21 Facts About Dietrich Brandis

Dietrich Brandis joined the British civil service in Burma in 1856, shortly afterwards became head of the British forestry administration in all of Burma, and served as Inspector General of Forests in India from 1864 to 1883.

Dietrich Brandis returned to Europe in 1883, dividing his time between Bonn and Greater London.

Dietrich Brandis studied at the universities of Copenhagen Biology, Gottingen Botany and Bonn Biology major and minor Geography and Antiquites, and in 1849, he took up a post as a lecturer in botany at Bonn.

Dietrich Brandis's brother-in-law Havelock was a friend of Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, and it was this connection that brought him to Burma and eventually India.

Dietrich Brandis moved to India with him and the couple had six children, some of whom did not reach adulthood.

Dietrich Brandis was the father of supreme court justice Bernhard Brandis and the grandfather of the microbiologist Henning Brandis.

Dietrich Brandis joined the British civil service in 1856 as superintendent of the teak forests of Pegu division in eastern Burma.

Dietrich Brandis introduced the "taungya" system, in which Karen villagers provided labour for clearing, planting and weeding teak plantations.

Dietrich Brandis' work included the determination of teak volume, rate of growth, identifying rate of harvest, developing forest protection plans against pests and fire.

Dietrich Brandis introduced timber purchase rules, clearing rules and the establishment of managed teak areas called conservancies with officers who were appointed as Conservators.

In 1864 Dietrich Brandis became Inspector General of Forests in India, a position he served in for 20 years.

Dietrich Brandis formulated new forest legislation and helped establish research and training institutions.

Dietrich Brandis was created a Companion of the Indian Empire in 1878, and he became a Knight Commander of the same order in 1887.

Dietrich Brandis documented the sacred groves in Rajputana and Kans of Mysore, the Garo and Khasia hills, which he visited in 1879, the Devarakadus of Coorg in 1868, the hill ranges of the Salem district in the Madras Presidency in 1882, the Swami Shola on the Yelagiris, the sacred grove at Pudur on the Javadis and several sacred forests on the Shevaroys.

Dietrich Brandis was among the earliest in India to formally link forest protection with local peoples.

Dietrich Brandis took an interest in the forest flora of northwest and central India and of Indian trees in general.

Dietrich Brandis supervised training of forestry students at the Royal Indian Engineering College in England for eight years.

Dietrich Brandis was succeeded as Inspector General of Forests by Lt Col Frederick Bailey of the Royal Engineers.

Dietrich Brandis was involved in forestry education in England at Coopers' Hill.

Dietrich Brandis influenced the forestry movement in the United States by mentoring Pinchot, Graves, and others who came to study with him in Germany, and through his voluminous correspondence with many other men, such as Charles Sprague Sargent and Franklin Hough involved in establishing the US national forest system.

Dietrich Brandis's influence was so great that President Roosevelt sent him a photograph in 1896 with the inscription.