A Sherlock Holmes of the Forest Dies

From the Spring 2009 Issue

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<p>I thought you would be interested in this article from <em>environment: YALE</em> magazine, the Journal of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.<br />
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<h3 style="color:#666;">A Sherlock Holmes of the Forest Dies</h3>
<em><p>By Richard Conniff
</p></em><p><em>Editor’s Note: David Smith ’46, Ph.D. ’49, Morris K. Jesup Professor Emeritus of Silviculture at F&ES and one of the most revered and beloved professors in the history of the school, died March 7 (see obituaries, page 60). The following article saluting his career ran in the Fall 2003 issue of </em>environment: Yale.</p> <p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n the parking lot of an assisted living center, a frail, diminutive man sits on a bench at the end of a long garage. He has his cane propped upside down in front of him, one foot up on the crook, his hands folded over the rubber end piece, his chin resting on his hands. His eyesight is impaired, and the effects of a stroke keep him from venturing out into the forests where, not so long ago, he led students much younger than he to a point somewhere between exhaustion and illumination. But even at a distance, even in a parking lot, he still has a characteristic way of closely observing what other people scarcely notice.</p> <div class="img left" style="width: 198px;"><a href="http://environment.yale.edu/magazine/uploads/Smith.jpg" rel="facebox"><img src="/assets/icons/magnify-16x16.png" width="16" height="16" vspace="1" style="float:left;" /> Enlarge This Image<br /><img src="http://environment.yale.edu/magazine/uploads/Smith_thumb.jpg" width="198" height="288" /></a><br /><span class="credit">Family of David Smith</span><br />David Smith in 1986</div> <p>“You see that little ridge off to the right there?” asks the man, whose name is David Smith, Morris K. Jessup Professor Emeritus of Silviculture. “That’s a remnant of the kame terrace. A huge chunk of ice got deposited over there as the last glacier retreated 15,000 years ago, and…

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<p><a href="http://environment.yale.edu/magazine/">Environment: YALE</a> magazine is Published by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies<br />
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A Sherlock Holmes of the Forest Dies

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