<p>Arthur Woody (1884-1946) was the most famous forest ranger who ever refused to wear a uniform. Born in 1884 near Suches, Georgia, legend tells us that he witnessed his father kill the last living white-tailed buck in Fannin County around 1895 when he was 10 years old. This experience so impacted him that he vowed to someday bring deer back to the mountain region. In 1912, he was hired by the government to help survey the first tract of land purchased in the North Georgia mountains by the newly-formed U.S. Forest Service. He quickly worked his way up through Forest Service ranks and was named Georgia’s second official forest ranger in 1918. Arthur Woody quickly became a larger-than-life American folk hero and later earned the nickname “the Barefoot Ranger of Suches.” The “Ranger” lived during a very historic time when massive changes were taking place in the field of conservation across the U.S., especially in the Southeast. Forest and wildlife management were in their infancy. As a visionary and dedicated forest ranger with the U.S. Forest Service, he pioneered numerous conservation initiatives and helped bring the rural mountains of North Georgia into the 20th century. Among his many achievements, Ranger Arthur Woody single-handedly introduced rainbow trout and brown trout to the mountain region and worked to restore the badly depleted brook trout fishery (Georgia’s only native trout). He also restored deer to the mountains, protected and rebuilt turkey populations and restocked black bears to his beloved Rock Creek Refuge (later to become Georgia's first wildlife management area under his direction, Blue Ridge WMA). In addition to his incredible conservation achievements in forestry and wildlife, Arthur Woody dedicated his life to helping the people of his community during difficult economic times and enriching the lives of his neighbors by loaning money, building roads, parks, lakes, trails, a school, and by providing food and other resources to those in need during the desperate times of the Great Depression.</p>

Arthur Woody and the Legend of the Barefoot Ranger: The Man Who Brought Deer Back to the North Georgia Mountains

Biographies & Memoirs

Dobie, Duncan

Historical

Duncan Dobie

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Books by Duncan Dobie

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Arthur Woody and the Legend of the Barefoot Ranger: The Man Who Brought Deer Back to the North Georgia Mountains