Outstanding Tree Farmers –1995

As a young boy growing up in Montross, Mississippi, Chester Thigpen, grandson of former slaves, remembers plowing his uncle's land with a mule. In 1940, Chester and Rosette, his wife, purchased their first 85 acres from his uncle for $10 an acre. In 1960, after Chester read about forestry in the local paper, he became interested in turning the land into a Tree Farm and managing his forest sustainably. As the year's passed, Chester continued to purchase played-out and deeply eroded cotton fields and rehabilitated those lands into living, thriving forests. Proud of his accomplishments to halt the devastating erosion and restore the land to a nationally award winning Tree Farm, Chester said "Today, not a spec of dirt washes off this land that I don't know about."

Today the Thigpens have 12 grandchildren with family members pitching-in as work is needed. Chester has been an outstanding advocate for sustainable forest management, testifying on Capitol Hill and serving as an aide on the state governor's staff and on the Mississippi Forestry Commission. For his outstanding contributions to forestry and within the African-American community, Chester was inducted into the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum Hall of Fame. He is proud to reach out to other African-Americans and encourage them to own land and become Tree Farmers.