America's First Forest: Carl Schenck and the Asheville Experiment

• Watchlist

'America's First Forest' is the first full-length, in-depth film ever made about legendary forester Carl Schenck and his work at the Biltmore Estate. The film explores Schenck's life and legacy at the turn of the twentieth century, and the many ways his work, forestry school, and ideas continue to shape our thinking about American forests. 'America's First Forest: Carl Schenck and the Asheville Experiment' is produced by the Forest History Society in cooperation with Bonesteel Films. The film tells the story of how Carl Schenck applied Frederick Law Olmsted's vision of introducing forestry to America on George Vanderbilt's magnificent Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Vanderbilt's 120,000-acre forest was America's first scientifically managed forest. Home to the nation's first forestry school, it inspired the call for creating national forests in the eastern United States. Although probably best known as the author of the classic memoir, Cradle of Forestry in America, Schenck is also renowned for his work as an educator, forester, lumberman, and forest conservation advocate. Central to Schenck's extraordinary career was the establishment of the Biltmore Forest School, America's first and arguably most influential school of forestry. With the Biltmore Forest School and his experiments on the ground, Schenck laid the foundation for the conservation movement in the twentieth century, which continues to inspire people today.