United States Department of Agriculture / Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station

A History of Forest Entomology

in the Intermountain and Rocky

Mountain Areas, 1901 to 1982

General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-195

July 2007

By Malcolm M. Furniss
Abstract

Author

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Rocky Mountain Research Station

240 West Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

This account spans the time from A.D. Hopkins’ trip to the Black Hills, SD, in 1901 to my 

retirement in 1982. The focus is on personnel and the work of the Division of Forest Insect 

Investigations, USDA, and the Forest Service experiment stations in the Rocky Mountain and 

Intermountain areas. Information for the Intermountain and Northern Rocky Mountain station 

areas is derived from my experience there and as chairman of the history committee of the 

Western Forest Insect Work Conference (WFIWC). Information on the Rocky Mountain and 

Southwestern station areas came primarily from the WFIWC archives, University of Idaho, 

and from retired forest entomologists.

Keywords: Forest entomology, history, Rocky Mountain, Intermountain

Furniss, Malcolm M. 2007. A history of forest entomology in the Intermountain and Rocky 

Mountain areas, 1901 to 1982. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 40 p.

Malcolm M. Furniss was attracted to the outdoors while growing up in the Appalachian 

Mountains of rural New York State. In 1950, he graduated in forestry at the University of 

California and worked in California with the USDA Division of Forest Insect Investigations 

until transferring to the (Intermountain) INT station in 1954. He studied entomology at 

the University of Idaho and was Principal Research Entomologist and Project Leader at 

the Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Moscow, ID until retiring in 1982. He has studied bark 

beetles and other forest insects throughout western North America about which he has 

published over 100 articles.
Preface .........................................................................................................................iii

Acknowledgments......................................................................................................... iii

Introduction....................................................................................................................1

Andrew Delmar Hopkins (1857-1948) ...........................................................................1

Bark Beetle Depredations in the Black Hills—1901................................................2

Colorado Next in Line ....................................................................................................3

William Douglas Edmonston...................................................................................3

George Hofer ..........................................................................................................6

Fort Collins 1935 to 1940...............................................................................................6

Fort Collins Lab Reopened—1942 ................................................................................9

Spruce Beetle .........................................................................................................9

Trap Trees...............................................................................................................9

Chemical Treatment................................................................................................9

Freeze Got the Black Hills Beetle, too—for a While .............................................11

Spruce Budworm ..................................................................................................11

Fort Collins, post 1968.................................................................................................12

Albuquerque Laboratory Established in 1952..............................................................12

Calvin L. Massey...................................................................................................13

Northern Rocky Mountains ..........................................................................................14

Josef Brunner........................................................................................................14

James C. Evenden................................................................................................15

Coeur d’Alene Forest Insect Laboratory 1919 to 1954................................................16

Henry J. Rust ........................................................................................................16

Tom T. Terrell.........................................................................................................16

Reginald E. Balch .................................................................................................17

Douglas-fir Tussock Moth .....................................................................................18

Disbandment of Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine—1953 ........................19

Missoula Forest Insect Laboratory...............................................................................19

Larch Casebearer .................................................................................................20

More Reorganization ...................................................................................................20

Ogden..........................................................................................................................21

Boise............................................................................................................................21

Moscow Forestry Sciences Laboratory 1963 To 1982.................................................22

References Cited.........................................................................................................23

Appendix A—Fred B. Knight’s Recollections of Fort Collins, 1951 to 1960.................25

Appendix B—John M. Schmid’s Recollections of Forest Insect Research 

 at the RM Station, 1963 to 1992 Insect Project and Personnel ...................26

Appendix C—Melvin E. McKnight’s Recollections of the RM Station,

 1959 to 1973 ................................................................................................31

Appendix D—Stephen A. Mata’s Recollections of the RM Station, 1964 to 2005 .......37

Appendix E—Daniel T. Jennings’ Recollections of the Albuquerque Lab,

 1960 to 1976 ................................................................................................39

Contents

i
ii
This account is based in part on my experience during employment with 

the Division of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology and 

Plant Quarantine, USDA (1950 to1953) and Forest Service, USDA, (1954 

to1982). Other sources of information were publications by A.D. Hopkins 

(Hopkins 1902, 1905, 1906), Harry Burke’s recollections (Burke 1946), 

and Noel Wygant’s oral history interview (Larson 1979a). These were 

supplemented by historical documents and photos in the Western Forest 

Insect Work Conference archives, recollections of others credited in the 

Acknowledgments, and my publications (Furniss 1997, 2003, 2004). 

