Upshur County native penned West Virginia Trees guidebook
Does the name A.B. Brooks sound familiar to you?
Perhaps youve hiked the A.B. Brooks Discovery Trails at Oglebay Resort. Or visited Brooks Hall at West Virginia Universitys main campus. Or maybe even attended a meeting of the Brooks Bird Club, a national organization headquartered in Wheeling.
All those bear the name of Alonzo Beecher Brooks. Born in 1873 in French Creek, Brooks was a conservationist and nature educator who would one day gain fame as West Virginias first forester.
A nature lover with a thirst for knowledge, Brooks taught himself plane surveying and developed a map of every road and dwelling in Upshur County, then used the profits to fund his education at WVU. He became one of the first students to study forestry at WVU, graduating in 1912 with a bachelors degree in agriculture.
After his graduation, Brooks served as a forester for the West Virginia Geological Survey, where he prepared a county-by-county survey of the states forest resources. His other contributions to state forestry include two reference books, West Virginia Trees and Forestry and Wood Industries.
He is perhaps best remembered for his work as a naturalist at Oglebay Institute, where he founded the Nature Leaders Training School.
In 1921 Brooks became chief game protector for the states first Conservation Commission. During his tenure as game warden, Seneca State Forest and Watoga State Park were established. (Brooks Memorial Arboretum at Watoga is named after his brother Fred, also a well-known naturalist.)
Brooks guide, West Virginia Trees is available as a free ebook. With detailed descriptions and sketches of native tree species, its a handy book to have as reference the next time youre strolling through the woods of Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.
Want to learn more about West Virginias forests or forestry in general? Follow @wvforestry on Facebook and Twitter.
