Ansel Franklin Hall

Ansel F. Hall (May 6, 1894, Oakland, California – March 28, 1962) was an American naturalist. He was the first Chief Naturalist and first Chief Forester of the United States National Park Service.

Hall graduated in 1917 from the University of California with a degree in forestry. He joined the then-infant National Park Service as a ranger in Sequoia National Park. His Park Service career was then interrupted by military service in France during World War I.

From 1920 to 1923, Hall served as the first Park Naturalist of Yosemite National Park, where he established innovative interpretative programs, founded the Yosemite Museum Association, made geological models and native crafts, mounted natural history specimens, and edited the seminal Handbook of Yosemite National Park, published in 1921.

Hall's energy and competence attracted attention in Washington and he was promoted to serve in the following posts:

In 1930, Hall co-wrote (with Frederick Law Olmsted's sons) a report for an Oakland, California foundation which "...advocated a revolutionary new concept: a regional approach to park development, the creation of truly large, interconnected parklands that would define an urban landscape...", and which led directly to the establishment of the East Bay Regional Park District in the Oakland area

In 1933 - 1934, Hall led an expedition to the Rainbow Bridge - Monument Valley area, which produced thousands of valuable photographs of Indian life in the Four Corners area of that time.

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