The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot

From 1889, when he was 24, until 1946, the year of his death, conservationist Gifford Pinchot kept a diary in which he recorded details of his daily activities and encounters. Published here, the diary entries are organized into topical sections, with a narrative introduction by the editor that offers important context and background for each section. A significant contribution of the diaries is a much better understanding of Pinchot's autobiography, Breaking New Ground (Island Press, 1998), originally published in 1947. During the ten years of its writing, Pinchot worked with a range of experts and assistants to recreate the conservation story and his role in it. These diaries offer an important means of understanding the book and the man who wrote it.