Pinchot takes a more practical view of the nation's beautify places. His saying "the greatest good for the greatest number" while probably echo throughout human history as we develop into an interplanetary civilization or deal with a highly populated earth experiencing climate shifts.
Pinchot thought to avoid the fate of Greece and Rome the United States with careful environmental husbandry being the basis for natural resources and the nation's success.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gifford Pinchot should get as much credit as Muir for making sure that America’s forests didn’t turn into a hell-scape. National Parks are amazing, but not everything can or should be a National Park. In most cases, we need to sustainably use our natural resources... and the National Forests are a great way to make that happen.

[Alex McLane · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting read on innovative forest management techniques

[Jon Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed an earlier biography I had read of Gifford Pinchot more than this one, titled Gifford Pinchot: Forester Politician.

[Tattered Cover Book Store]

This book was recomended by author and historian Char Miller as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Library's "A Reading List For the President Elect: A Western Primer for the Next Administration."

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

great topic, a little academic and slow

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book and i would highly recommend it