Bernard E. Fernow
The story begins with a Colonel Fox, Superintendent of New York's state-owned forests during the mid 1890s. He believed that the State's constitutional amendment setting aside the Adirondack and Catskill preserves as lands to be kept forever wild was unfortunate. The Colonel opined that preserve approval by the State's electorate resulted from a widespread ignorance of enlightened forest management and its implications. In his annual reports for 1896 and 1897 Col. Fox advocated inauguration of a demonstration forest to educate the body politic regarding what "modern" forestry was all about. He shared his thinking with an Adirondack real estate dealer who "... poo-poohed..." the idea but, later, sensing the possibility of a profitable deal, returned to ask what kind of land tract would be needed. The realtor then saw Governor Black "...and warmed up his interest in such a demonstration...".
Subsequently, the Governor went on an Adirondack fishing trip with a Colonel Francis and discussed with him Col. Fox's proposition and his fear that politics would prevent carrying out such a scheme. Col. Francis, then a trustee of Cornell University, suggested that this hurdle might be leaped by having Cornell conduct such an experiment. President Schurman was consulted and, according to Fernow "... I believe it was he who suggested that a college of forestry be instituted by the University to carry on the demonstration." Pres. Schurman then consulted three of the Nation's leading foresters, Gifford Pinchot, Dr. Alvin Schenck and Dr. B. E. Fernow to elaborate a scheme for such a college. With the Governor attending to the legal and Fernow to the technical details, bills were drawn up for the undertaking, submitted to the Legislature and passed without difficulty. Has there ever been, before or afterwards, anywhere another college whose origin can be found simply in the desire of a few politicians to have an experiment carried out?
Once the new college, the first of its kind in North America, was formed Dr. Fernow was "...invited to become Dean and Director and to organize the college and inaugurate the demonstration." Resigning his position as Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forestry Division (predecessor of the U.S. Forest Service), Fernow quickly moved to acquire a tract of land for the demonstration forest and to establish a program of instruction. The former involved purchasing 30,000 acres of forested Adirondack land near Axton in Franklin County. To prepare for and begin the desired demonstration as well as to staff the College's academic program, additional staff were needed; two more faculty members were quickly hired. A four year curriculum leading to the bachelor's degree and with an optional fifth year for a professional masters in forestry became operational in academic year 1898-99. Since many of the entering students had already completed part or all of their bachelor's degree training prior to enrolling in the college of Forestry, graduates began to be produced in short order; it was immediately apparent that demand for Cornell-trained foresters far outstripped supply. This seems to have been true throughout the five years for which the College existed. In all respects, this fledgling institution seems to have gotten off to an outstanding start as an educational endeavor.
A.S. Williams, Howard M. Longyear, Ralph Zon; Middle Row: Walter Mulford, Harry J. Tompkins,
Prof. John C. Gifford, Dr. Bernhard E. Fernow, Prof. Filibert Roth, Ralph C. Bryant, Clifford Pettis;
Bottom Row: I.T. Worthley, Rushton H. Charlton, Frederick W. Fassett.
If only things had gone so well for the demonstration forest. From the beginning, the concept of demonstrating scientific forestry in the Adirondacks had been vigorously opposed by a group of influential landowners, referred to by Fernow as the "bankers." They undoubtedly looked upon this as a threat to their own interests. Working through the Preserve Board, the State Senate and at least one governor, they mounted a steady barrage of attacks on the demonstration and on Fernow personally. A single example cited by Fernow provides a graphic illustration of this harassment campaign. He states that "At one time the Director [Fernow] was charged on the floor of the Senate with using oleomargarine in his camp contrary to law." Only a loophole in the law saved Dr. Fernow from severe penalties. The offending substance had been purchased in Pennsylvania, not in New York, as legally prohibited.
The "bankers" were not the only ones causing difficulty in development of the demonstration forest. Cornell University appointed a Steering Committee, made up of Board of Trustee members, to oversee the College's activities relating to the demonstration. In Fernow's acerbic description of its activities, the Committee "...seemed to be instituted mainly to curb the enthusiasm of the Director, to act as a break [brake] so that matters should not proceed too smartly and that the Director should not direct too much." Fernow gives several specific examples of the Committee's ill-advised activities; it seems to have been an unmitigated hindrance towards getting the project off to a good start.
Despite all the problems, Fernow and his staff did amazingly well in getting the whole Adirondack operation up and running. Students were intimately involved in all phases of the demonstration from an initial survey of the property onwards. A market had been developed for all wood harvested, the sale of which would reimburse the State treasury for at least part of the demonstration's cost. However, delays, caused in large part by the Trustee Steering Committee's niggling, resulting in a course of action that ultimately proved fatal to the College.
