The second part of our YFF forest history series explores the history of “scientific forestry.” We will trace its origins to early-modern European views of nature, where scientific expertise was seen as a tool for dominion over the natural world and for colonial expansion.
The series examines how European forestry practices influenced the development of forestry in the United States during the 19th century and how the profession gained ground in North American universities — including The Yale Forest School, founded in 1900. We will trace the transformation of forestry from its early focus on exploitation and extraction in the East, to the protection and recovery of forests in the West, and to the development of an ecosystem and ecological approach to managing our nation’s forests in the 20th century. We will also evaluate forestry in the United States by considering its successes and its problematic legacies in relation to Indigenous land dispossession and settler colonialism. Finally, we will explore how the profession evolved with advances in modern genetics and ecosystem forestry, culminating in the watershed legislation of the 1970s, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Forest Management Act, which laid the foundation for a new era in forest management.
This speaker series will feature scholars and practitioners from a variety of fields, including forestry, history, ecology, sociology, and environmental studies.
This series will explore the following questions:
- What were the primary systems of scientific forestry? How did these systems vary globally?
- How did these systems evolve over time in the US?
- How did scientific forestry change how people and cultures connected with their environments?
- What informed the traditions and practice of Scientific Forestry? How did it differ from the ways that forests informed traditional ways of life and belief systems?
- What practices have persisted over time, and why are they still effective today?
- What disciplines help us to understand past practices and forest landscapes?
Join us every Thursday from September 4 to December 4 from 12-1 p.m. U.S. ET. Note that there will not be webinars on October 16 and 23 and November 27.
The series is free and open to the public. Each session will be recorded. We will offer CEUs from Society of American Foresters, Society for Ecological Restoration, International Society of Arboriculture, the Connecticut Division of Forestry, and the Massachusetts Forester Licensing Board for foresters and practitioners who attend the live webinars. Please email yff@yale.edu for further information.
Series Hosts
This fall 2025 speaker series is co-hosted by The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment, Forest History Society, Society of American Foresters, and the University of Minnesota.
Series Facilitators
The series is lead by Gary Dunning (Yale School of the Environment), Tania Munz (Forest History Society), Terry Baker (Society of American Foresters), and Mike Dockry (University of Minnesota).
Photo: Steam tractor by Best Mfg. Co., 1894 in California. Caterpillar T. Co.
