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This article highlights the significance that Pyay, Myanmar, has in terms of being the location where scientific forestry was first developed as a modern discipline. It was in Pyay (Prome) where Sir Dietrich Brandis, who is regarded as the 'father of scientific forestry', established the first experimental teak plantation and began testing practices to sustain colonial Burma's teak resources. Such advances proved instrumental in the subsequent founding of the United States Forest Service in 1905, as Mr. Gifford Pinchot was closely counseled by Brandis in a mentoring relationship. Herein is a brief summary of the distinction that Pyay, Myanmar (Burma) has in being the epicenter of scientific forestry and the impact that Brandis' experimental teak plantation in Prome (Pyay) had in terms of influencing the United States Forest Service and scientific forestry as practiced in many parts of the world today. The geographic location that can rightfully be regarded as the epicenter is approximately 18°47'48.6"N, 95°13'22.0"E, which is the location of Brandis' original Forest Department building on the 24-acre experimental teak plantation in Prome (Figure 1).
Introduction to Myanmar (Burma) and Pyay (Prome)
Myanmar (Burma) is a resource-rich country in Southeast Asia, located between India and China. In recent history, the country went by the name Burma until 1989, when the name was changed to Myanmar.
In this report the designation of Burma refers to this country before 1989, and Myanmar is used as the current name of the country. The varied use of these two country names in this report does not reflect any political opinion of the author, but is simply an attempt to explain the history of forestry to a broad audience. Likewise, other location names have changed from what they were during the colonial period. Other important location names in this report include Pegu, which has subsequently been replaced by the name Bago. The village name Pyay is the modern name for the village which was called Prome during the colonial period.
Pyay (Prome) sits on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in the Bago (Pegu) region of Myanmar. The climate is favorable for teak growth, and the nearby river provides convenient access to ship goods further north into the country or south to the Andaman Sea which serves as a...