Fernow was well aware of the dangers posed by his "banker" neighbors. Harvesting of the existing forest, followed about a year later by replanting with nursery stock, were the core activities of the demonstration. For at least several years after logging, sites are eye sores and most wildlife is driven from the area for at least a year. The original plan of development was carefully drawn up to spare Cornell's most influential neighbors these traumas. Unfortunately, from the College's viewpoint, delay followed delay necessitating the first cutting to take place on land adjoining the private summer camps of those wealthy New York bankers. "These, especially two of them who had used the Cornell-purchased tract for hunting, took umbrage at the operations and began proceedings to stop them. First a newspaper war criticizing the methods of management was begun; then the Attorney General was interpolated to interfere, but without success; then a legislative committee of inspection was secured and without advising the College authorities or their Superintendent was taken around by the bankers, dined and wined and provided with a disapprobation report. Finally the Governor [Odell] was 'seen'." The College's appropriation ($10,000) for 1903 had passed through the Legislature without debate; but, after it had adjourned for the summer, Governor Odell simply pocketed the bill thus bringing the first college of forestry in North America to an ignonimous end.
Dean Fernow did not give up without a fight. He offered to "... continue the work without pay and to finance the College by charging tuition fees to all students [a proposition apparently originating with the students themselves], some seventy odd (students from New York having had free tuition)...". Despite a report by President Schurman to the trustees that was highly complementary towards Dr. Fernow and that included the statement "...the University stands by its expert, the College was abandoned." In a final comment on the University's action (perhaps "inaction" would be a more appropriate term) Fernow says: "A credible rumor has it that for thus gracefully submitting to the whip of the Governor the University secured the Agriculture building."
Even after so long a time, it is difficult not to feel anger at the political machinations leading to the College's demise. Director Fernow, his staff and the seventy or so students who had entered the forestry curriculum in good faith deserved better treatment. Yet the game was not quite finished. Out of the College's ashes there slowly evolved what is now Cornell's Department of Natural Resources.
The demise of Cornell's College of Forestry in 1903 posed obvious difficulties for the faculty, staff, and student body caught up in this unexpected, politically motivated development. A problem was also posed for the College of Agriculture (founded in 1888) since wood production was an integral part of the farming systems of that day. Wood-based enterprises also played an important role in the rural economy of the state. One Cornellian acutely aware of this was Liberty Hyde Bailey. Even before the College of Forestry closed, he had stressed the importance of having forestry training at Cornell.
Of course Dean Bailey's view of the proper order of things was to have a department of forestry within his College of Agriculture rather than as a separate college. He was soon to have his way. In each annual report up till 1910, Dean Bailey emphasized the need for a program of instruction in forestry. Finally, in that year the Board of Trustees authorized establishment of a Department of Forestry and appropriated the sum of $4,400 for its operation during the 1910-1911 academic year. Prof. Walter Mulford (Cornell BSA, 1899 and FE [Forest Engineer], 1901) was appointed to be its first chair.
The following text describing this department and its evolution through the eventful year of 1948 is based largely on a paper of 63 pages presented by Prof. Ralph S. Hosmer to a meeting of the Cornell Foresters in 1950 at Washington, DC (Hosmer 1950). The reader who wishes to delve further into parallel developments at Cornell in vertebrate biology, nature education and fish and wildlife management is referred to The Cornell Nature Study Philosophy by Laurence Palmer (Palmer 1944) and, of course, to Morris Bishop's A History of Cornell (1962).
Back to the Department of Forestry. A nucleus of five faculty soon had the department up and running. By 1937 there had been 351 bachelor's degrees awarded, 86 masters, three Ph.D.s and eight other degrees given to forestry students by Cornell for special reasons for a total of 448. Undergraduate majors followed a rigorous science curriculum augmented by summer camps devoted to hands-on forestry practice and to applied engineering (offered by Cornell's Civil Engineering Department). Non-professional courses were also taught to meet the needs of students in general agriculture.
from 1868 to 1910, leaving a legacy of excellence and strength in zoology.
John Bentley, Jr. was hired in 1912 to develop extension programs in forestry. From that time onward, and especially after the mid-1930s, the department conducted a wide variety of programs directed at non-industrial owners of the state's woodlands. Beginning in 1924 and continuing until 1950, Joshua A. Cope, extension forester for the NYS College of Agriculture, led this effort. Programs were characterized by preparation and distribution of much written material, on-site visits, demonstration projects, and talks presented to groups. Given the degraded condition characterizing much of New York's privately owned forests and the potential for new woodlands on abandoned agricultural land, programs on aforestation were emphasized during the earlier part of this period.