The focus of this account is on personnel and the work of the Division 

of Forest Insect Investigations (disbanded and transferred to the Forest 

Service in 1953) and the Forest Service Experiment Stations in the area 

concerned after 1953. The time period of my account spans the trip by 

Hopkins to the Black Hills, SD, in 1901, to the time of my retirement from 

the Forest Service in 1982; however, some recollections by Schmid and 

Mata (Appendix) extend beyond 1982 because they retired later. 

Recollections of people in the Appendix and elsewhere, such as 

Noel Wygant’s oral history interview (see Fort Collins Laboratory), are 

edited only lightly and passages referenced to my publications are as 

they appeared therein. This was done to preserve their integrity and the 

individual manner of expression — which throughout this paper is intended 

to be conversational and anecdotal. Consequently, some variation in style 

and grammar has resulted. The content of this paper is my responsibility 

alone and does not imply approval of the publisher. 

The manuscript was reviewed by Gene Amman, INT (retired), Ogden, 

UT; David G. Fellin, INT (retired), Missoula, MT; Dennis E. Ferguson, 

Project Leader, RMRS, Moscow, ID; Melvin E. McKnight, RM (retired), 

Plainfield, VT; and John M. Schmid, RM (retired), Fort Collins, CO. 

Recollections of RM retirees were provided by Daniel T. Jennings, 

RM (retired), Garland, ME; Fred B. Knight, RM (retired), Holden, ME; 

Stephen A. Mata, RMRS (retired); William F. McCambridge, RM (deceased); McKnight; Schmid; and Robert E. Stevens, RM (retired), 

Jacksonville, OR. Sources of photos are identified in the figure captions. José Negron, RMRS, Fort Collins, CO, provided access to 

photographs taken by forest entomologists stationed in Fort Collins. 

Dennis Ferguson, RMRS, Moscow, ID, assisted with administrative aspects and without his help, this account could not have been 

published. 

Preface

Acknowledgments

iii

USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 

A History of Forest Entomology 

in the Intermountain and 

Rocky Mountain Areas, 1901 to 1982

By Malcolm M. Furniss

Introduction

Up to the time of Gifford Pinchot’s appointment as 

head of the Division of Forestry in 1898, and continuing 

until 1905, public forests were under the jurisdiction of 

the Department of Interior’s General Land Office, an 

agency that, according to Pinchot, was “incompetent to 

deal with the preservation of forests but it understood 

too little about forestry to know that it was incompetent.” As he recalled later, “With our little force it was 

out of the question to do more than make a start on the 

forty-odd million acres of Forest Reserves (that had been 

established in 1893). But that start must not be delayed” 

(Furniss 1997).

Pinchot was receiving reports of bark beetle depredations from throughout the country. Neither his staff 

nor the new Division of Entomology, USDA, had an 

expert in forest entomology. The problem was solved 

by appointing Andrew Delmar Hopkins (fig. 1) of West 

Virginia University as a collaborator to conduct special 

investigations. Hopkins’ first assignment was to investigate forest insect problems in the Pacific Northwest 

in 1899. In 1901, he went to the Black Hills, SD, at 

Pinchot’s request to determine the cause of extensive 

pine mortality thought to be due to bark beetles (Burke 

1946, Furniss 1997).

Andrew Delmar Hopkins (1857-1948)

The chain of events preceding Hopkins’ appointment 

as a collaborator in 1899 had begun at the start of the 

decade. The newly created Agricultural Experiment 

Station at West Virginia University was looking for 

a state entomologist. Hopkins, whose formal education 

was restricted to the county schools of West Virginia, had 

taken over his grandfather’s farm at age 17. Now at age 33, 

he was about to embark on an unlikely and influential 

career. Through his characteristic persistence—perhaps 

enhanced by his offer to work for $1.00 per day to prove 

his worth—Hopkins was hired on 1 March 1890 for $50 

per month “on trial” (Berisford 1991).

