Gifford Pinchot, viewing the western North Carolina mountains", c. 1920's , National Forests of North Carolina Photographs,
D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville

The USDA Forest Service announces:
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The National Forests in North Carolina announced today that more than 1,800 high-resolution images of forest history are now available online for public viewing. Through a cost-share project with the UNC-Asheville’s Ramsey Library, the forest service’s historic photos were scanned and are now available on a new website,

“Thanks to the university, these historic photos are now preserved and easily accessible for a wide-range of users,” said Mary Noel, National Forests in North Carolina’s Lands staff officer “We are so appreciative of the support the Library’s staff has provided for this effort.”

Photos include images of early rangers and foresters such as Carl Schenck and Gifford Pinchot and Forest Service facilities in North Carolina such a fire lookouts and guard stations, early forest visitors engaged in recreation activities, as well as restoration and building projects under construction by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The earliest photos date back to the Biltmore Forest School of the 1890s to1913 and the 1910s when the first forest parcels were purchased under authority of the Weeks Act.

Helen Wykle, associate professor and librarian for Special Collection, coordinated the project. Utsadaporn (Toey) Fortenbery served as project leader, with assistance from library staff Heide Penner, Jessica Furst, William Knauth, Margaret Higgins, Elizabeth Burleson, Laura Carter, Wesley Stevens and Allison Kubel.

UNCA is uploading another 3,000 historic images to the new website from the archives of Forest Service Southern Research Station. The photos will be available for viewing in the near future. This combined collection will provide researchers and the public access to nearly 5,000 images, making it one of the country’s largest online Forest Service image databases. The full project should be completed by January 2012.