USDA FOREST SERVICE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
San Dimas Experimental
Forest, California
In This Issue
Forest Service Experimental
Forests and Ranges... A
Service of 100 Years and
Counting ...................................1
Héen Latinee Experimental
Forest, Tongass National
Forest, Alaska .......................... 2
The Value of International
Scientific Cooperation:
Crossett Experimental
Forest, Arkansas ..................... 3
Forest Service Manual
4062 Under Revision ........... 4
50 Years of Research at the
Marcell EF ................................4
Information Management
for EFRs .................................... 5
Did You Know? ..........................5
National EFR Coordinator
Appointed ................................6
Neotropical migratory bird
monitoring on the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico
Forests and Ranges
Volume 1, Issue 1
W
Quarterly Newsletter of the EFR Network
Spring 2011
Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges… A Service of 100 Years and Counting
hen the first “Forest Experiment Station” was conceived more than
100 years ago, almost no one had the
vision of what could be accomplished.
Almost no one, that is, except Raphael
Zon, the first head of the Forest Service Office of Silvics. Zon was among
the earliest foresters to advocate for
research within the Forest Service. His
vision was well ahead of its time and
came to initial fruition only after resistance from much of the agency’s early
leadership. His efforts to create experiment stations were unpopular, but he
stuck to his convictions. In “Raphael Zon:
Forest Researcher,” an article in the Journal of Forest History, Norman Schmaltz
cited a visionary quote from Zon: “The
experiment stations of the west… are
building the scientific foundation upon
which the future practice of American
forestry is to rest.” Indeed, a century
after Zon’s proposal, Forest Service
Research and Development stands as
the preeminent forest research organization in the world.
A recent article titled “Warrior of
Science” in Forest History Today (Spring/
Fall 2010), by Jeremy Cameron Young,
provides a fascinating account of Zon’s
life and his passion for research to help
guide the way for forest management.
Clearly, in its early years, Forest Service
R&D had an uncertain future. With
unwavering persistence, Zon insisted
that scientific work was a fundamental need for such an organization as
the Forest Service. Although this was
not generally a popular idea, he was
fortunate to have the (turn to page 6)
Raphael Zon
F E AT U R E D
E X P E R I M E N TA L
FOREST
Héen Latinee Experimental Forest,
Tongass National Forest, Alaska
H
éen Latinee Experimental Forest was
established in 2009, under the direction
of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research
Station, for coastal temperate rain forest
research. Héen Latinee is a Tlingit phrase
meaning “river watcher.” The forest is 37 miles
north of Juneau, Alaska, in the northern
Tongass National Forest (Tongass), which lies
within the largest temperate rain forest in the
world. This newest experimental forest
contains many of the common mainland
landscape elements and ecosystem subtypes
found in southeast Alaska. Héen Latinee
Experimental Forest includes glaciers,
perennial snowfields, alpine meadows,
spruce-hemlock forest, and wetlands. The
A L A S K A
ANCHORAGE
Héen
Latinee
JUNEAU
Spring 2011
Glacier to reef: Héen Latinee Experimental Forest
rivers, which flow from headwater glaciers
through steep gorges and extensive
floodplains to a tidal estuary, host four
species of Pacific salmon. Brown and black
bear coexist in the watersheds and mountain
goats traverse the ridges.
Research will combine fundamental
measures of hydrology and climate with
focused studies on emerging issues such as
climate change. Basic hydrologic information
such as canopy interception, soil moisture,
evapotranspiration, and seasonal discharge
is needed to calibrate biochemical models
and predict changing vegetation patterns.
Quarterly Newsletter of the EFR Network
Remote sensing and stand-alone sensors will
characterize watersheds and vegetation while
minimizing disturbances. Additional research
will investigate how climate change affects a
variety of forest-related resources, with studies on such topics as stand structure, carbon
cycling, salmon habitat and production,
and recreational opportunities. “With global
warming threatening to bring big changes in
hydrology and carbon and nutrient cycling to
this dynamic coastal zone,” explains Dr. Rick
Edwards, research aquatic ecologist at PNW
and lead scientist for this new experimental
forest, “Héen Latinee Experimental Forest
offers a prime location to conduct integrated
research moving from glacier-covered ridges
down to the marine intertidal zone.”