In order to get acquainted with the state’s insect problems, he traveled extensively that summer and discovered 

a vast forest of bark beetle-killed spruce trees surrounding White Top Mountain in Randolph County (Hopkins 

1891). The insect turned out to be the southern pine 

beetle, a member of the destructive bark beetle genus 

Dendroctonus, about which Hopkins was destined to 

become the world authority. His ensuing work on the 

Figure 1. Andrew Delmar Hopkins, Chief of Forest Insect 

Investigations, Washington, D.C. Photo dated March 1909, 

the year that Josef Brunner was hired, marking the beginning 

of forest entomology in the northern Rocky Mountains 

(Bureau of Entomology photo 17310).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

southern pine beetle resulted in the University granting 

him an honorary Ph.D. degree in 1893, just 3 years after 

dropping farm work. Although Hopkins did brilliant work 

on many insects important to agriculture, his prominence 

as an expert on bark beetles would soon shape his future 

and that of American forest entomology.

Influenced by Pinchot, the USDA, Bureau of 

Entomology1

 created the Division of Forest Insect 

Investigations in 1902 and appointed Hopkins as head. 

In that era, the insects responsible for depredations being 

encountered in American forests were mostly unknown 

and not described. He set about changing that situation 

by specializing in bark beetles and hiring and training 

field personnel.

This account begins with Hopkins’ visit to the Black 

Hills in 1901 in response to Pinchot’s concern over 

extensive ponderosa pine mortality (Furniss 1997). 

The cause was found to be an unknown bark beetle, 

subsequently described as Dendroctonus ponderosae 

(Hopkins 1902) and given the common name Black 

Hills beetle2. From there, the story extends to Colorado 

where the same beetle and others caused concern in 1905 

(Hopkins 1905), and to Montana in the northern Rocky 

Mountains where Hopkins employed Josef Brunner in 

1909 (Furniss 2003). In time, Forest Insect Laboratories 

were established at Coeur d’Alene, ID (1919), Fort Collins, CO (1939), Ogden, UT (1949), and Albuquerque, NM 

(1952). The Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 

was disbanded in December, 1953, after which the 

personnel and mission of the Division of Forest Insect 

Investigations were transferred to the research branch 

(experiment stations) of the Forest Service.

 Herein, INT refers to the Intermountain Forest and Range

Experiment Station and RM refers to the Rocky Mountain Forest

and Range Experiment Station. The INT station was authorized

in 1928 and created in 1930 (Klade 2006). In 1952, the Northern

Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (NRM)

that had been created in 1926 was joined under INT with

headquarters in Ogden, UT. The RM station was created in

1935 (Price 1976). In 1953, the Southwestern Forest and Range

Experiment Station (SW) that had been created in 1930 was

joined under the RM station. In 1997, the INT station was joined

with the RM station and the combined entity renamed the Rocky

Mountain Research Station (RMRS) with headquarters in Fort

Collins, CO (Klade 2006).

As a result of synonymy of D. ponderosae and D. monticolae 

by S. L. Wood (1963), the common name “Black Hills beetle” was

changed to “mountain pine beetle,” The two names are used in

this account interchangeably in the respective time periods.

Bark Beetle Depredations in the 

Black Hills—1901

In 1897, Gifford Pinchot handed Special Forestry 

Expert Henry S. Graves (later Chief Forester, USDA 

Forest Service) the daunting assignment of measuring 

and describing the stands of forest trees on the 60,000 

sq. mile, newly created Black Hills Forest Reserve. 

Along the way, Graves noted patches of dying pines on 

the high limestone divide in the North Hills and found 

an unknown bark beetle in all of them (Furniss 1997).

The tree killing increased and Hopkins was dispatched 

to the Black Hills in October, 1901, to look into the cause 

of the “depredations” (fig. 2). Hopkins confirmed that 

the trouble was caused by a bark beetle and named it 

Dendroctonus ponderosae (Hopkins 1902), known by 

the common name, Black Hills beetle. The type locality is Piedmont, SD. Today it is known as the mountain 

pine beetle and it infests several pine species over a 

large geographic area.

