Pinchot, << PIHN shoh, >> Gifford (1865-1946), an American conservationist and politician, was one of the first government leaders to promote the scientific management of forests in the United States. In 1898, President William McKinley appointed him chief of the Division of Forestry, which became the U.S. Forest Service in 1905. Pinchot led the Forest Service until 1910. At the urging of Pinchot and others, President Theodore Roosevelt greatly expanded the nation’s forest reserves. In 1908, Pinchot became chairman of the National Conservation Commission, which made the first inventory of the nation’s natural resources. Pinchot also served as governor of Pennsylvania, from 1923 to 1927 and from 1931 to 1935.
Pinchot was born on Aug. 11, 1865, in Simsbury, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale University in 1889. He studied forestry in France and other European countries. Pinchot wrote The Fight for Conservation (1910). He died on Oct. 4, 1946.
