Joseph Trimble Rothrock (April 9, 1839 – June 2, 1922) was an American environmentalist, recognized as the "Father of Forestry" in Pennsylvania.

[1] Joseph Rothrock was born in McVeytown in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania in the United States to a German farming family.

[6] Rothrock began practice in Centre County, Pennsylvania, but in 1870 moved to Wilkes-Barre, making a specialty of diseases of the eye and ear.

[7] He was one of the founders of Wilkes-Barre Hospital, and served on the faculty of Penn State University from 1867 to 1869, where he taught botany, human anatomy and physiology.

In 1876, he established the North Mountain School of Physical Culture in Luzerne County, also during the same year he was appointed by the American Philosophical Society lecturer on forestry in execution of the Michaux legacy.

Rothrock pioneered the treatment of tuberculosis in sanatoriums, established a hospital in Wilkes-Barre and helped explore the Canadian frontier.

"[10] In describing the forest conditions of 1915 he said, "6,400 square miles; more than 4 million acres [16,000 km²] of the state are desolated, cut and unprotected from fire.

"[11] Because of men like Joseph Rothrock, Jacob Nolde, Maurice Goddard and Gifford Pinchot, Pennsylvania has thriving second-growth forests that have recovered from the ravages of the lumber era that swept across its hills and valleys in the late nineteenth century.