After Hopkins became head of the newly created USDA 

Division of Forest Insect Investigations in 1902, his first 

employee was Jesse L. Webb. Webb, a 1900 graduate of 

Washington State College, had studied forest entomology 

under Hopkins at West Virginia University (MS 1902). 

He became the first college-trained forest entomologist 

in America. Webb was stationed at Elmore, SD, under 

direction of Hopkins, to study the beetle’s seasonal 

history, predators and other associated insects, and to 

experiment with trap trees for control.

Figure 2. Andrew D. Hopkins, far right, in the Black Hills 

in July 1902. From left are his employee, Jack Webb, 

Pathologist Dr. Hermann Von Schrank, and his assistant, 

Burns (Burke 1946).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 

Trap trees proved to be ineffective, so Hopkins advocated destroying the beetles by cutting infested trees 

and shipping the logs to mills at non-forested locations 

or peeling bark from infested trees while in the woods. 

However, until 1906, sale of green trees was prohibited, 

including infested trees that were not yet faded. Thus, 

control action rested solely on peeling infested bark.

Other people also had ideas about controlling the beetle. 

Mr. Tinsley of Custer, SD, developed a cutting tool with 

removable handles for stripping bark up to a height of 

25 ft on standing trees. In addition, Mr. Yarbray, also of 

Custer, wanted “$50 cash, a lineman’s outfit, 20 miles 

of insulated No. 12 copper wire, a safety belt, and a 

saddle horse.” With them, he promised to rid the Hills 

of the beetle. Hopkins noted: “It would appear that he 

contemplates electrocuting the beetles individually or 

collectively.... It is too bad we have to turn down such 

advanced ideas.” Still others went about transplanting 

“slime” that they believed was killing beetles.

Whatever perils brought about the beetles’ demise, the 

outbreak, which had killed one billion bd ft of pine, waned 

after 1906 and Hopkins set about finding evidence that 

his recommendations were responsible. His final word 

on the matter was to Forest Assistant John Murdock, 

20 December 1910: “There is no trace of doubt in my 

mind that if my recommendation in 1901 and 1902 had 

been promptly adopted and carried out, there would 

have been no further loss of timber from the work of the 

beetles... . The Forest Service should certainly profit by 

this expensive experience.” (Furniss 1997).

Colorado Next in Line

On 12 August 1902, Hopkins received specimens of 

the Black Hills beetle from pine trees near Bailey, CO, 

submitted by State Entomologist C. P. Gillette. This was 

the first authentic record of its existence in Colorado. 

During a special investigation in May, 1903, Hopkins 

found the same species in northwestern New Mexico in 

the vicinity of Vermejo, where it was killing the mature 

pine trees over a large area (Hopkins 1906).

On 14 July 1905, Gillette wrote that a large amount 

of timber was dying in the vicinity of Palmer Lake, 

CO. The specimens sent with his letter proved to be the 

Black Hills beetle. In the meantime, people interested in 

the protection of the forests in the vicinity of Colorado 

Springs had inaugurated a campaign to control the 

beetle. Professor Lawrence Bruner of the University 

of Nebraska was hired to provide technical assistance. 

Under Professor Bruner’s direction, 600 to 800 trees on 

private lands near Glen Eyrie and Colorado Springs were 

felled during August to October, and the bark removed 

and burned to kill the infesting insects.

Hopkins consulted with Pinchot, then investigated 

the situation around the Pikes Peak Reserve 5 to 13 

October 1905. With characteristic detail, he described 

his survey by foot trails, train, wagon, and saddle 

(Hopkins 1905):

“Beginning on the morning of October 5 explorations 

were made as follows: Glen Eyrie trail on mountain 

northward, returning via Douglass Canyon; October 6, 

from Glen Eyrie by way of Colorado City, Bear Creek 

Canyon, High Line road, to Bruin Inn, returning by 

way of North Cheyenne Canyon, Colorado Springs, 

and Palmer Park; October 7, from Glen Eyrie by way 

of Manitou, over Crystal Park trail to Crystal Park, 

returning by the Bear Creek trail, Bear Creek Canyon, 

and Colorado Springs; October 8, from Glen Eyrie, by 

way of Blair Athol, Pike View, Pope Ranch, and Palmer 

Park; October 9, from Colorado Springs by way of 

Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek Railway to Clyde, 

thence by wagon to an altitude of about 10,000 feet, 

returning by same route to Colorado Springs; October 

10, from Colorado Springs by way of the Colorado 

Midland Railroad to Woodland Park, thence by wagon 

to Manitou Park; October 11, by saddle from Manitou 

Park east to Palmer Lake, thence by wagon southeast 

by way of Rusted to Woodland Ranch; October 12, in 

the Colorado pinery on the Arkansas and Platte divide; 

October 13, in the Colorado pinery, returning by way 

of Colorado Springs to Glen Eyrie.”

