{{Short description|U.S. botanist. mycologist, lichenologist & conservationist (1839–1922)}} {{for|the American college football coach|Joseph J. Rothrock}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Joseph Rothrock | image = Joseph T Rothrock.jpg | title = Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters | term_start = 1895 | term_end = 1904 | predecessor = | successor = | title2 = President of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association | term_start2 = | term_end2 = | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | title3 = | term_start3 = | term_end3 = | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | title4 = | term_start4 = | term_end4 = | predecessor4 = | successor4 = | birth_name = Joseph Trimble Rothrock | birth_date = {{Birth date|1839|4|9}} | birth_place = [[McVeytown, Pennsylvania]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1922|6|2|1839|4|9}} | death_place = [[West Chester, Pennsylvania]], U.S. | party = Republican | spouse = | profession = {{hlist|Explorer|surgeon|botanist|professor}} | footnotes = | resting_place = [[Oaklands Cemetery]]<br />West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. }} '''Joseph Trimble Rothrock''' (April 9, 1839 – June 2, 1922) was an American [[environmentalist]], recognized as the "Father of Forestry" in Pennsylvania. In 1895, Rothrock was appointed the first forestry commissioner to lead the newly formed Division of Forestry in the [[Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture]]. Two of his major accomplishments as commissioner were his land acquisition program and the creation of a forest academy to train foresters for state service.<ref name="rsfhistory">{{cite web |url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/rothhistory.aspx |archive-url = https://archive.today/20040302194114/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/rothhistory.aspx |url-status = dead |archive-date = March 2, 2004 |title = History of the Rothrock State Forest |access-date = 2007-06-16 |publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources]]}}</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life=== Joseph Rothrock was born in [[McVeytown, Pennsylvania|McVeytown]] in [[Mifflin County, Pennsylvania|Mifflin County]], [[Pennsylvania]] in the [[United States]] to a German farming family.<ref name="dep">{{cite web |url = http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/heritage/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=444258 |title = Dr. Joseph Trimble Rothrock |access-date = 2007-06-17 |publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection]]}}</ref><ref name="psu">{{cite web |url = http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Rothrock__Joseph_Trimble.html |title = Joseph Trimble Rothrock |access-date = 2015-06-06 |publisher = [[Penn State University]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150510040909/http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Rothrock__Joseph_Trimble.html |archive-date = 2015-05-10 |url-status = dead }}</ref> He was often ill as a child and spent many hours hiking the woods of Mifflin County for exercise to combat his illnesses. It was while on these walks that Rothrock developed a love for the outdoors. He went on to become a pioneering [[environmentalist]] in Pennsylvania, helping preserve and re-establish the forests that he so loved.
===Education and early career=== Joseph Rothrock studied under [[Asa Gray]],<ref name="dudley">{{cite journal|last1=Dudley|first1=Susan|last2=Goddard|first2=David R.|title=Joseph T. Rothrock and Forest Conservation|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=117|issue=1|year=1973|pages=37–50|jstor=985946}}</ref> a renowned [[botanist]] at [[Harvard University]]. Rothrock received a [[Bachelor of Science]] in [[botany]] from Harvard in 1862 (possibly 1864).<ref>{{cite book|last=Dupree|first=A. Hunter|year=1988|title=Asa Gray, American Botanist, Friend of Darwin|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, MD|isbn=978-0-801-83741-8|page=326}}</ref> He enlisted in the [[Union Army]] the following year, saw action during the [[American Civil War]] and was seriously wounded at the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]]. Rothrock was discharged from the Army on June 6, 1864, having reached the rank of captain in the [[20th Pennsylvania Cavalry]]. He furthered his education at the [[University of Pennsylvania]], receiving a [[doctor of medicine]] degree in 1867.<ref name="dcnr">{{cite web |url = http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/joseph_trimble_rothrock/13891 |title = Joseph Trimble Rothrock |access-date = 2015-03-01 |publisher = Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources}}</ref>
Rothrock began practice in [[Centre County, Pennsylvania]], but in 1870 moved to [[Wilkes-Barre]], making a specialty of diseases of the eye and ear.<ref name=appletons>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Rothrock, Joseph Trimble|year=1900}}</ref> He was one of the founders of Wilkes-Barre [[Hospital]], and served on the [[Faculty (teaching staff)|faculty]] of [[Penn State University]] from 1867 to 1869, where he taught botany, [[human anatomy]] and [[physiology]].<ref name="dcnr"/>
Rothrock was associated with the exploring party of the [[Western Union]] extension [[telegraph]] in [[British Columbia]] 1865–1866. He served as a [[surgeon]] and botanist for the geographical and geological exploration and survey west of the 100th meridian under Lieut. [[George M. Wheeler]], the [[Wheeler Survey]], 1873–1875. In 1876, he established the North Mountain School of Physical Culture in [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Luzerne County]], also during the same year he was appointed by the [[American Philosophical Society]] lecturer on forestry in execution of the Michaux legacy.<ref name="appletons"/> He studied botany in [[Alsace]] at the [[University of Strassburg]] in 1880. It was while Rothrock was in Europe that he began to study [[forest management]], which led him to be a pioneer in forest management in Pennsylvania and the United States.<ref name="dep"/>
