He was encouraged by his dad to study the profession of forestry, and since that did not yet exist in the United States, after graduating from Yale, he went to study in Nancy, France at L'Ecole Nationale Forestiere, which he dropped out after a year. His accomplishments in the environmental movement started when he came back. He was able to raise forestry and conservation of natural resources in the United States from an unknown experiment to a nationwide movement. After being named Chief Forester of the redefined U.S. Forest Service, the number of national forests increased from 32 in 1898 to 149 in 1910 for a total of193 million acres under Pinchot's management. In 1908, the Governor'a Conference on Conservation which was largely financed from his personal income brought conservation fully into public view. It was the first of its kind. Based on that alone, we can say that Pinchot educated the public, hence what his one of his roles in the environmental movement.
Gifford Pinchot was heavily involved in politics, and that's actually how he accomplished many of his achievements. He turned down to work with the family business and the fortune that came with it to defend a cause he believed in, which made him one of the biggest names in the environmental movement world. Here's a picture of Mr. Gifford Pinchot.
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