Vanderbilt when Gifford Pinchot resigned to operate the newly formed Division of Forestry. The Cradle of Forestry and the Biltmore Estate played a major role in the birth of the U.S. Forest Service. Today these lands are part of an educational and recreational area in Pisgah National Forest. Located on the forest property is the Bent Creek Campus of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Administration The Pisgah National Forest is divided into 3 Ranger Districts: the Grandfather, Appalachian, and Pisgah districts. The Grandfather and Appalachian Ranger Districts lie in the northern mountains of North Carolina and include areas such as the Linville Gorge Wilderness, Wilson Creek, the watersheds of the Toe and Cane rivers, Roan Mountain, Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens, and the Big Ivy/Coleman Boundary area. The Appalachian Ranger District stretches along the Tennessee border from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park north to Hot Springs. The Appalachian Trail passes through this section of this National Forest. Geography The Pisgah National Forest covers of mountainous terrain in the southern Appalachian Mountains, including parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Balsam Mountains. Elevations reach over and include some of the highest mountains in the eastern United States. Summit elevations include Black Balsam Knob at , Mount Hardy at , Tennant Mountain at , and Cold Mountain at . Mount Mitchell, in Mount Mitchell State Park, is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River and lies just outside the boundary of Pisgah National Forest. The forest also includes tracts surrounding the city of Asheville, the city of Brevard and land in the French Broad River Valley. Recreation includes activities such as hiking, backpacking, and mountain biking. The land and its resources are also used for hunting, wildlife management, and timber harvesting, as well as the North Carolina Arboretum. The forest lies in parts of 12 counties in western North Carolina. In descending order they are Transylvania, McDowell, Haywood, Madison, Caldwell, Burke, Yancey, Buncombe, Avery, Mitchell, Henderson, and Watauga counties. Forests and old growth Some of old-growth forests have been identified in the Pisgah National Forest, with in Linville Gorge. Rivers and trails Bent Creek, Mills River, and Davidson River - three major streams and tributaries of the French Broad River - are located in the Pisgah Ranger District, which lies on either side of the Blue Ridge Parkway south of