1909: The Tree of Research
At the turn of the century, the study of forests, or “forestry,” moved toward becoming a professional and scientific discipline adapted from western European forest management practices. Forest researchers initially sought to promote a deeper understanding of forest ecology that would lead to informed conservation strategies nationwide, ultimately maximizing natural resources for future generations’ use.
The Forest Service began working to incorporate scientific research into forestry in 1905 when environmental leaders such as Gifford Pinchot, President Theodore Roosevelt, and Raphael Zon (1874-1956) pushed the importance of studying forest ecosystems strategic conservation plans. Zon suggested a structured research program using forest research stations to study forest regeneration. As a result, the Forest Service founded one of the nation’s first forest research stations in Fort Valley, west of the city of Flagstaff at the base of the San Francisco Peaks.
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[Olberding, Susan Deaver, and Margaret May Moore. Fort Valley Experimental Forest a Century of Research 1908-2008 : Conference Proceedings, August 7-9, 2008, Flagstaff, AZ. Page XII. Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2008.]
When the Forest Service established the Fort Valley Experimental Station (FVES), Zon appointed forester G.A. (Gustaf Adolph) Pearson (1880-1949) as the station director. Led by Pearson, the foresters at the FVES set out to study the management and care of timber, range, and water resources by analyzing natural ponderosa pine regeneration patterns and the influences of weather, disease, pests, livestock grazing, and fires.
The knowledge gained through the Fort Valley research project was intended to inform future natural resource management practices, a discipline known as silviculture. As collective attitudes surrounding the use of natural resources shifted throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, these findings continued to aid forestry research as the fundamental knowledge of ponderosa pine ecological patterns.
Some major conclusions about ponderosa pine regeneration gathered at Fort Valley include their dependence on consistent temperature at higher elevations and on rainfall at lower elevations, and that virgin stands typically grow in small, even-aged groups.
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Ranger Conference. 1909. United States Forest Service, Research Data Archive. ID No. 22140.
Life at the Fort Valley Experiment Station
Between 1909 and 1935, the Forest Service assigned multiple temporary forest scientists to assist Pearson in researching ponderosa pine silviculture. Some researchers stayed with the FVES for one season while others stayed for the duration of a specific research project.
Foresters conducting research at the FVES were truly immersed in their environment as they worked, lived, and played at the station throughout the year. These researchers worked through the harsh, snowy winters, often shoveling snow surrounding their cabin first thing in the morning, then promptly snowshoeing into the woods to gather data. They returned to their cabins in the evening and typically wrote data reports by the light of a campfire. At the end of the week, Pearson’s mules Pat and Mike (pictured below), often drove the foresters into Flagstaff to gather supplies and celebrate a week’s worth of hard work.
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[Fort Valley Personnel.] 1918. United States Forest Service, Research Data Archive. ID no. 24797.
Foresters who lived onsite for the duration of their assignments typically shared an unheated cabin regardless of the season. They struggled to keep warm during the snowy winter months and often needed to maintain a fire through the nights to prevent the water system from freezing. One former researcher at the FVES, Emanuel Fritz, recalled rationing canned food with his colleagues during extended bouts of snowy weather.
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Remembering Pearson
Pearson served as the director of the FVES from 1909 until his retirement in 1944. His handbook, Management of Ponderosa Pine in the Southwest, as Developed by Research and Experimental Practice, is the product of his research. It later became the foundation for the curriculum of the first Forestry program at Arizona State College (now Northern Arizona University) in 1958.
Pearson was commemorated for his trailblazing research in ponderosa pine ecological patterns in multiple ways. The Forest Service held a conference at the Fort Valley Experimental Station in 1944 centered around ponderosa pine research. This conference recognized Pearson’s thirty years of research and leadership at the Fort Valley station, which resulted in the foundation for ponderosa pine ecology and paved the way for future forest management in ponderosa pine forests.
In 1950, the Forest Service designated 154 acres of land near the original Fort Valley station as a preserved natural area and named it the “G.A. Pearson Natural Area,” after Pearson himself. This space was intended to preserve “the natural state of a virgin stand of pure ponderosa pine representing commercial old-growth stands as they occur on the Coconino Plateau in northern Arizona,” according to a proposal from July 1950. Furthermore, this space honored Pearson for his contributions in ponderosa pine silviculture and served to foster public knowledge of research information and timber management.