America's First Forest tells how millionaire George Vanderbilt's magnificent Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, became the "Cradle of Forestry in America." Using landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's visionary idea of introducing sustainable forestry to America, Vanderbilt's hope of a better future for his forest was possible. To make it a reality, he hired German forester Carl Alwin Schenck as his estate's chief forester. Not only did Schenck make it America's first sustainably managed forest, but he opened America's first forestry school in 1898 -- and laid the foundation for the nation's conservation movement. Congress preserved Schenck's legacy first by establishing the Pisgah National Forest in 1916 and then the Cradle of Forestry in America National Historic Site in 1968.