Peeling Back The Bark
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“New Faces, Same Old Values”: Revisiting a History of Attitudes Towards Women in the Forest Service
By James Lewis on March 9, 2018In light of the recent news about the systemic and system-wide problem of sexual harassment and misconduct throughout the U.S. Forest Service, and other federal land management agencies, it is useful to have some historical perspective. In short, this is not a recent problem. The following excerpt from my book The Greatest Good and the…
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A Look Back at George Washington’s Birthday Trees
By Eben Lehman on February 22, 2018“Ten million monuments to a great man!” So went the call out from Charles Lathrop Pack and the American Tree Association to the American public. The “great man” was George Washington and the year was 1932 – the bicentennial of Washington’s birth. Mired in the midst of the Great Depression, Americans were nonetheless still in the…
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The Year When Turkeys Were Used to Fight Forest Fires
By Eben Lehman on November 22, 2017There’s no better time than Thanksgiving week to look back at some of forest history’s famous turkeys. While we’ve previously looked at how turkeys changed forest history by upending timber policy in the 1960s, it’s due time to highlight a pair of birds. “Sir Keep Oregon Green” and “Chief No Fire” were two large 40-pound…
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The Most Epic Forest History Road Trip Yet
By James Lewis on November 21, 2017This post was first published in the Spring 2017 issue of Forest History Today, which was produced for the National Park Service’s centennial, as the “History on the Road” column. It’s been adapted for the blog to include more stops at places other than in national parks and seashores. Last fall, I took a leave of absence and…
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Meet a Conservation Character: Rozzie the Rat
By James Lewis on November 6, 2017Everyone knows Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl, and maybe even Ranger Rick Raccoon. While there are many forest-related fictional characters that long ago fell by the wayside, new ones are appearing all the time. We thought we’d interview the people behind these new characters. In this first installment of our new series “Meet a Conservation Character,” we introduce…
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The Continuing Odyssey of “The Forest Fire” Painting
By James Lewis on September 13, 2017The saga of how one of the most famous paintings of a forest fire was created and what happened to it resembles at times an international spy thriller. An article in Forest History Today (“Untamed Art,” Fall 2008) by historian Stephen J. Pyne tracked that mystery but had no ending because no one could say…
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Reclaiming Henry David Thoreau, Forest Historian
By James Lewis on July 12, 2017Crayon portrait of Henry David Thoreau, 1854. (public domain) The bicentennial of the birth of Henry David Thoreau this month comes at an auspicious time. Given the political climate we live in, his essay “Civil Disobedience” resonates today more than it has in nearly a half-century. I break no new ground in saying that the…
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Collaboration, Inclusivity, and Resilience: Three Birthday Wishes for the Forest Service’s Second Century
By James Lewis on June 30, 2017July 1 marks the anniversary of the U.S. Forest Service’s establishment of the National Forest System in 1907—the day the “federal forest reserves” were renamed “national forests.” Historian Char Miller wants to share his birthday wishes for them. Not every anniversary deserves commemoration. Ordinarily, the 110th birthday of anything would not merit much attention, but…
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Parachuting Into History: Smokejumpers Land In DC For First Time
By James Lewis on June 28, 2017On this date in 1949, four Forest Service smokejumpers made the first jump east of the Mississippi River and the first parachute jump ever made onto the Washington Ellipse, the oval park between the Washington Monument and the White House. The jump was even televised, which is how President Harry Truman reportedly watched it, even…
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Explosive Truths: A Review of the book Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens
By James Lewis on May 18, 2017The vial measures about 1.75″ in length but contains a great deal of information and memory. This is an expanded version of the review of Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens, by Steve Olson, which first appeared in the April-May 2017 issue of American Scientist. When I visit environmental history–related locations, I typically bring…
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This Old (White) House: Turning Salvage Wood into Souvenirs
By Eben Lehman on May 3, 2017Ninety years ago this spring, a major repair project began on the White House in Washington, DC, that ultimately yielded wooden treasures. Work began in March of 1927 to remove large sections of the building’s roof in order to replace wood timbers with steel trusses and undertake a full remodeling of the third floor. This project…
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A Blogpost Unlike Any Other: The Eisenhower Tree, The Masters, and Forest History
By James Lewis on April 6, 2017As the Master’s Tournament gets underway at Augusta National Golf Club this week, one of the icons of the course again will not be there. The famed Eisenhower Tree suffered extensive damage from an ice storm in the winter of 2014 and was removed shortly thereafter. Approximately 65 feet high and 90 years old when…
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Celebrating the Unconventional: A Brief History of Women in Hoo-Hoo
By James Lewis on January 19, 2017The September 1911 issue of The Bulletin, the old monthly journal of the International Concatenated Order of the Hoo-Hoo, had this to say: Not a great many of our members realize that the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo has one member who would not take offense if referred to as no gentleman. In the early days…
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Mary Pickford Stars in “Beverly Hills 9021-Oh Holy Night”
By James Lewis on December 15, 2016Known as “America’s Sweetheart” during the silent film era, Mary Pickford became one of the most powerful women in the history of Hollywood. By 1916, she was earning $10,000 a week plus half the profits of every film in which she appeared (and there were a lot!). And she was producing the movies she acted…
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The Gift of the Pisgah National Forest
By James Lewis on October 17, 2016On October 17, 1916, the Pisgah National Forest was the first national forest established under the Weeks Act of 1911. Written by FHS historian Jamie Lewis, this post was originally published in the online version of the Asheville Citizen-Times on October 14, 2016, and in print on October 16 to mark the centennial. “When people walk…
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A Virtual Tour of New York’s Fernow Forest
By James Lewis on August 19, 2016If you find yourself in New York’s Adirondack Park, be sure to add a walk through Fernow Forest to the Forest History Bucket List of things to do while there. It’s a nice place to spend an hour or so stretching your legs and learning about Bernhard Fernow, an important yet underappreciated figure in North…
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Forgotten Characters from Forest History: Rusty Scrapiron
By Eben Lehman on July 13, 2016Everyone knows Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl, and maybe even Ranger Rick Raccoon, but there are many other forest and forestry-related fictional characters that long ago fell by the wayside. Peeling Back the Bark’s series on “Forgotten Characters from Forest History” continues with Part 18, in which we examine Rusty Scrapiron. This year marks the 75th anniversary…
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Jack Ward Thomas and the Importance of Ethical Leadership
By Guest Contributor on June 6, 2016As the president of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation from 1995 to 2016, Alaric Sample worked closely with the U.S. Forest Service leadership, including Jack Ward Thomas, who served as chief from 1993 to 1996. He offers his reflections on Chief Thomas’ leadership style. Jack Thomas’ formal chief’s portrait. A political appointee, he admitted he was uncomfortable…
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Jack Ward Thomas: A Remembrance
By Guest Contributor on May 31, 2016Jack Ward Thomas served as chief from 1993-1996. (FHS Photo) On May 26, 2016, Jack Ward Thomas lost his battle with cancer. Thomas started his U.S. Forest Service career as research wildlife biologist in 1966 and ended it in 1996 after serving for three years as Chief. Historian Char Miller offers this remembrance. Jack Ward Thomas,…
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The Fort McMurray Fire and the Great Fire of 1919
By James Lewis on May 6, 2016In just two short paragraphs, the Edmonton newspaper account captured the destruction and relief felt that all were safe after a wildfire overwhelmed the town: Swept away in the maelstrom of a raging forest fire which descended upon the place like a furnace blast on Monday afternoon, the little village … is today a mere smouldering mass of ruin and…