Additional explorations were made on the 12th and 13th 

by W. D. Edmonston, under Hopkins’ instructions, in the 

vicinity of Palmer Lake. Edmonston was Head Ranger 

of the Pikes Peak Forest Reserve. He was designated 

by Forest Supervisor Clarke as the proper official to 

receive instructions in the identification of the infested 

trees to be felled and barked to kill the principal insect 

enemies. Edmonston was destined to play a prominent 

role in forest entomology as an employee of the USDA 

Bureau of Entomology, Division of Forest Insect Investigations, in Colorado and Arizona.

William Douglas Edmonston

William Douglas Edmonston (1870-1936) (fig. 3) was 

born in Edinburgh, Scotland. A graduate of the School 

of Fine Arts of the University of Edinburgh, he was an 

artist of considerable ability and exhibited some of his 

water colors at the Royal Scottish Academy and at the 

Royal Academy of England. He came to the United States 

in 1890 and settled at Brunston near Larkspur, CO.
 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

In 1901, Edmonston became a ranger on 

what is now the Pike National Forest. From 

5 to 13 October 1905, he made several trips 

in the vicinity of Colorado Springs and 

Palmer Lake with Hopkins to study infestations of the Black Hills beetle. From then on, 

Edmonston spent considerable time cruising bark beetle infestations and conducting 

control operations in the various forests of 

Colorado. Sometime in 1907 or 1908, he was 

assigned to the Bureau of Entomology from 

the Forest Service to work under the direction of Hopkins on the practical application 

of insect control in the national forests of 

Colorado, southern Wyoming, and eastern 

Utah. Edmonston experimented with methods of treating trees infested with the Black 

Hills beetle, including felling the infested 

trees, sawing them into lumber, and burning 

the slabs.

In October 1913, he established the Southern Rocky 

Mountain station at Colorado Springs assisted by Agent 

George Hofer. From 1913 to 1924, Colorado Springs was 

the headquarters of the Southern Rocky Mountain station, but considerable time was spent at Sabino Canyon 

near Tucson. The work in Arizona consisted of collecting specimens and taking biological notes for Hopkins’ 

taxonomic specialists in the various insect groups (for 

example, bark beetles, wood borers, parasitic wasps).

In 1924, Edmonston and Hofer were involved with 

a Black Hills beetle control project on the Kaibab. 

Evidently, things didn’t go well. As F. P. Keen of the 

Berkeley Forest Insect Laboratory (FIL) recounted 

(Maunder 1977):

“I was assigned to the Kaibab control project in 1924 

(fig. 4) because the Forest Service was not satisfied with 

the work that Edmonston and Hofer were doing down 

there, so I was sent down to direct and supervise this 

project. I found out that (they) had no systematic method 

of spotting the bug infested trees, so I set up a systematic spotting of the area... we soon found a number of 

infested trees in gulches that they had missed. Since the 

infested trees were concentrated in large groups (fig. 5), 

I recommended that instead of peeling the bark on individual trees ... they cut and pile the infested trees ... 

Figure 3. William D. Edmonston at Colorado and then burn the whole pile.

Springs, 1927 (Burke 1946).

Figure 4. From left: F. C. Craighead, W. D. Edmonston, 

G. Hofer, and F. P. Keen at Mile-and-a-Half Cabin, Kaibab 

National Forest, AZ, 3 September 1924. Craighead was 

second Chief of Forest Insect Investigations, Washington, 

D.C.; Edmonston and Hofer were stationed in the Rocky 

Mountains. Keen was on a detail from the Palo Alto, CA, 

station to supervise control of a bark beetle outbreak 

(Berkeley Forest Insect Laboratory photo 5548).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

At first the Forest Service didn’t approve of the use 

of fire in this manner because they were afraid that the 

fires would get away. I finally convinced the Service 

that if we burned the piles while there was snow on the 

ground there would be little hazard of the fire escaping. 

