 In 1898 , the New York State College of Forestry opened at Cornell , which was the first forestry college in North America . The College undertook to establish a 30 @,@ 000 @-@ acre ( 120 km2 ) demonstration forest in the Adirondacks , funded by New York State . However , the plans of the school 's director Bernhard Fernow for the land drew criticism from neighbors living on Saranac Lake , Knollwood Club , and Governor Benjamin B. Odell vetoed the 1903 appropriation for the school . In response , Cornell closed the school . By some reports , Cornell gained annual state funding of the College of Agriculture in exchange for closing the forestry college . Subsequently , in 1911 , the State Legislature established a New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University , and the remains of Cornell 's program became the Department of Natural Resources in its Agriculture College in 1910 . However , Cornell had contracted with the Brooklyn Cooperage Company to take the logs from the forest , and the People of the State of New York , Knollwood Club members ( " People v. the Brooklyn Cooperage Company and Cornell " ) sued to stop the destructive practices of Fernow even before the closing of the school . Cornell University lost the case in 1910 and on appeal in 1912 . Cornell eventually established a research forest south of Ithaca , the Arnot Woods . When New York State later funded the construction of a Forestry building for the Agriculture school , New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences , Cornell named it Fernow Hall . 
