United States Department of Agriculture Ponderosa Promise: Forest Service Pacific Northwest A History of U.S. Forest Research Station General Technical Service Research in Report PNW-GTR-711 Central Oregon July 2007 Les Joslin The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and national grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service to a growing Nation. 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Author Les Joslin is a retired U.S. Navy commander; former U.S. Forest Service fire- fighter, wilderness ranger, and supervisory social scientist; and adjunct instructor for the College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331. Cover photo by Tom Iraci. Abstract Joslin, Les. 2007. Ponderosa promise: a history of U.S. Forest Service research in central Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-711. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 121 p. Research interest in the forests of Oregon and Washington east of the Cascade Range can be traced back to 1897, when Fredrick V. Coville of the Division of Forestry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, reconnoitered the Cascade Range Forest Reserve to report on forest growth and sheep grazing there in an 1898 report. Subsequent forest survey in the late 1890s and early 1900s was stimulated by antic- ipation of the timber boom that would follow arrival of a railroad. In 1908, Gifford Pinchot’s new Forest Service sent young Thornton Taft Munger to study the encroachment of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.) on the more valuable ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) stands. By the end of the year, Munger was in charge of the North Pacific District’s one-man Section of Silvics, which evolved to become the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station in 1924 with him at the helm. The forest research effort east of the Cascade Range picked up speed with establishment in 1931 of the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest to research the ecologically and economically viable silvicultural systems that would convert the stagnant old-growth forests into more-productive second- growth forests. During the ensuing six and one-half decades, a small group of Forest Service researchers and their university counterparts working at the experi- mental forest and, beginning in 1963, the Bend Silviculture Laboratory, pioneered and pursued the practical silvicultural research that both led and responded to the evolution of their science. Keywords: Pringle Falls, experimental forest, history, ponderosa pine, Bend Silviculture Laboratory. i Preface This is the story of the origins, evolution, and contributions of U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service research in central Oregon at the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest and the Bend Silviculture Laboratory from 1931 to 1996. It is the story of the people and places key to the long-term search for knowledge about our resources—in this case, of the magnificent and valuable ponderosa pine forests and other forests east of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington—that is the very nature of forest science. This summary history of Forest Service research east of the Cascade Range focused on central Oregon reflects the three relatively distinct periods in Forest Service and general forestry history identified by Duncan and Miner.1 As a unit of the Pacific Northwest Research Station, the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest from its founding in 1931 until the end of World War II followed the Station’s lead as it “conducted pioneering research work on topics that are basic to any planned management” for a National Forest System “still largely custodial” (see footnote 1). During the second period—the quarter century following the war, the Deschutes Research Center that evolved into the Bend Silviculture Laboratory shared a focus on timber production. But, for a variety of reasons, the central Oregon research effort ultimately failed to transition to the third period that led to research into whole ecosystems. Although it accomplished some pioneering prescribed burning research and made other valuable contributions, the Bend Silviculture Laboratory was closed before it was able to remake itself into a research center that fit the new research direction. This project began in spring 1999 when Russ Mitchell suggested to the Pacific Northwest Research Station history committee that I conduct and transcribe oral history interviews of three researchers—Walt Dahms, Jim Barrett, and Pat Cochran—long affiliated with the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest and the Bend Silviculture Laboratory. These interviews, all in Bend during a week that June, benefited immensely from the participation and perspectives of Mitchell and fellow retired entomologist Boyd Wickman. So did a January 2000 interview with Bob Martin. This fourth interview followed by about 2 weeks the January 13 history committee meeting at which I had the honor of meeting, among others, the late Ken Wright. In April 2002, I was selected to research and write this history. This research involved another 10 oral histories with research foresters and allied scientists, research technicians, and others in Bend and other Oregon cities. These were supplemented by lengthy research visits to the Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory in LaGrande and the Pacific Northwest Research Station Headquarters in Portland. As in the case of most research projects, these interviews and investigations turned up additional leads and sources to track down. 1 Duncan, S.; Miner, C. 2000. Closer to the truth: 75 years of discovery in forest and range research. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 76 p. ii Ponderosa Promise: A History of U.S. Forest Service Research in Central Oregon Unfortunately, some people who would have been valuable sources of information were deceased or otherwise not available. The fire at the Bend Silviculture Laboratory in 1974, with loss of valuable historical files and photographs and a recorded interview with the forester who had pioneered the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest, hindered the effort as did the closing of the lab in 1996 when its records were dispersed to other facilities. My teaching and seasonal employment imposed time constraints compounded by a surprise appointment to serve on the Deschutes National Forest staff commencing in September 2003 as I was completing the first draft. The ensuing year was, indeed, a hectic one. Many challenges confront the researcher and writer of history. Among these—for the reader as well as the writer—is that, over the years, names change. The current Pacific Northwest Research Station is a case in point. Founded in 1925 as the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station and renamed the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station in 1936, it was renamed again in 1985 as the Pacific Northwest Research Station. Similarly, Oregon State University was founded in 1885 as Oregon Agricultural College, and was named Oregon State College from the 1920s until 1961 when it was renamed Oregon State University. And, also, the name of The Bend Bulletin changed to The Bulletin. Foremost among the challenges is the fact that history, by its very nature, is selective and summary. That is especially the case in a short history such as this. The necessary focus on identification and interpretation of principal themes and supporting stories and facts necessarily excludes some minor themes and details important to some. It is my fervent hope that this effort does not suffer excessively in that way. iii Contents 71 Pat Cochran: Soils and Silviculture 77 Ken Wright, Charlie Sartwell, Dick Mason, Boyd 1 Chapter 1: Sunrise: Research for Timber Wickman, and Russ Mitchell: Insects and Management Silviculture 13 Chapter 2: Pringle Falls: A Research Forest 81 Lew Roth: Pathogens and Silviculture 14 An Experimental Forest Is Planned 85 In Other People’s Hands 16 The Pringle Falls Experimental Forest Is 87 Chapter 5: A New Dawn: Research for Ecosystem Designated and Developed Management 17 Physical Infrastructure Development 93 Common and Scientific Names 18 Research Program Development 94 Acknowledgments 19 Research Plots Established 94 Metric Equivalents 27 The Pringle Falls Experimental Forest Area and 94 References Uses Evolve 28 Lookout Mountain Unit Added 115