The Forest | Keystone Stories

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Pennsylvania’s forests laid the foundation for a new nation. European immigrants used an abundance of white pine to build ship masts and launched a lucrative lumber industry that changed the course of U.S. history. Entrepreneurs in towns like Williamsport along the Susquehanna River struck it rich, and timber from Pennsylvania floated on log rafts all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

But there was a cost. While the commonwealth once had nearly 29 million acres of forests, the use of crosscut saws to fell trees and the development of light-gauge railroads meant logging expanded quickly away from rivers. By the dawn of the 20th century, deforestation left Pennsylvania with just 9 million acres of timber left.

Dedicated efforts by conservationists like Joseph T. Rothrock helped revitalize land lost to logging. Rothrock, known as the Father of Forestry in Pennsylvania, helped found the Pennsylvania Forestry Association and the Mont Alto Forestry Academy to train the next generation of foresters. Today, nearly 60% of the state is covered in woodland, including 121 state parks and more than 1.5 million acres of state game land.

0:00 New World forests
0:55 Roots of industry
2:53 Millionaires row
4:40 Technology advances
5:29 Boom and consequences
6:28 Rothrock and forest recovery
8:27 New Deal conservation
9:09 Celebrating today's forests
11:26 Learn more

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