By Wayne W. Kober

This profile was first published on the PA Conservation Heritage website--

Jack (John Arthur) Winieski was born in Elmira, New York (NY) on September 5, 1930. He graduated from Catholic High School in Elmira, NY in 1948, from the Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry in 1958, and Syracuse University College of Forestry with a Master’s of Science Degree in Forest Genetics in 1960.

Jack joined the U. S. Air Force in 1950 and served during the Korean War. In pursuing his dream to become an aviation pilot before joining the Air Force, he took 10 hours of private glider pilot lessons soon after graduating from high school.

Elmira was known as the “Glider Capitol of America” at that time and glider flying competitions were routinely held there. However, Jack was trained as a balloonist by the Air Force and did not become a pilot.

He learned to launch and monitor military balloons five feet in diameter which went up over 10,000 feet in the air. These balloons monitored weather and air speed for aviation purposes.

Iwo Jima Sparked Interest In Trees

Jack spent 8 months on Iwo Jima Island operating the military balloons to provide aviation information for the Korean Conflict aviation operations soon after World War II.

He indicated that it took twelve days by boat to get from San Francisco to Iwo Jima. At that time the vegetation on the island was remarkably recovering from World War II bombing and extensive deforestation.

The island is roughly 3 miles wide and 5 miles long. He observed how the island took a real beating and how fast the trees and other vegetation were coming back to life.

He collected seeds and plant materials which were of interest to the U. S. Forest Service from a reforestation perspective.

This sparked his interest in learning how these trees seeded and regrew. It served to inspire his life-long passion and commitment to growing improved trees.

For his military service during the Korean Conflict Jack received several medals during his four years of service: the National Defense Service Medal; the Korean Service Medal; the United Service Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.

Earned Forestry Degree On G.I. Bill

After his military service Jack used the G. I. Bill to attend Syracuse University to obtain his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science Degrees in Forestry by 1958.

At that time there were distinguished forestry scientists from Europe who had escaped Nazi occupation teaching at Syracuse and other universities.

Because forestry science was a relatively new field in the U. S., these scientists provided valuable teaching and information in the classrooms.

First Forestry Job In Rochester

His first professional job after graduation was in the City Forestry Department in Rochester, NY in 1959.

For two years he combed the City of Rochester in his City pick-up truck identifying elm trees suffering from Dutch Elm disease for the application of insecticide treatments to keep these important shade trees alive.

The trees which had the disease, those that died, and those with storm damage were flagged and the house numbers were recorded.

He supervised a crew to remove the dead trees and those with storm damage. They sprayed DDT throughout the wealthy neighborhoods in the City to control the disease.

Unfortunately, the disease killed most of the elm trees in Rochester and throughout the eastern U. S. Jack recalls how many residents with elm trees they loved said, “Don’t touch that tree”.

During his stay in Rochester, he and his wife Alberta had their first child, Suzanne, in Rochester General Hospital on December 26, 1959. They went on to have three more children-Mark, Catherine, and Julie.

Joins PA Bureau Of Forestry

After working in Rochester and obtaining his Master’s Degree, Jack got a job as a forester with the Pennsylvania (PA) Department of Forest and Waters in 1961.

Early on, Jack and his family were welcomed to PA with dinner with James C. Nelson, former PA State Forester, and his wife. Jack was attracted to PA by its reputation of “doing a lot of good forestry” and working hard “to get improved trees.” 

Jack would dedicate his entire professional career to improving trees through genetics.

According to Jack, growing better trees is largely a matter of “good root stock” and “good seeds”.

At that time, the PA Bureau of Forestry had several tree nurseries to provide seedlings to the twenty State Forest Districts covering over 2 million acres of forest lands and to private forest owners.

In order to grow pine seedlings, the State and private nurseries purchased pine cones from a wide variety of sources. These pine cones and their seeds were sometimes infected with seed-eating beetles. Jack worked with the State and private nurseries to buy only “viable and clean seeds”.

Along with planting and supplying seedlings from seed, the nurseries grafted branches from carefully-selected wild trees in the State Forest onto good root stock.

Jack was always challenged to identify “the father of a tree” as the source of pollen fertilizing the blossoms is hard to determine. He said, “I always knew the mother, but not the father.”

In order to obtain the prime branches from a tall, healthy tree, Jack first used a 222-caliber rifle provided by the Bureau of Forestry to shoot a small branch, a scion, from a tree.

His goal was always to remove the branch with one shot. Eventually, he purchased his own rifle, but the Bureau supplied the bullets.

Jack always saw himself as a reliable and trusted source of technical information and expertise for the State Forest Districts and the private tree nurseries.

He prided himself in having good working relationships with them for decades as he spent many days and nights on the road interacting with the Forest Districts and private nurserymen on their turf.

He believed in recognizing their good ideas and “staying out of their way.”

He didn’t try to do his work from his Harrisburg area offices.

Other foresters would jump at the chance to accompany Jack on his hunts for plant material with good genetics around the Commonwealth and enjoy firing their rifles at treetop limbs to help collect them for grafting.