The PNW Research Station works with the
Tongass in administering this site. Partnerships with the University of Alaska Southeast,
University of Alaska Fairbanks, local schools,
Native corporations and tribes, the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies, and the City and Borough of Juneau
create key opportunities for research and
learning.
For more information, check out http://
www.fs.fed.us/pnw/exforests/heen-latinee/
index.shtml. 3
Page 2
PA R T N E R H I G H L I G H T S
The Value of International Scientific Cooperation:
Crossett Experimental Forest, Arkansas
D
r. Kalev Jögiste, professor and head of the forest biology department at the
Estonian University of Life Sciences, recently was invited by Dr. Jim Guldin,
project leader for ecology and management of southern pines at the Southern
Research Station, to tour the Crossett Experimental Forest (EF) in southern Arkansas.
Jögiste currently is located at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minnesota, on
a one-year Fulbright sabbatical. He and Guldin both are active in the IUFRO 1.05.00
Uneven-Aged Silviculture Working Group. Highlighting the tour at Crossett EF was a
walk through the internationally known “Good Forty” and “Poor Forty” plots of loblolly
and shortleaf pine, which are entering their 75th year of continuous uneven-aged
management. Southern Research Staton scientist Don Bragg and Crossett forester
Rick Stagg also participated in the tour, which included a look at the R.R. Reynolds
Research Natural Area, a new planned study on managed old-growth restoration, and
the effects of the most recent cycle of prescribed burning in southern pine stands at
Crossett, which was completed only two days before the tour. During Jögiste’s visit,
talks began about the feasibility of a new uneven-aged research and demonstration
study in Scots pine stands at the Järvselja Experimental Forest in Estonia. 3
Scientists examine
the “Good Forty”
plot in 1962.
Spring 2011
The “Poor Forty” plot in 2006.
Participants in the tour at Crossett Experimental Forest, from left:
Rick Stagg, Jim Guldin, Don Bragg, and Kalev Jögiste.
Quarterly Newsletter of the EFR Network
Page 3
Renee Denton
Nick Skowronski
Deacon Kyllander
NEWS
Spring at the San Joaquin Experimental Range, CA.
Forest Service Manual 4062 Under Revision
Pitcher plants in bloom in a peatland at the
Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota.
T
he Forest Service Directive System consists of the Forest Service Manual and
Handbooks, which codify the agency's policy,
practice, and procedure. The system serves as
the primary basis for the internal management
and control of all programs and the primary
source of administrative direction to Forest
Service employees.
Section 4062 governs the operations and
management of research facilities and areas,
including all experimental forests, ranges,
grasslands, and watersheds. The content of
these directives has not been substantially
updated in over 17 years. Much needed detail
will be added through a revision that is currently being drafted for review by Forest
Service leadership and the Office of General
Counsel.
Contact: Carol DeMuth. 3
Spring 2011
50 Years of Research at the Marcell EF
T
Fire weather carbon flux tower on the Silas-Little
Experimental Forest in New Jersey.
Quarterly Newsletter of the EFR Network
he Marcell Experimental Forest in
Minnesota serves as a living laboratory
and provides scientists with a fundamental
understanding of peatland hydrology,
acid rain impacts, nutrient and carbon
cycling, trace gas emissions, and controls
on mercury transport in boreal watersheds.
Recently, Northern Research Station scientists
hosted a symposium entitled “Peatland
Biogeochemistry and Watershed Hydrology
at the Marcell Experimental Forest,”
which synthesized hundreds of research
publications, dozens of graduate theses, and
even some previously unpublished studies.
These findings have recently been published
by CRC Press in a book by the same title
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NEWS
that covers the depth and breadth of longterm studies on hydrology, biogeochemistry,
ecology, and forest management at the
Marcell EF.
To purchase this new book, visit the publisher’s Web site at http://www.crcpress.com/
product/isbn/97814398142460.
Information Management for EFRs
A
s the EFR network develops, one goal is
to foster an information management
(IM) capability equal to that of the Long-Term
Ecological Research (LTER) network. The “EFR
Synthesis Group” (SG) was temporarily established to help develop the EFR network—it
contains all seven LTER sites in the EFR community, thus holds much of our corporate
knowledge about LTER IM.
R&D Leadership chartered an
eResearch project to support IM efforts
on experimental forests and ranges
R&D leadership also chartered an
eResearch project to support the IM goal.
Project activities included:
• Organizing an SG workshop (2008).