So the Supervisor approved. The crews proceeded to 

pile the trees ... but didn’t start burning until we had a 

general snow. Then they ... burned all the piles at once. 

Most of the piles burned up satisfactorily, but fire from 

about six of the piles jumped the line and caused some 

problems. Then the Forest Service people said, ‘Oh, it 

was a disaster.’ They claimed that they could see the 

smoke and flames clear across the canyon and that the 

flames were three hundred feet in the air. They said there 

were three or four hundred acres involved. I doubted 

that, so I went out and mapped in the burned area, and 

found that one area was thirty acres and another was 

forty acres ... . I also found that there was very little 

damage to any of the residual trees.

That was the second year I was there. It was the last 

year we had funds to do anything, but we had cleaned 

up most of the main area of infestation north of Jacob 

Lake. We had one really bad spot where ... practically 

every tree was infested, a tremendous big group. We 

finally decided that we were not going to be able to treat 

all the big groups like this, and we adopted the strategy 

of working on the perimeter somewhat like fighting a 

big forest fire. This method seemed to work and I got 

credit for having stopped the infestation.”

In 1925 and 1926, Edmonston and Hofer assisted M. 

W. Blackman in his experimental work on the Black 

Hills beetle on the Kaibab. The results of this work 

were published by Blackman in Technical Publication 

36 of the New York State College of Forestry titled “The 

Black Hills Beetle.”

In February, 1928, Edmonston was transferred to the 

Pacific Slope Forest Insect Laboratory at Palo Alto, CA, 

where he remained until his retirement for disability on 

Figure 5. In 1924, Paul Keen was dispatched to the Kaibab National Forest, AZ, from the Berkeley Forest Insect Laboratory to 

supervise control of a Black Hills beetle outbreak in which large groups of ponderosa pine were being killed such as is shown 

here. The trees were felled, piled, and burned—a practice that sometimes ignited unwanted fires (Photo FC- 253 by F.P. Keen).
 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

1 August 1932. Edmonston spent most of the time at the 

Palo Alto lab working on insect life history charts and 

drawings of forest and shade tree insects (fig. 6). Many 

of these were used in several bulletins of the Department and in other publications. He died in Tucson 7 

November 1936.

George Hofer 

George Hofer (1863-1944) (fig. 7) 

was selected for permanent appointment as Agent by Edmonston from 

among the woodsmen employed on 

the Northeastern Oregon western 

pine beetle control project (Burke 

and Wickman 1990). He was born in 

Switzerland. Previous to his employment by the Bureau of Entomology, 

he was engaged in mining activities 

around Sumpter, OR.

Edmonston had Hofer with him on 

all of his moves after theNortheastern 

Oregon project terminated in 1911. 

They were together at field stations at 

Klamath Falls and Ashland, OR, Colorado Springs, and 

Tucson. Hofer was promoted from Agent to Entomological Ranger and then to Scientific Aid. He had reached 

the Senior Grade when he was retired for disability in 

October, 1927.

Hofer was a careful worker and much of his time 

was spent collecting and studying the biology of forest 

insects in Colorado and Arizona. Many of the records 

on round-headed borers published by F. C. Craighead, 

and on flatheaded borers published by H. E. Burke, were 

made by Hofer. He published Farmers Bulletin 1154, “The 

Aspen Borer and How to Control It,” and with Craighead, 

Bulletin 1197, “Protection of Mesquite Cordwood and 

Posts from Borers.” Hofer died at his home near Sabino 

Canyon, AZ, on 25 March 1944, at age 80.

Fort Collins 1935 to 1940

A Forest Insect Laboratory (FIL) was established 

in Denver in 1935 with James A. Beal (1898-1985) in 

charge. Noel D. Wygant (1908-1992) joined the staff 

that year. The following account is from the oral history 

interview of Wygant by Larson (1979a) with minimal 

alteration of the transcript. In the summer of 1935, the 

USDA Forest Service established the Rocky Mountain 

Forest and Range Experiment Station on the campus of 

Colorado A & M College at Fort Collins. Dr. Richard 

McArdle was director. He, 

along with Dr. Morrel, 

Dean of the Forestry College, invited the members 

of the FIL to move to the 

campus. The laboratory 

was moved there in late 

summer of 1935. Personnel 

of this period are shown in 

figures 8 and 9.