Jack remembers how a guy didn’t hold onto his rifle when firing up in the air at the tree limb and got a black eye from the recoil.

Mira Lloyd Dock Forestry Resource Center

Jack believed in keeping detailed and accurate propagation records, which are key to long-term learning which seeds and root stock produce the best seedlings.

Many of these records are hopefully still on file at nursery locations like the Mira Lloyd Dock Forestry Resource Center (formerly Penn Nursery) along State Route 322 in Seven Mountains near Milroy.

Jack always had a strong interest in statewide technology transfer and learning from seeing, hearing, and touching what others in the tree nursery field were doing to grow improved trees.

He organized and/or actively participated in statewide, regional, national, and international tree nursery conferences to provide opportunities for nursery workers and others to network, to learn from each other, and to advance research ideas and projects.

International Trips

Along with four other foresters from the U. S. Forest Service, Jack traveled to China.

The Chinese had a strong interest in “Western Silviculture Research.” Jack believed that he was invited to join the group for his “boots on the ground” tree propagation skills and experience.

He also traveled to Poland and Germany for pleasure with his daughters. He visited the family of one of his forestry professors in Germany. 

Jack had tremendous respect and an excellent working relationship with Clyde Hunt, who was a field representative for the U. S. Forest Service.

Jack credits Clyde with bringing many important innovations in tree propagation to his attention and fostering their implementation.

Jack is very grateful for the opportunity to participate in cooperative acid rain and deer enclosure research with the U.S. Forest Service Allegheny National Forest and Pennsylvania Game Commission foresters and wildlife biologists.

During his trip to Sweden, Jack stayed with a Swedish teacher’s family who would later visit with Jack and Alberta in PA.

They got to know their granddaughter, Heather, who would spend the final year of high school in Sweden and give a graduation speech in Swedish.

One of the most-valued lessons learned was that trees are genetically different and “certain trees grow best in certain places.” In other words, a single tree specimen will not thrive in just any place in the Commonwealth.

Trees respond differently to their growing environmental factors such as weather, soils, and water and develop their own genetics to thrive in various environments.

I Don’t Need A PhD

When asked why he didn’t pursue a PhD in Forestry, his favorite answer was “I don’t need a PhD to do what I love to do.” He felt that it might decrease his ability to be accepted by and to help foresters and nurserymen.

Jack believed in describing his work in simple language.

For example, Jack often says, “Trees need good soil, not dirt, as dirt is what is under your bed.” His son, Mark, often remarked, “If you ask Jack anything about trees, bring your lunch.”

He was always prepared for a long walk and a long talk about his favorite subject- improving tree propagation.

Off The Job

As for off the job, Jack always had a strong interest in: church choir: family activities; building and flying model balsa wood gliders; vegetable gardening; cutting, splitting, selling, and heating with wood; orcharding and picking apples; Dillsburg Jaycees Christmas tree growing and sales;  Northern York County School District Parent Teacher’s Association pizza sales; Dillsburg Farmer’s Fair Jaycees chicken barbecue cooking and sales; making maple syrup; growing and eating paw paws; grafting and growing fruit and nut trees; and cracking and eating hickory nuts.

This is all reflected in he and Alberta’s long-time homestead in the Dillsburg Area. 

Jack’s all-time personal record for one ten-hour day of picking apples at a commercial orchard is 200 bushels.

Jack grafted and nurtured several apple trees with more than one variety on one tree in the Betty and Bob Gayman orchard at the Northern York County Historic and Preservation Society (NYCHAPS) Dills Tavern Living Historic Site in Dillsburg.

‘Nuts’ About Improving Trees

Jack is known for his habit of eating fruits, such as watermelon and paw paws, and saving and planting their seeds. Jack always appreciated how his hickory nuts fell off his trees around his birthday.

He served in leadership roles in the PA Nut Growers Association, including serving as the editor for its magazine for 20 years.

An annual visit to the PA Farm Show PA Nut Growers Booth provided the opportunity to talk with Jack and others, taste some delicious PA grown nuts and buy a pound to take home and savor.

Anytime Jack is talking to someone about nuts, he will say: “If you run into a good, sweet shagbark hickory nut, call me.”

 Jack’s hickory nuts won many blue ribbons at the Pennsylvania Farm Show nut growing competition. He says that: “shagbarks will always be his favorite nut. “

Jack is a true PA Conservation Hero who made his mark on improving millions of trees in Penns Woods and beyond.

He and his wife, Alberta, have been married to each other for 66 years.

Anyone who knows Jack remarks about his perpetual smile, fitness, boundless energy, and kindness.

One could say that: “Jack is nuts about improving trees.”

Visit the Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage website to see more profiles of conservation leaders, educator resources for teaching Pennsylvania’s conservation history, video documentaries and much more.

Prepared by Wayne W. Kober from a Series of In-Person Visits and Delightful Conversations with Jack and Alberta Winieski in October/November 2024

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[Posted: November 21, 2024]

11/25/2024