Swift Berry

By 1908, Berry was working in District 5 (now R5 on this map) of the still-new United States Forestry Service.

In July 1907, he entered the United States Forestry Service in Washington, DC, as a forest assistant.[7] In 1908, he was transferred successively to: Holy Cross National Forest in Glenwood, Colorado, Arapaho National Forest in Sulphur Springs, Colorado, and the newly created District 5, headquartered in San Francisco, California, where he worked in timber sales.[1][3][4][7] He earned an advance degree from the Biltmore Forest School, in part due to a thesis on logging and lumber flumes in California.[7] In 1912, he became Forest Examiner and in 1916 became Logging Engineer District 5 (in charge of stumpage for all California forests).[7]

In 1917, Berry joined the US Army Corps of Engineers and served in World War I.[2][3] He served as a major in an advance party of the Tenth Engineers, Forestry Department, for the American Expeditionary Forces including time in Bordeaux and Paris (1917-1919).[4][7]

Mount Tallac near Lake Tahoe, now lying within the Desolation Wilderness of Eldorado National Forest in El Dorado County–timberland Berry once oversaw

In September 1919, he became a forest (timber) valuation engineer for the California pine and redwood region at the United States Bureau of Internal Revenue, based in San Francisco.[4][7] In 1921, he worked as a forest engineer for a small company.[4][7] In 1923, he served as secretary of the California Forest Protective Association.[4][7][8] His 1921 study in forestry received recognition from the California State Board of Forestry in 1923.[9]

Route of the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad (1947), owned by the Michigan-California Lumber Company, of which Berry was general manager

In 1924, Berry served as general manager of the Michigan-California Lumber Company ("Michigan Cal"[7]) through 1949.[1][3][10] (The Michigan-California Lumber Company owned the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad (CPLT) railroad. The CPLT railroad was dismantled beginning in October 1949, with lumber hauled by trucks over a route almost twice as long as the railroad and cable system.[11]) Berry applied the Biltmore method of sustainable forestry for 90,000 acres of timber.[4] Originally, he worked in Camino, California.[7] In 1930, he became general manager.[7] In 1933, he had Michigan Cal donate the 4,400-acre Blodgett Forest (near Georgetown, California) to the University of California as a laboratory for its forestry school.[7] In 1942, he helped establish the Amador-El Dorado Forest Forum.[4] In 1950, he formed the Jack Swift Berry Lumber Company in Sacramento, California.[6]

During World War II, Berry served as a lumber consultant to the National Production Authority.[7]

South Fork American River running through El Dorado hills, which formed part of Berry's senate district

In 1952, Berry started service as State Senator from the then 9th District comprising El Dorado and Amador counties through 1960.[3][4][7] He served as chairman of the Natural Resources Committee.[7] With Placerville mayor Sandy Murray, he championed the building of U.S. Route 50 in California (US 50)[7][12] and the Marshall Hospital in Placerville.[7] On November 4, 1952, Berry won a seat as both Republican and Democratic party candidate.[13] On November 6, 1956, he won again. On November 8, 1960, he lost and did not run again.[2] During his first term, Berry went to the hospital to recover from a serious illness: the California State Senate passed Senate Resolution No. 17 of 1952 to "wish him a speedy and complete recovery."[13] During his second term in 1957, he opposed a $157,000 "feasibility study" on the Stumpy Meadows reservoir and thus against an $85 million project on the Upper American River by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD).[14]

In 1953, Berry became the first president of the newly formed Mother Lode Bank of Placerville (1953-1975), whose co-founders included Lloyd Raffetto. He remained president through 1962 when, due to a stroke, he retired.[7]