William Goodrich Jones

Inspired by the cyclical planting, thinning and harvesting of Germany’s Black Forest, W. Goodrich Jones returned to Texas in the 1880s to find a stark contrast: the rapid clear-cutting of virgin longleaf and loblolly pines. From his perspective as a prominent Temple banker, Jones recognized that this “cut out and get out” strategy threatened both soil erosion and long-term economic collapse. To pivot the state toward a “timber-as-crop” philosophy, he organized Texas’s first Arbor Day in 1889 and successfully lobbied the Legislature for the event’s statewide adoption. In 1900, Jones responded to a request from Bernhard Fernow, the chief of the U.S. Bureau of Forestry, for a report on the pace and extent of lumbering, disease impacts, and reforesting challenges (please see Appendix C in Maxwell and Martin, 1970). Jones’ efforts continued in 1915 when he co-founded the Texas Forestry Association and helped convince lawmakers to establish the State Department of Forestry (now the Texas A&M Forest Service). In the 1920s, Jones worked to pass a severance tax on cut lumber, an effort that failed but evidently spurred the Legislature to fund a tree-seedling nursery and fire-protection services. Today, his legacy as the “Father of Texas Forestry” endures at the 1700-acre W. Goodrich Jones State Forest near Conroe, a demonstration site for the sustainable forestry he championed.