Who was Joseph T. Rothrock and why are we celebrating him in Pennsylvania this week?
Updated 11:10 AM;
Today 10:11 AM
A photo by Harris & Ewing now held in the Library of Congress shows Joseph T. Rothrock, the “Father of Pennsylvania Forestry” in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
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Joseph Rothrock, widely known as the Father of Pennsylvania Forestry, has his name attached to this week in the state, largely thanks to the work of the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation.
The foundation, which works to support state parks and state forests in Pennsylvania, helped create the weeklong dedication, noting that in the late 1800s, Pennsylvania led the country in production of lumber, cutting 2.3 billion board feet in one year. Fueling that production was a “cut out, get out” mentality that left much of the state denuded of its forests and with a landscape prone to massive erosion and frequent wildfires.