Hosmer (1950, p.43-44) describes research carried out by the
Department of Forestry's faculty and graduate students as falling
into the following categories: "I. Ecological studies
concerning forest trees that are of economical importance in New
York State. ...II. Studies of problems of an historic or economic
nature, which have to do with land use, forest history, forest
policy, forest management, marketing of forest products, and kindred
subjects. III. Special research projects in field and/or
laboratory to discover truth new to science. IV. Cooperation
with other Research Agencies ...". As a result of this
research, a steady stream of articles in the Journal of Forestry
and many quasi- professional publications ensued.
Acquisition of two major facilities, Fernow Hall and the Arnot Forest, provided a solid physical base for the department's teaching, research, and extension activities. The forestry building was erected following Dean Bailey's 1911 request to the NYS Legislature. The sum of $100,000 was appropriated for construction. Events moved rapidly, the building being ready for occupancy in 1914. A two-day formal opening was held May 15-16, the first day being devoted to addresses by notables with Gifford Pinchot presenting the keynote speech and the second to an open meeting of the Society of American Foresters. Ironically, the Society's president that year was Dr. Bernhard E. Fernow, who had moved on from Cornell to become the first head of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto. In 1922 Cornell's Board of Trustees finally recognized Dr. Fernow's eminence in his profession and his contributions to this university by naming the forestry building "Fernow Hall" in his honor.
of the Forestry Building on October 5, 1922. The flag covers the tablet over the building's main entrance bearing the name "Fernow Hall."
From the department's inception, faculty had sought to obtain a large tract of forested land for hands-on training, demonstration, and research. As early as 1914 they had identified an ideal tract some 15 miles south of Ithaca, but funds could not be found for its purchase. The department had to make do until 1927 with small woodlots near campus for most of its "hands-on" training activities. In that year the Arnot family of Elmira, NY generously donated to Cornell a solid block of second-growth hardwood forest covering 1,639 acres. This was the same tract identified in 1914 as being "ideal." Other land has been added over the years so that now "the Arnot" extends over an area in excess of 4,000 acres.
In 1911 state legislation was enacted creating the NYS College of Forestry at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. Thus, two state-supported institutions were simultaneously engaged in the education of professional foresters at the bachelors degree level. The year 1930 saw the NYS Board of Education's Board of Regents beginning to question the need for such duplication. A sense of deja vu must have enveloped members of Cornell's Department of Forestry, especially its long-time faculty.
An investigation of forestry and wildlife conservation activities at the two campuses and recommendations of how best to deal with program duplication was undertaken by H. H. Horner, then Deputy Commissioner of Higher Education for New York State. His report was presented in the spring of 1932, modified after some negotiation with Cornell administrators and finally accepted by the Trustees; a formal announcement of the terms agreed on was made March 26, 1937. Briefly, the State College of Forestry was designated as the sole site for professional undergraduate training in forestry. Permanent faculty in Cornell's Department of Forestry were to be continued with responsibilities curtailed to courses in "farm" forestry, to extension work in forestry (an area that quickly grew in scope) and to research and graduate education.
The 1937 announcement defining new boundaries for the department also contained the stipulation that "... the full development of instruction in wild-life conservation and management as now contemplated in the College of Agriculture shall be recognized, endorsed and supported." (Hosmer 1950, p. 61-62). The State College of Forestry at Syracuse was to confine its involvement in this subject matter to that necessary for the operation of a professional forestry program.
Roots in fish and wildlife management at Cornell extend back to the College of Agriculture's earliest days. J. G. Needham was appointed Professor of Limnology in 1906; the year 1911 saw G. C. Embody appointed as an instructor in the college where he began his work in fish culture and fishery biology. His bulletin The Farm Fish Pond, published in 1915, was the earliest American treatise on this subject (Hosmer 1950, p. 61).
In 1917 the American Game Association selected Cornell, in cooperation with the US Biological Survey, to initiate a program of professional training in game farming and management. The first instruction on this subject was given during the 1917-18 academic year by Authur A. Allen, one of America's most renowned ornithologists, and has continued to the present; Prof. Allen alone provided leadership in this area for 30 years. Thus, the half century following the founding of Cornell's College of Forestry witnessed establishment and growth of programs in fish and wildlife management.
their original Fernow Hall base: Elsa G. Allen (left), a scholar in the history of ornithology; Arthur A. Allen (center),
the Laboratory's founder and "America's First Professor of Ornithology"; and Peter Paul Kellogg (right).
ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT: 1948-1998
The time was ripe for Cornell to merge its work in forestry with that in wildlife and fisheries. This was done in 1948 by creating a new Department of Conservation. Gustav A. Swanson, then Chief of the Division of Wildlife Research, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was chosen to be its first leader. At its inception, the Department's faculty included Cornell's internationally known and respected core of vertebrate biologists and an oceanographer as well as those already identified as having a focus on forest, fish, or wildlife management.
