Pisgah National Forest

The land was supposed to prove conservation worked. George Washington Vanderbilt II opened the Biltmore Forest School — the first school of forestry in the United States — on land he controlled in western North Carolina, taught by Carl Schenck, a German forester who arrived after Gifford Pinchot left to run the newly formed Division of Forestry. The doctrine was practical: logged land could grow back, if you knew what you were doing. In 1914, Edith Vanderbilt sold approximately 86,700 acres to the federal government. The tract was among the first purchases made under the Weeks Act of 1911, which gave the Forest Service authority to create national forests in the east. Pisgah National Forest was established in 1916.

The forest has grown since — absorbing Boone National Forest in 1921, most of Unaka National Forest in 1936, and eventually combining administratively with Croatan and Nantahala. It now covers mountainous terrain across a dozen western North Carolina counties, divided into three ranger districts: Grandfather, Appalachian, and Pisgah. Summits reach above 6,000 feet. The Appalachian Trail passes through the Appalachian District. The Blue Ridge Parkway transects the forest. Linville Gorge holds thousands of acres of old-growth stands within designated wilderness. Three wilderness areas — Linville Gorge, Middle Prong, and Shining Rock — sit inside the forest boundaries where it runs unmanaged.

The Cradle of Forestry, where Schenck taught, is preserved as a historic and educational site — the place American forestry learned to think past the next cutting season. Catawba Falls is just under three miles round trip. Bent Creek draws the mountain-bike traffic. The forest is open for hiking, backpacking, fishing, and rock climbing. Ranger district offices sit in Pisgah Forest, Mars Hill, and Nebo.