“Gifford Pinchot is the man to whom the nation owes most of what has been accomplished as regards the preservation of the natural resources of our country...I believe it is but just to say that among the many, many public officials who under my administration rendered literally invaluable service to the people of the United States, he, on the whole, stood first.” ~ President Theodore Roosevelt
"Gifford Pinchot and the Old Timers Volume II" includes ten new narratives from the Old Timers Collection in the Gifford Pinchot Collection at the Library of Congress. In Volume 2, we hear from Gifford Pinchot's "first" professionally-trained forest rangers and allied professionals who describe the birthing of the nation's first environmental agency, the US Forest Service, and the training of individuals with a virtuous vision of public service. The narratives contain tales of extreme hardship, on-the-ground problem solving, interactions with cattlemen, miners, and loggers as well as first-hand descriptions of challenges in which the Forest Ranger turned confrontation into cooperation, gratitude, and respect. The lives of the "first foresters" were not easy but a life of service to the American public and the natural world was the best life one could imagine. Each was grateful for the opportunity to find meaning in a time of struggle.
