author

Joseph E. Ibberson

b. 1917

A Pennsylvania forester and philanthropist, he helped shape modern state-forest management and later gave land and support to conservation and forestry education. His life joined practical fieldwork with a lasting commitment to protecting forests for the public.

1 Audiobook

Common Trees of Pennsylvania

Common Trees of Pennsylvania

by J. E. Aughenbaugh, Joseph E. Ibberson, A. B. Mickalitis, C. L. Morris

About the author

Born in 1917, Joseph E. Ibberson studied forestry at Penn State, earning his B.S. in 1947, and went on to receive a Master of Forestry from Yale in 1948. Before college, he served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945.

After Yale, he joined Pennsylvania's Department of Forests and Waters, Bureau of Forestry, where he developed management plans for the state's two million acres of forestland. Penn State credits him with helping map all of those forests by 1955 and with building programs in forest advisory services, pest management, inventory, nurseries, and support for private woodland owners. After retiring in 1977 as chief of Forest Advisory Services, he also worked as a forestry consultant.

Ibberson was known not only for public service but also for generosity. He combined and managed more than 2,000 acres of forestland, donated a 350-acre tract that became Pennsylvania's first Conservation Area in the Bureau of State Parks, and supported forestry education through endowed chairs at Penn State. He died on April 23, 2011.