Bernhard Eduard Fernow was a German forester who emigrated to the United States in 1876. Fernow became a leader in the forestry conservation movement and was appointed chief of the Division of Forestry, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture from 1886 to 1898. He organized several of the schools of forestry in the United States and Canada.
Full Name:
Bernhard Eduard Fernow
Date of Birth/Death:
January 7, 1852 to February 6, 1923
Place of Birth/Death:
Born: Posen, Prussia, Germany
Died: Toronto, Canada
Died: Toronto, Canada
Education:
Fernow trained in forestry from an early age on his Uncle's estate near Posen, Prussia. He was educated as a forester at several institutions in Germany including University of Kronigsberg and, attracted to an American girl, traveled to the United States to marry. He never lived in Germany again.
Career Outline:
Fernow was a North American forestry pioneer. He organized the American Forestry Congress which called for protective forest laws. Fernow served as chief of the Division of Forestry at the United States Department of Agriculture under President Grover Cleveland and founded several forestry schools including Cornell's School of Forestry. Among his publications are Economics of Forestry(1902), A Brief History of Forestry(1907), and The Care of Trees in Lawn, Street, and Park(1910).
Greatest Achievements:
Bernhard Fernow brought the German forestry experience to North America where forests were "recklessly cut throughout the 19th century" and where Americans "simply burned trees to get them out of the way".
Fernow was the first Division of Forestry chief - USDA and established new forestry schools in both the United States and Canada. He was a prolific writer with three major books and numerous articles in forestry science magazines including the "Forestry Quarterly".
Fernow was the first Division of Forestry chief - USDA and established new forestry schools in both the United States and Canada. He was a prolific writer with three major books and numerous articles in forestry science magazines including the "Forestry Quarterly".
On His Marrage:
"It was an accident that an American girl located with her family in a little town in Germany where I was studying forestry; it was an accident that I became acquainted with her; and, in part at least, an accident that I became engaged to her -- all of which accidents conspired to bring me over to the United States for a visit which extended to over thirty years."
The Harriman Expedition:
Edward Henry Harriman assembled an elite crew of scientists and artists in 1899 and took them on a two-month survey of the Alaskan coast aboard the good ship George W. Elder. Bernhard Fernow was selected as resident forester along with other scientists and writers including naturalist John Burroughs, Field and Stream's George Bird Grinnell, naturalist John Muir and geologist G. K. Gilbert.
Fernow: The Musician:
Bernhard Fernow always played the elegant European and was accomplished at the piano. The Harriman Expedition gave Fernow an opportunity to play Beethoven and Schubert on board the good ship George W. Elder.