▪ Discussing what it means to be a “network.”
▪ Establishing a science track for developing
cross-site synthesis research projects.
Spring 2011
▪
Establishing an IM track for SG IM staff.
This first-ever effort was well received by
IM staff and scientists.
• Developing two intranet sites.
• Developing a network-identified Web
infrastructure, featuring:
▪ Common architecture.
▪ Database and application capabilities.
• Surveying the status of information
holdings (2010). The outcome was that
data catalogs are needed!
• EFR records management (national
and local).
• Conducting metadata training (starting
in April 2011).
• Developing data management planning
aids (starting in May 2011).
• Developing a SharePoint collaboration
site for EFRs (starting in June 2011).
Did You Know?
T
he network of experimental forest
and ranges also includes grasslands
and watersheds. In 2005, the Forest Service
Manual (FSM 4062) was amended to replace
the term “experimental forests and ranges”
with “experimental forests, ranges, grasslands,
and watersheds.”
This subtle but important distinction
broadens the scope and relevance of the
whole network. Recognition of all these
experimental locations is meaningful to the
mission of the network. 3
One aspect of improving information management is providing access to both historical and current research data. The eResearch
effort in this area is helped by close association with the new R&D research data archive.
Contacts:
Laurie Porth
Dave Rugg
EFR eResearch staff
EFR eResearch
project manager
Associate R&D
data archivist
R&D data archivist
lporth@fs.fed.us
drugg@fs.fed.us
970-498-1206
651-649-5173
Quarterly Newsletter of the EFR Network
Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed, Alaska.
Page 5
NEWS
National EFR Coordinator Appointed
F
orest Service Research and Development
has long valued the significant contributions made by research and monitoring work
conducted on the Forest Service’s national
network of 80 experimental forests and
ranges. However, opportunities exist to make
better use of the research findings, data, and
resources provided to the Forest Service, collaborating research institutions, and land and
resource managers throughout the United
States by more than 100 years of
work at these field facilities. To
this end, R&D leadership has appointed Dr. Peter Stine to serve
as the national coordinator of
the Forest Service’s experimenPeter Stine
tal forest and range network.
This position is intended to provide national
leadership to help enable EFRs to go beyond
their traditional role as sites for studying local
United States
Department of Agriculture
Forest
Service
Experimental Forests and Ranges, published quarterly
by USDA Forest Service Research and Development
Peter A. Stine, managing editor
530-752-9991, pstine@fs.fed.us
Keith D. Routman, editing and design
503-808-2129, kroutman@fs.fed.us
Spring 2011
forest management issues to also include the
broader opportunities of a research and development network that addresses critical local,
national, and global environmental issues.
For the last 11 years, Dr. Stine has been
a research program manager at the Pacific
Southwest Research Station (PSW), directing
the research efforts of PSW in the Sierra
Nevada. During his tenure as a PSW program
manager, he has had extensive experience in
directing research at a number of experimental forests and ranges throughout California.
Our Vision for the Future of
Experimental Forests and Ranges
T
o realize this new vision for EFRs, FS R&D decided that an EFR coordinator was needed
to (1) promote the use of EFRs to accelerate the
advancement of sound science and management within a changing environmental and
social context, (2) strengthen the EFR network by
ensuring effective coordination and communication across FS R&D, and (3) increase administrative efficiencies associated with managing EFRs.
We are confident that this investment and focus
will result in significant advances in the utility and
effectiveness of our EFR network while enhancing the scientific contributions that can profoundly influence the scientific credibility of land
and resource management decisions. 3
Quarterly Newsletter of the EFR Network
(Raphael Zon, from page 1)
support of Gifford Pinchot, and significant
progress was made.
Facilities dedicated to field research
were considered by Zon to be an essential
component of a research enterprise in forest
management. As Young notes, “the concept
of experiment stations was not only a research
tool but a symbol of the importance of
scientific inquiry in forest administration.” The
first “experiment station” was established in
Fort Valley, Arizona, strategically located near
the Coconino National Forest supervisor’s
office in Flagstaff. It was part of Zon’s vision
that research be accessible to management,
a concept that holds as true today as it did
100 years ago. For all of us who have followed
behind these pioneering efforts, we owe a
large debt of gratitude to Raphael Zon and
the work he did to pave the way for the
Experimental Forest and Range network
that is now such a proud cornerstone of
the Forest Service R&D program. 3
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