Peeling Back The Bark
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Fundraising for Carl Schenck Film Project Now Underway
By James Lewis on March 28, 2013The Forest History Society is excited to announce that we’re developing a new documentary film. First in Forestry: Carl Schenck and the Biltmore Forest School will be the first documentary film to examine the pivotal role that the Biltmore Estate’s chief forester Carl Schenck and America’s first school of forestry played in American conservation history….
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CCC and the Art of Woodsmanship
By Eben Lehman on March 21, 2013Eighty years ago, Rudy Wendelin was a young artist fresh out of the University of Kansas School of Architecture struggling like many others to find work during the Great Depression. Relief came in 1933 when he applied for a job in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under the new Civilian Conservation program launched that same year. Wendelin got…
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Forgotten Characters from Forest History: Benny Beaver
By James Lewis on March 12, 2013Everyone 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 12, in which we examine Benny Beaver. Although Benny Beaver is back in the…
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New Documentary Film on the Life and Legacy of Gifford Pinchot
By Guest Contributor on February 28, 2013We’ve asked Leila Pinchot, a Research Fellow at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation (PIC) and a descendant of Gifford Pinchot, to share her thoughts as the premiere date of a new film about Gifford Pinchot approaches. Starting in March, keep your eyes peeled for Seeking the Greatest Good: The Conservation Legacy of Gifford Pinchot on…
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The New Swimsuit Issue Is Out From … Forest Echoes?
By James Lewis on February 15, 2013That’s not Kate Upton on the cover. And that’s not Sports Illustrated. And that’s not even in color. That’s Miss Sally Johnson. And it’s the new swimsuit issue of Forest Echoes—well, “new” on the forest history temporal scale. It’s from 1947. And to be honest, it’s not really their swimsuit issue. So what’s going on here?…
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National Pancake Day and Lumberjack Breakfasts
By James Lewis on February 5, 2013Today is National Pancake Day at the International House of Pancakes. You can get a free short stack of pancakes, though IHOP customers are encouraged to make a donation that will go to a local charity. (This date should not be confused with International Pancake Day, which is when a foot race between the women of…
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TECO and Stickee Staystuck Celebrate Anniversaries
By James Lewis on January 16, 2013On this date in 1933, the Timber Engineering Company (TECO) was incorporated in Washington, DC, as a “national sales promotion, engineering and research agency for wood and forest products” by the National Lumber Manufacturing Association. While that organization later became the National Forest Products Association and later still the American Forest & Paper Association, TECO hasn’t changed names or its mission…
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Forest Service "Bulletin" Christmas Art Sampler
By James Lewis on December 14, 2012This holiday season we turn to the U.S. Forest Service History Collection for a little fun artwork. The “Service Bulletin” was the newsletter, initially issued weekly and then later monthly, published by the Washington Office (WO) to keep employees abreast of the latest information from DC and around the nation. They typically were 6 or…
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Forgotten Characters from Forest History: Howdy Raccoon
By Eben Lehman on December 3, 2012Everyone 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 10, in which we examine Howdy the Good Outdoor Manners Raccoon. In…
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Mt. Mitchell, Where Mystery, Intrigue, and Forest History Meet!
By James Lewis on October 16, 2012At this time of year the mountains of North Carolina are a great place to go view the leaves changing colors. One popular destination is Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains, found just off the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker #355. You may be familiar with the name Mt. Mitchell…
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Smokey, Walk Away from the Walk of Fame!
By James Lewis on October 15, 2012Once again, the American voters have gotten it wrong. Once again, they failed to elect Smokey Bear to the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame in this year’s voting, which closed at the end of September. The iconic bear is just that—ICONIC. He defines the word. His picture could be in the dictionary beside the word to…
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What’s On Your Forest History Vacation Bucketlist?
By James Lewis on September 11, 2012I’ve just returned from Connecticut, where I spent time at Yale University conducting research in the Yale Forest School papers and also visited Simsbury, birthplace of Gifford Pinchot, to see the world premiere of the new film, Seeking the Greatest Good: The Conservation Legacy of Gifford Pinchot. Produced for PBS, Seeking the Greatest Good effectively weds…
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Further Reflections on Mann Gulch
By James Lewis on August 5, 2012As the Lewis and Clark expedition made its way through the beautiful, rugged area he would name “the gates of the rocky mountains,” Meriwether Lewis recorded in his journal on July 19, 1805: “this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. these clifts rise from the waters edge on…
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NC Forest Service Photo Gallery Now Available
By James Lewis on August 1, 2012Between 1891 and 1938, forestry in North Carolina saw many changes. The state government hired its first state employee to carry out forestry work in 1891; its first professionally trained forester, John Simcox Holmes, in 1909; and its first fire wardens in 1915 (four years after the Weeks Act had passed). However, when Holmes was…
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Forgotten Characters from Forest History: Sam Sprucetree
By James Lewis on July 17, 2012Everyone 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 9, in which we examine Sam Sprucetree. Sam was a character created…
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July 16, 1894: Consolidated Water Power Company Formed
By Eben Lehman on July 16, 2012On this date in 1894, a group of men with water and property rights along the Wisconsin River reached a monumental agreement. The group decided to combine their holdings in order to build dams and consolidate water power in the area around Grand Rapids and Centralia (the two towns would later merge to become Wisconsin…
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"E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" released 30 years ago today. Where’s the sequel?
By James Lewis on June 11, 2012Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” Steven Spielberg’s beloved film about an alien visitor who befriends a young boy; it’s also the film that gave us the catch phrase “Phone home.” As faithful readers of this blog know, we love films from the ’80s nearly as much as forest-themed…
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On the Waterfront: Pulp Company Photos Document Bellingham’s Past
By Eben Lehman on June 7, 2012Small crowds gathered around the Bellingham, Washington, waterfront on a Tuesday afternoon this past February to watch a 93-foot red brick building crash to the ground. The planned demolition of the former bleach plant building was just the latest chapter in the ongoing transformation of the city’s waterfront landscape. Once the site of a sprawling,…
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The Two Tragedies of Archie Mitchell
By James Lewis on May 30, 2012On this date in 1962, the Rev. Archie Mitchell was seized by the Viet Cong, bound in front of his wife and daughters, and taken away from the leprosarium where they were working near Buon Ea Na, Vietnam, never to be heard from again. This was the second wartime tragedy for Mitchell. Seventeen years earlier…
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May 11, 1922: US Forest Service heeds call of nature
By James Lewis on May 11, 2012On this date in 1922, the Agricultural Appropriations Act of May 11 made the first appropriation for the improvement of public campgrounds in national forests. The bill made special reference to the protection of public health and the prevention of forest fires. The U.S. Forest Service received $10,000. What’s most surprising about that amount is…
