United States :5, Department of Agriculture History of WIite Pine Forest Service Blister Rust Control FS-355 A Personal Account HISTORY OF WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST CONTROL A PERSONAL ACCOUNT Warren V. Benedict Former Director Division of Forest Pest Control Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Washington, D.C. March 1981 1'or sale by the Su,erintiideiit of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Foreword With much personal satisfaction I write this introduc- tion to Warren Benedict's story of white pine blister rust control. I first came in contact with this work in the 1930's. Whenever I visited Blister Rust Control (BRC) camps I always came away with the feeling that these young men were helping to save a valuable natural resource and that in the process they were learning much about forest conserva- tion. Moreover, thousands and thousands of young people were having this useful experience. Several years ago I repeatedly urged that someone write thehistoryoftheBlisterRust Control Program. Obviously, if a history of this kind were done, it should be done by someone who has had actual experience in the pro- gram. If some future historian without such experience should attempt to write the story merely by compiling scat- tered statistics, it would be not only a dry as dust account but the statistics might not be fully understood. Nearly all the former top administrators of the BRC program are gone. As one of the very few top BRC people still alive, we thought that Benedict's nearly half a century of intimate knowledge of this program should be utilized before it was too late. So we asked "Blister Rust Bennie" if he would collect the facts and write the BRC history. This report is the result of that request. Benedict's story of the widespread efforts to control this pernicious tree disease is interesting, convincing, and accu- rate because it was written from firsthand knowledge. It is a significantcontributiontothehistoryof resource conservation. RICHARD E. MCARDLE Former Chief, Forest Service The fight against blister rust was the first large-sea Ic nationwide attempt to contain a forest disease, and it dramatized that forest protection meant more than just lighting fire This history should provide some lessons to forest ecologists today who must choose among various means of environmental manipulation wish limited funds, as did the Blister Rust Control Program The Forest Insect and Disease Management Staffand the H istoty Section. Adminis- trative Management Staff. Forest Service. cooperated in the preparation and pnblica- non of this informal but informative history of the White Pine Blister Rust Control Program U Preface 1 expect more material has been written about blister rust than any other tree disease in America. A comprehen- sive bibliography on blister rust assembled by Roy Hoff of the Forest Service Genetics Laboratory at Moscow, Idaho, contains 2,228 entries. In addition, six file cases of mate- rial, including mostly internal records and correspondence, were stored in the Federal Records Center, Suitland, Md. To have examined all this material, even superficially, would have taken a big cut from my remaining lifetime. But to do so was hardly necessary since I spent more than 42 years working on blister rust in one capacity or another and helped establish the western control program. Conse- quently, I became acquainted with the leaders of the blister rust program including personnel of the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, State agencies, conservation groups, and timber companies. As a result, I have drawn upon my own background and experiences to put together a large part of this story. The material I reviewed, both published and unpublished, is listed in appendix I. In addition, I had the pleasure of visiting all the white pine regions to interview many oldtimers. They have pro- vided much helpful information on how blister rust control work was accomplished in their respective regions, areas, States, and districts. Their detailed descriptions have proved to be a valuable source of information. In all, 1 interviewed 35 former "blister rusters." A com- plete list of their names appears in appendix II. While it is impossible to comment upon them individually,I do Warren V. Benedict extend a hearty thanks to each one for his cooperation. To the following 10, I extend special thanks for arranging Warren V. Benedict spent his entire career in the white numerous interviews and for narrating the highlights of pine blister rust control program and other forest pest con- their associations with the BRC program: Edmund Filler, trol work. He was appointed a temporary agent for the old Northeastern BRC Region; Henry N. Putnam, North- USDA