===Later career=== [[File:Rothrock plaque McVeystown PA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Plaque in McVeytown, Pennsylvania dedicated in 1924 to Rothrock]] Rothrock served as the first president of the [[Pennsylvania Forestry Association]] (PFA) in 1886. The PFA sought promote [[conservation ethic|conservation]] and support the creation of [[List of Pennsylvania state parks|state parks]] and [[List of Pennsylvania state forests|state forests]] in Pennsylvania. Rothrock was a member of the PFA for most of the rest of his life. He used it as a pulpit to "incite the interest of people throughout the state on forestry—to preserve, protect and propagate the forest."<ref name="dcnr"/>
Rothrock was appointed Commissioner of Forestry in Pennsylvania in 1895. He led the drive to purchase land from lumber companies to create many of the state forests that are spread throughout Pennsylvania. Rothrock used his medical expertise to open a [[sanatorium]] at what is now [[Mont Alto State Park]]. The sanatorium treated those afflicted with [[tuberculosis]] and other respiratory illnesses. He also opened the [[History of the Pennsylvania State Forestry Academy|Pennsylvania State Forestry Academy]], now [[Penn State Mont Alto]], in 1903 under the authorization of Pennsylvania Governor, [[Samuel W. Pennypacker]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ma.psu.edu/Information/15737.htm |title=Interesting Mont Alto Facts |publisher=Penn State Mont Alto |access-date=2007-06-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901081552/http://www.ma.psu.edu/Information/15737.htm |archive-date=2006-09-01 }}</ref> He arranged for [[Ralph E. Brock]] to attend the academy and become the first African American forester in the United States.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Rachel Jones |date=Fall 2007 |title=Reviving - and Revising - the Reputation of Ralph Elwood Brock |url=https://paheritage.wpengine.com/article/reviving-revising-reputation-ralph-elwood-brock/ |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Rothrock resigned as Commissioner of Forestry in 1904, but continued to serve on the commission until 1914.
==Legacy== Joseph Trimble Rothrock died in 1922 at [[West Chester, Pennsylvania|West Chester]], Pennsylvania and was interred at [[Oaklands Cemetery]]. He left behind a legacy of environmental restoration and conservation. In his position as Pennsylvania Commissioner of Forestry he was able to begin the process of acquiring land for the creation of the many state forests and parks that now dot Pennsylvania's landscape. As a voice for environmental protection, he inspired succeeding generations to conserve and manage the use of Pennsylvania's extensive forests. Rothrock pioneered the treatment of tuberculosis in sanatoriums, established a hospital in Wilkes-Barre and helped explore the Canadian frontier.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=DeCoster |first=Lester A. |url=http://archive.org/details/legacyofpennswoo0000deco |title=The Legacy of Penn's Woods, 1895 to 1995: A History of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry |publisher=Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-89271-066-9 |location=Harrisburg, PA |pages=6 |language=en}}</ref>
In a speech given in 1915, Rothrock recalled the forests of his youth: "Sixty years ago I walked from [[Clearfield, Pennsylvania|Clearfield]] to [[St. Marys, Pennsylvania|St. Marys]]; thence to [[Smethport, Pennsylvania|Smethport]]— 60 miles; most of the way through glorious white pine and hemlock forests. Now these forests are gone."<ref name=":0" /> In describing the forest conditions of 1915 he said, "6,400 square miles; more than 4 million acres [16,000 km²] of the state are desolated, cut and unprotected from fire."<ref name=":0" /> Rothrock compared Pennsylvania's situation to similar forest destruction in [[China]]. He worried that "unless we reforest, Pennsylvania's highlands will wash into the oceans."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Jeffrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HS921Ir55vUC |title=Harrisburg |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7385-6293-3 |pages=14 |language=en}}</ref> Because of men like Joseph Rothrock, [[Jacob Nolde]], [[Maurice Goddard]] and [[Gifford Pinchot]], Pennsylvania has thriving second-growth forests that have recovered from the ravages of the lumber era that swept across its hills and valleys in the late nineteenth century.
==Works== *''Flora of Alaska'' (1867) *''Botany of the Wheeler Expedition'' (1878) *''Vacation Cruisings'' (1884) *''Pennsylvania Forest Reports'' (1895–97)
{{botanist|Rothr.}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Rothrock, Joseph Trimble}}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothrock, Joseph}} [[Category:1839 births]] [[Category:1922 deaths]] [[Category:Burials at Oaklands Cemetery]] [[Category:People from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:American conservationists]] [[Category:Harvard University alumni]] [[Category:University of Strasbourg alumni]] [[Category:Pennsylvania State University faculty]] [[Category:American foresters]] [[Category:Forestry academics]] [[Category:Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni]] [[Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty]] [[Category:University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology faculty]] [[Category:19th-century American educators]]