USDA Forest Service
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
For Immediate Release: June 19, 2008
Contact: Chris Strebig (360) 891-5005 or Roger Peterson (360) 891-5007
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/200 ... ents.shtml
Gifford Pinchot National Forest to Host Events on July 1 in Honor of Forest Centennial
VANCOUVER, WA – A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a proclamation creating the Columbia National Forest. July 1, 2008, will mark the anniversary of the executive order that established the national forest. In 1949 the Columbia National Forest was renamed to honor Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the agency.
To commemorate this event the staff of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest is inviting the public to visit several Forest offices on July 1 to enjoy historic displays, tours, presentations, view historic photos from the Forest over the past century and have a birthday cupcake (while supplies last). More information about these events is available online at the Forest centennial website events page.
Retired national Forest Service historian Gerald Williams will give a presentation on the “Life and Legacy of Gifford Pinchot” at the Mount St. Helens NVM Headquarters, near Amboy, Wash., on Monday, June 23 starting at 11:30 a.m.
On July 1, the Mount Adams Ranger District in Trout Lake is hosting historic walking tours at the ranger station from 2-4 p.m., a wildflower hike at 4 p.m., and will have cupcakes for the public while they last. Also on July 1, the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District will have a centennial celebration from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. including a barbecue lunch for the visiting public. At the Forest Headquarters in Vancouver, historic displays, photographs, commemorative items, and cupcakes while they last will greet the visiting public on July 1st.
The National Forest system was established in the Pacific Northwest from existing federal Forest Reserve lands. This event followed on the heels of the act which made the U.S. Forest Service a new federal agency in 1905. A series of Proclamations and Executive Orders created the first national forests in 1907 and 1908.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the many accomplishments, changes, major events and growth that has occurred in the Forest during the past 100 years, and to celebrate our first century as a National Forest, managed for “the greatest good for the greatest number, in the long run,” as envisioned by Gifford Pinchot,” said Lynn Burditt, Acting Forest Supervisor of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
A variety of other commemorative activities and events are planned throughout 2008 to celebrate the centennial. Visitors to the Forest can find more information at the Forest centennial website at http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf which features historical information about the forest, a calendar of centennial events, and historic images from the past 100 years.
The Forest has produced a commemorative centennial tear map of the Forest which visitors can use to navigate the Forest this year and which also lists a number of historic sites around the Forest for people to visit. These are now available at all Forest offices on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and at local visitor information centers.
A series of historic photographs can be viewed on digital picture frames at each Ranger District office and at the Forest Headquarters office in Vancouver as well as online at the Forest’s Centennial website.
The Northwest Interpretive Association has also produced several commemorative items that will be for sale at Forest offices this summer.
For more information about upcoming centennial events, and to learn more about your national forest, check out the Forest web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/research/heri ... nial.shtml
Gifford Pinchot Natl. Forest Centential events
Re: Gifford Pinchot Natl. Forest Centential events
USDA Forest Service
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
For Immediate Release: June 26, 2008
Contact: Cheryl Mack (509) 395-3421 or Rick McClure (509) 395-3399
Historic Guard Station Open to the Public During Forest Centennial Event July 5
TROUT LAKE , WA – As part of the Forest Centennial in 2008 an old two-room mountain cabin, built by rangers in the early days of the Forest Service, will be open to the public on Saturday July 5. The Gotchen Creek Ranger Station, built in 1909, is located nine miles north of the community of Trout Lake on the south side of Mt. Adams, within Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The cabin will be open from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Heritage Program staff from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest will be on hand to provide historical information.
Nancy Ryke, District Ranger for the Mt. Adams Ranger District, said, “I hope that visitors will take the opportunity during this weekend when we recognize the birth of our nation to connect with their public lands, especially since this year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Gotchen Creek Ranger Station is our oldest surviving building on the Forest.”
A recent inventory of over 1,500 existing historic Forest Service buildings in Washington and Oregon showed that the Gotchen Creek station is one of only four ranger stations built before 1910. The cabin was strategically placed on an old wagon road that served as a principal entry point to the Forest from the east. In the early days, tens of thousands of sheep passed by the station on their way to grazing allotments. Rangers based at the cabin counted sheep and conducted horseback patrols of the surrounding country.
The historic ranger station is located on Forest Road 8225.060, with access from Forest Roads 82 and 8225 north of Trout Lake.
The site is featured on a special centennial tear map of the Forest which visitors can use to navigate the Forest this year and which also lists a number of historic sites around the Forest for people to visit. These are now available at all Forest offices on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and at local visitor information centers.
for more info and photos: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/200 ... ouse.shtml