Bureau of Plant Industry in Portland, Oreg., in central BRC Region; J. Curtis Ball, Southern Appalachian June 1924. He retired as chief of all pest control work of the BRC Region; Roy Blomstrom, Thomas H. Harris, Forest Service, including its cooperative programs with the Douglas R. Miller, and Harold R. Offord, Pacific Coast States and private owners, at the end of 1966. BRC Region; Homer J. Hartman, Richard T. Bingham, His interest in forestry stemmed from a boyhood spent Virgil D. Moss, and Charles A. Wellner, Inland Empire exploring the near wilderness surrounding the lumbering area; Conrad P. Wessela, Pacific Coast Region (and mem- town of Hoquiam along the coast of western Washington ber of my staff in the Washington office), and Gilbert B. just after the turn of the century. As he grew up he saw Posey, Washington, D.C., who was the last living member groves of giant trees change to acres of stumps and he of the original Office of Blister Rust Control staff in wanted to play some part in improving forest management. Washington, D.C. (Posey died just before this manuscript Rather than obey the wishes of his father to become a phy- went to press.) sician, he went to Oregon Agricultural College (now In developing this historical narrative, it was not my Oregon State University) at Corvallis where he received his intent to adhere to a fully documented scientific style. B.S. in Forestry in 1924. Rather, I have told the story man informal way. My narra- Benedict first worked on blister rust in northern Idaho, tive recounts the unfolding of events as I know themthe then became leader of the program in the sugar pine forests good and bad, the successes and failures. Many mistakes of Oregon and California in 1927. In 1951 he became direc- were made in the course of the fight to save America's white tor of the western region of USDA's Bureau of Entomol- pines from blister rust. And while these mistakes were ogy and Plant Quarantine, and in 1953 when all Federal nearly always errors of human judgment, the best judg- and Federal-State forest pest control was shifted to the ment based on knowledge available at the time was always Forest Service he headed that work in Washington, D.C. applied. The point is that no more dedicated group of pub- The next year other tree diseases and insects on all forest lic servants ever worked together under strong, aggressive, land were added to his duties. honest leadership than the BRC bunch, and I am proud to Benedict married Trula Miller, also a 1924 OAC gradu- have been a member of that team. This is our story. ate, after his first 6-month appointment. They have three Sons and a daughter, all married, and 12grandchildren. They live at Glen Mar Park, Md.,just outside Washington, Washington, D.C. WARREN V. BENEDICT D.C. CONTENTS Page BLISTER RUST AND THE PROGRAM TO CONTROL IT, 1909-41 The Problem 1 The Disease 1 Blister Rust in Europe 3 Blister Rust Comes to America 3 A Solution 4 The Blister Rust Situation, 1909-16 4 State and Canadian Cooperation 4 The Role of Plant Quarantines 4 Genesis of the Blister Rust Control Office 5 The Federal Perspective,1915-41 9 Federal Financing for Blister Rust Control 9 Cooperation with Other Federal Agencies 9 THE BLISTER RUST CONTROL PROGRAM IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES The Northeastern Region 11 A Brief History of the First BRC Regional Office 11 Advent of the BRC District Leaders 11 Role of the BRC District Leader 12 How Ribes Eradication Was Accomplished 14 Results of Ribes Eradication in the Northeast 15 The North-Central Region 15 A Brief History 16 Work Methods Used 16 The BRC Program in Wisconsin 18 Results of Ribes Eradication in the North-Central Region 18 The Southern Appalachian Region 19 A Brief History 19 Federal-State Cooperation 20 Results of Pine-Ribes Surveys 20 Ribes Eradication on Public Lands 20 Results of Ribes Eradication in the Southern Appalachians 20 Summary of Work in Eastern White Pine 21 THE BLISTER RUST CONTROL PROGRAM IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES The Western White Pine and Sugar Pine Regions 23 Discovery of Blister Rust on the West Coast 24 Genesis of the Western BRC Program 24 The Experimental Era 25 The Ribes -to-Pine Spread Plot in British Columbia 26 Experimental Ribes Eradication in Idaho 26 First Work in Oregon 28 First Work in California 28 Keeping Pace With Rapid Rust Spread, 1926-32 29 Development of the Ribes Eradication Program 29 Progress During the Experimental Era 33 The Emergency Program Years,1933-41 33 Blister Rust Control Work in the Northern Rocky Mountain Region 34 Blister Rust Control Work in The Pacific Coast Region 35 The Post-Emergency Program Era,1941-65 38 The Northern Rocky Mountain Region 38 The Pacific Coast Region 38 Two Special Projects of the