The reader may have noted that, except for a few individuals in top leadership positions, no attempt has been made in this narrative to name faculty or to recognize their specific programs;. space and time did not permit doing this. However, since many of the Department of Conservation's original faculty are personally known, or at least known of by some of you reading this, a brief listing of names and areas of principal expertise, as they were in 1950 (Hosmer, p. 62), seems appropriate here: G.A. Swanson (wildlife biology, Department Chairman), E.C. Rainey (ichthyology), D.A. Webster (fishery biology), A.M. Phillips, Jr. (fish culture and nutrition - only part-time at Cornell), J.C. Ayers (oceanography), A.A. Allen (ornithology), P.P. Kellog (ornithology), W.J. Hamilton, Jr. (mammology), W.R. Eadie (mammology), O.H. Hewitt (wildlife management), R.S. Hosmer (wildlife management), W.F. Clark (wildlife extension), C.H. Guise (forestry), J.A. Cope (forestry), F. Winch, Jr. (forestry), and R.R. Morrow, Jr. (forestry). In addition, E.L. Palmer (conservation education) and D.C. Chandler (limnology) held joint appointments in the Department.
while assessing a spawning run of Finger Lakes rainbow trout in the 1950's.
The first two decades of this new department, called "Conservation", were characterized by a groundswell of public demand for improved management of the Nation's natural resources--a development fueled by post-World War II prosperity leading to new demands for outdoor recreation opportunities and by recognition that an hiatus in management during the war years coupled with massive increases in pollutants released to the environment had left a great deal of catching up to do. During this period, Department contributions to better resource management were especially noteworthy in regards to studies of animal populations--how productive they were, what habitats they required and how they interacted with human society. However, by the mid-1960s serious environmental quality problems, a globally exploding human population, a growing recognition of the interconnectedness of all things in the natural world, and a great awakening of public interest in these matters initiated profound changes in the Department.
senior research associate in the Department of Natural Resources, indicates a point of interest.
Year of the first Earth Day, 1970, saw the Department change its name from "Conservation" to "Natural Resources." By then, we had already established a position of campus leadership in teaching environmental-related subject matter. A hugely successful service course, designed to attract a campus-wide audience, was underway; enrollment in the Department spiraled upward with over 350 undergraduate advisees and some 50 graduate students calling Fernow Hall home. Research funding and the number, scope, and magnitude of projects were in a state of dramatic increase. Also by 1970, the Department had expanded its interests to include outdoor recreation, environmental ethics, water resources, and a new focus on the human dimensions of resource management, all while remaining active and productive in its traditional wildlife, fishery, and woodlands programs. New techniques, such as aerial mapping of resources, were proliferating, and youth-related programming, long an emphasis of the Department's outreach efforts, had been expanded.
In the following decades, more integrated approaches, applied to more complex subject matter, have characterized the Department's teaching, research, and outreach activities. Management of wilderness and wetlands, ecotoxicology, nutrient flow and energy cycling, acidification and eutrophication of lakes and streams, agroforestry, and global climate change were added to the lexicon of subjects addressed by Department programs. Noteworthy contributions continued to be made where the Department had long been recognized for its expertise including management at the species and population levels of whitetailed deer, northern hardwoods, lake and brook trout, geese, walleye pike/yellow perch, and ruffed grouse. Research and outreach programs concerned with exotic species (e.g., purple loosestrife and zebra mussels) and on those causing significant agricultural and horticultural damage, such as pine voles and blackbirds, was expanded.
The 1980s and '90s have seen the Department broaden and intensify its involvement in international and global issues concerning natural resource management, in environmental education of youth, in regards to environmental ethics and values and with specific instances and types of environmental pollution. Faculty and staff have been broadly involved and provided leadership to many campus-wide programs of significance to students and staff including: the Cornell-in-Washington Program, Cornell's Center for the Environment, the Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development, and the University's Institute for Resource Information Systems.
As we prepare to enter a new century, the Department of Natural Resources (including its historical predecessors), together with the alumni(ae) and friends who helped make that history, give us a past to be proud of and a solid foundation upon which to build those programs needed to deal with future resource management issues--issues that will only grow more complex and more acute with time.
The preceding text represents a melding of three articles which appeared in the Fall 1997, Spring 1998 and Fall 1998 issues of Natural Resources News, an occasional publication of the Department of Natural Resources. Minor editing and the addition of more photographs represent the only changes.
References Cited
Bishop, M. 1962. A History of Cornell. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Fernow, B.E. Undated. The intimate history of the rise and fall of the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell University. 13 p. Cornell Archive Collections/ 20/1/561, No. 14.
Hosmer, Ralph S. 1950. Forestry at Cornell: 1898-1948. Talk presented to a meeting of the Cornell Foresters, Washington, DC, 1950. 63 p.
Palmer, L. 1944. The Cornell Nature Study Philosophy. Cornell Rural School Leaflet, 38(1). 80 p. New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.