Before time had a name, these forests were here, with pine, hemlock, and chestnut growing to enormous sizes as the ecosystem found a natural balance of life. The first Americans arrived in eastern North America about 12,000 years ago and lived in relative harmony with nature. After about 1650, European settlers increasingly exploited the vast resources, harvesting massive old-growth pines and floating them to shipbuilders for masts and beams. By the mid 1800s and into the Industrial Revolution, wood, coal, and other natural resources from the Pennsylvania Wilds were mined, sawn, hunted, fished, quarried, and otherwise removed to help build and fuel a rapidly expanding nation. By the end of the 1800s and by 1910, except for a few remote acres, the forests had been stripped of trees, waterways were polluted with silt and mine acid, and wildlife had been hunted to near extinction. Visionary Pennsylvanians then acted to repair the damage by purchasing lands, passing laws to stop water and air pollution, protect wildlife, and regulate extraction of natural resources, and establishing the first fish, game, and forest commissions to conserve and manage resources for future generations. By 1930, conservation organizations had been established and the Civilian Conservation Corps planted millions of trees to help regrow the forests. By 1950, abundant habitat in the new forests drove deer numbers to an all-time high, and Pennsylvania’s state park system grew to over 100 parks as outdoor recreation increased. By 2008, Pennsylvania’s state forests and state parks held over 2.1 million acres, and these lands endured as a gift entrusted to later generations to conserve for the future.