Forest History

The history of forest use in the United States is a fascinating mix of forestry, adventure, industrial development, politics, and conservation. Many books have been written on various aspects of forest history. The Forest History Society co-publishes a quarterly journal with the American Society of Environmental History entitled Environmental History. The Society also maintains archives of photographs, a library of texts and oral histories. The Forest History Society is a leading source, worldwide, for scholars, scientists and others interested in this subject.

A beginning list of suggested readings on Mississippi's forest history follows:

1. Mississippi Forests and Forestry by James Fickle. 2001. Mississippi Forestry Foundation, Inc./ University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS. 347 pp.
2. The Greatest Good. 100 Years of Forestry in America by Char Miller and Rebecca Staebler. 1999. Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, MD.
3. American Forests: A History of Resiliency and Recovery by Douglas W. McCleary. 1997. Forest History Society, Issues Papers Series, Durham, NC 58 pp.
4. Wood in American Life 1776-2076 by W.G. Youngquist and H.O. Fleischer. 1977. Forest Products Society Madison, WI. 191 pp.
5. Mississippi Harvest: Lumbering in the Longleaf Pine Belt 1840-1915 by Nollie W. Hickman. 1962. University of Mississippi. 306 pp.
6. Delta Harvest by Howard A. Hanlon. 1966. Watkins Review, Inc. Watkins Glen, NY. 395 pp.
7. 100 Years of Federal Forestry by William Bergoffen. 1976. USDA Forest Service Ag Information Bulletin No.402, 200 pp.
8. Sawmill. The Story of Cutting the Last Great Virgin Forest East of the Rockies by Kenneth L. Smith. 1986. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, AR. 246 pp.

One aspect of forest history worth exploring is the life of Gifford Pinchot and the founding of the U.S. conservation movement. Pinchot was among the first trained foresters in America. He was a friend to President Theodore Roosevelt, a two-term Governor of Pennsylvania and the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

The Mississippi Forestry Foundation, a part of the Mississippi Forestry Association, currently has a forest history project. The project has produced an excellent history of forestry in Mississippi, Mississippi Forests and Forestry by Dr. James Fickle, professor of history at the University of Memphis. Read Researching the Mississippi Forests to get a taste of Mississippi's forests beginning in the 1840's up to today. A companion volume to Forests and Forestry, "Timber: A Photographic History of Mississippi Forestry" is a picture book to show the history described in Forests and Forestry. For more information contact the Mississippi Forest Foundation at 601-354-4936.

The American Forestry Association offers an opportunity to own a historic tree. At their web site for Famous and Historic Trees anyone can purchase seedlings grown from historic trees. The parent trees include such trees as the Brompton White Oak that witnessed the Civil War battle of Fredricksburg, Va., the Alamo Live Oak, the Ellis Island Sycamore, the Tidal Basin Japanese Cherry trees and many others. AFA offers a catalog of these Famous and Historic Trees.