Club Publishes Journals of a U.S. Forest Service Chief

Jack Ward Thomas   

The Boone and Crockett Club is proud to announce a newly published trilogy of journals by Jack Ward Thomas, who served as chief of the U.S. Forest Service in 1993-96.

Thomas' memoirs offer a rare, real-time peek behind the curtain of conservation leadership during a turbulent period marked by conflicts over spotted owl habitat, old-growth timber and the deaths of 14 wildland firefighters in 1994.

Equally featured in the trilogy are journals describing the hunting, horseback and wilderness experiences that shaped the values and vision of a field biologist who would go on to lead the agency created by two icons of the conservation movement: Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot.

"Jack Ward Thomas was a prolific journal keeper," said Julie Tripp, publications director for Boone and Crockett Club. "His memoirs tell the story of how conservation - and conservationists - evolved during the last-half of the 20th Century."

The trilogy includes:

Forks in the Trail: A Conservationist's Trek to the Pinnacles of Natural Resource Leadership - 344 pages with 25 B&W photographs. Before Thomas, only 12 men had ever known the staggering responsibility, political pressure - and extraordinary opportunity to shape the future of natural resources in America - that came with the job of Forest Service chief. From his youth on a hardscrabble Texas farm through his tenure in Washington D.C., Thomas' life and career led him squarely into confrontations with the hottest conservation topics of his day.

Wilderness Journals: Wandering the High Lonesome - 288 pages with 12 B&W photographs. Rough country, fine horses and good friends. These memoirs are adventure in the saddle as Thomas explores some of the West's legendary skylines. Up the trail, deep in his beloved "high lonesome," he finds bold bears, reclusive war veterans, a treasure of wild places untrammeled by man, and a vision for America's forestlands.

Hunting Around the World: Fair Chase Pursuits from Backcountry Wilderness to the Scottish Highlands - 240 pages with 13 B&W photographs. Hunting provided food for his family and a lifetime of enjoyment, but it also brought Thomas to his life's work in conservation. This collection of journal entries is classic sporting literature, offering the best stories and wisdom of a quintessential hunter-conservationist.

Details, author bio, excerpts and more info are posted at www.boone-crockett.org/jwt.

Paperback editions are $24.95 each and e-book editions are $9.99 each. Both may be ordered now from Boone and Crockett. The official release date via Amazon is Aug. 7.

The Club also is offering a limited edition box set. Each book is hardcover with dust jacket and signed by the author with matching numbers for each set. Only 100 sets will be produced. Available directly from Boone and Crockett only, sets are $150, plus S&H. 

Boone and Crockett Club members ($35 annual dues includes subscription to "Fair Chase" magazine) receive a discount on books purchased directly from the Club. To order, visit www.boone-crockett.org/jwt or call 888-840-4868.


About Jack Ward Thomas
A native Texan, Thomas earned progressive degrees from Texas A&M, West Virginia and Massachusetts universities. He spent 20 years in forest, range and wildlife research in Oregon, becoming increasingly involved in natural resource sciences and politics in the years leading to his appointment as Forest Service chief. He later became professor of wildlife conservation at the University of Montana, a position endowed by Boone and Crockett Club, before retiring in 2007.