author
Charles Lathrop Pack
1857–1937
A wealthy timberman who turned his influence toward conservation, he became a leading public voice for forestry and helped popularize the idea of wartime home gardens. His life bridged big business, public education, and early American environmental advocacy.
1 Audiobook
The School Book of Forestry
by Charles Lathrop Pack
About the author
Born in Michigan in 1857, Charles Lathrop Pack came from a prosperous lumber family and built on that background through timber, banking, and real estate. By the early 20th century he was known as an exceptionally wealthy businessman, but he is remembered at least as much for the causes he championed as for the fortune he inherited and expanded.
Pack became a prominent advocate for forestry and conservation at a time when those ideas were still gaining public support in the United States. He helped promote forest education, supported the American Tree Association, and wrote books on trees, forestry, and related public causes. During World War I, he also led the National War Garden Commission, encouraging Americans to grow food at home in what became widely known as the war garden movement.
He died in 1937, leaving behind a legacy tied to both natural-resource industries and efforts to protect and better manage them. That mix of business success, civic activism, and environmental education makes him a distinctive figure in the history of American conservation.