caption death_date death_place children birth_place birth_date spouse image article_title name occupation
charles c. deam may 29 , 1953 bluffton , indiana roberta ortenburger wells county , indiana august 30 , 1865 stella mullins charles c. deam.jpg charles c. deam
 charles c. deam pharmacist american conservationist , forester , small business owner surveyor , botanist ,
charles c. deam

charles clemon deam was the first state forester of indiana .
he was born on august 30 , 1865 on the family farm near bluffton in wells county , indiana .
deam grew up on the family farm , where his father taught him about the plants on the farm before attending depauw university for two years before leaving due to the cost of tuition .
he was an avid amateur botanist who worked in a pharmacy , which he had partial ownership in until his death .
his work as a clerk in a pharmacy led him to botany in an indirect way .
long work days of up to 14 hours caused stress .
his doctor recommended that he take walks to reduce the stress .
it was on those walks that deam indulged his interest in botany , a hobby that would eventually lead him to a career in forestry for the state of indiana .
deam 's work as a forester has been honored by both the united states government and the state of indiana .
two protected areas , charles c. deam wilderness , part of the hoosier national forest and deam lake state recreation area an indiana state park are named for him .
deam collected many different plants on his walks and established an herbarium .
his collection of 78,000 plants is now housed at indiana university in bloomington and is one of the largest private collections of plants in the state .
deam became a member of the academy of sciences in indiana .
deam 's work in botany caught the attention of indiana governor thomas r. marshall , who established the indiana state board of forestry in 1909 .
deam was appointed state forester by marshall soon after .
as part of his job , he moved to clark state forest in clark county .
deam held the position until 1913 when samuel m. ralston was elected governor .
charles deam was reappointed state forester in 1917 with the election of james p. goodrich and held the job until 1928 .
deam 's work as state forester was notable for several reasons .
while working at clark state forest , he actively sought ways to reclaim the forest on land that was cleared for farming and timber .
deam convinced the state to purchase an additional to add the state forest lands in clark county .
deam studied the environmental needs of the second growth forests .
he noted the history of the forests as they here affected by settlement and farming in southern indiana .
deam wrote , he wrote about the effects of tree loss on soil erosion .
most of the forests in indiana had been cut down to make room for farms or strictly for lumbering purposes .
the loss of trees and their roots led to increased erosion .
deam worked to help farmers and lumbermen by encouraging sustainable use practices far ahead of its time .
he worked to have state laws changed so that farmers would not be taxed for the land that they owned that they did not farm .
previously farmers were taxed for every acre of land that they owned .
this motivated them to use every acre of land for farming and led to the mass clearing of their land .
the forest classification act of 1921 allowed farmers to leave trees alone on land that was not taxable .
within 25 years , of woods had been preserved on farmers ' lands in indiana .
deam 's legislation served as a model for other states and thereby helped preserve forests in other states .
deam retired as state forester in 1928 but remained with the forestry department as a researcher for many years .
he walked through all 1016 townships in indiana , discovered 25 new plants and has 48 plants named for him .
charles deam died on may 29 , 1953 .
