Bernhard Fernow

thumb| Bernhard Eduard Fernow (January 7, 1851 – February 6, 1923) was the third chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Division of Forestry of the United States from 1886 to 1898, preceding Gifford Pinchot in that position, and laying much of the groundwork for the establishment of the United States Forest Service in 1905. Fernow's philosophy toward forest management may be traced to Heinrich Cotta, and to Linnaeus' ideas on the "economy of nature." He has been called the "father of professional forestry in the United States. Quotes A vague idea that some connection existed between the forest-cover and the climatic conditions of a country has been prevalent from olden times. "The tree is the mother of the fountain," or "the father of the rain," are significant expressions of the sages of old. ... And now, in the light of recent scientific experiments and investigations, added to the historical evidence of earlier times, we are forced to consider the forests of a country in a fourfold aspect: 1. As furnishers of raw material. 2. As regulators of climatic conditions. 3. As regulators of hydrologic conditions, influencing the water-flow in springs, brooks, and rivers. 4. As regulators of soil-conditions. "Our Forestry-Problem", Popular Science Monthly, vol. 32 (December, 1887), p. 226 If we can, by reasonably husbanding present supplies, and by exercise of management, prolong for the human race the use of this most convenient material, should we not rather curb our spendthrift tendencies than rely upon the ingenuity of our children in supplying substitutes? "Our Forestry-Problem", Popular Science Monthly, vol. 32 (December, 1887), p. 226 The severest test of democratic institutions is experienced when the attempt is made to establish a policy which shall guard the interests of the future at the expense of the demands and needs of the present. Democracy produces attitudes and characteristics of the people which are inimical to stable economic arrangements looking to the future, such as are implied in a forest policy. The vast country with an unevenly distributed and heterogeneous population presents the greatest variety of natural, as well as of economic conditions; the immediate interests of one section naturally do not coincide with those of other sections; particularistic and individualistic tendencies of the true democrat are antagonistic to anything which smacks of "paternalism," the attitude under which alone a persistent, farsighted policy can thrive. Frequent change of administration, or at least the threat of such change, impedes consistent execution of plans; fickle public opinion may subvert at any time well laid plans which take time in maturing; the true democratic doctrine of restricting State activity to police functions, and the doctrine of non-interference with private rights, as well as the idea of State rights in opposition to federal power and authority—all these characteristics of a democratic government are impediments to a concerted action and stable policy. A Brief History of Forestry, rev. ed. (Toronto, 1911), p. 458 External links Category:Government officials Category:Cornell University faculty Category:1851 births Category:1923 deaths