Wygant’s assignment 

was to work on the insects 

affecting shelterbelts. This 

was a major project developed by a number of foresters interested in trying to 

improve the climate of the 

Great Plains and stop some 

of the wind and dust. He 

Figure 6. A longhorn beetle, Tetropium abietis 

Fall (Coleopters: Cerambycidae), drawn by W. D. 

Edmonston. It appeared as Fig. 66 in Keen (1939).

Figure 7. George Hofer (Burke 1946).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

Figure 9. Personnel of Fort Collins, CO, Forest Insect 

Laboratory, 1939. Front row from left: James A. Beal, 

in charge (later Chief of Forest Insect Investigations, 

Washington, D.C.); Rachel Overing, Sec.; and Donald 

De Leon. Back: Dwight Hester; Calvin L. Massey; Wayne 

Howe; and Noel D. Wygant (later head of the laboratory). 

Photo provided by J. M. Schmid.

Figure 8. Western personnel of Division of Forest Insect Investigations at Pingree Park, CO, 

ca 1937 to 38. Front row from left: F. C. Craighead, Chief, Washington, D.C.; D. De Leon; J. 

A. Beal; C. L. Massey; J. C. Evenden; unknown; and W. Howe. Back row: G. R. Hopping; 

unknown; F. P. Keen; J. M. Miller; and N. D. Wygant. Photo provided by J. M. Schmid.

worked in Nebraska, South Dakota (fig. 10), Oklahoma, 

and Kansas. Prior to 1935, Lynn Baumhaufer, a forest 

entomologist working out of the Coeur d’Alene, ID, FIL, 

spent several summers at Halsey on the Nebraska NF 

studying pine tip moths that were severely damaging 

the pine plantations. The main problem insects were 

borers in cottonwood and ash and foliage-feeders, such 

as grasshoppers and other miscellaneous insects. The 

trees were growing under a great deal of stress and as a 

result, many of the so-called secondary insects, or less 

aggressive insects, killed many of the trees.

During 1935 to 1939, Beal, Baumhaufer, Dwight 

Hester, and John W. “Jack” Whiteside were located in 

Fort Collins. Except for Baumhaufer and Beal, who 

gave part of their time to problems in the Great Plains, 

much of the work was directed toward studies of the 

Black Hills beetle and to technical assistance to the 

Forest Service and other forest landowners experiencing insect problems. At that time, the principal problem 
 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

was the Black Hills beetle. A few defoliators, such as a 

pandora moth and the Great Basin tent caterpillar, were 

also of concern.

Robert L. Furniss (1908 - 1980) moved to Fort Collins 

from the Portland, OR, FIL in spring of 1940, replacing Beal who left to teach at Duke University. The Fort 

Collins staff also included Don De Leon, who replaced 

Baumhaufer who transferred to Beltsville, MD, in 1938. 

However, the Fort Collins Lab was closed only 3 months 

after Furniss arrived. In those few months, Bob set 

about getting acquainted with his new territory, including climbing Rocky Mountain peaks (fig. 11) as he had 

done in the Cascades of Oregon and Washington as a 

Mazama. He also made a field trip to the Dixie NF, UT, 

to examine a mealybug on Engelmann spruce.

The closure of the Fort Collins lab resulted from an 

affront to a Congressman from Vermont. The Bureau of 

Entomology and Plant Quarantine (BE&PQ), of which 

the Division of Forest Insect Investigations (FII) was a 

part, administered the USDA insect control programs, 

including Dutch elm disease and the gypsy moth in 

the northeast. At that time, they were trying to control 

the disease, and as soon as a diseased tree was found, 

it had to be removed under federal and state laws. 

The Congressman had some elm trees removed from 

his property that were diseased and he didn’t want 

them removed. He became very upset that the federal 

bureaucrats had removed these trees and saw to it that 

Dutch elm disease would receive a drastic 

cut in appropriations. Unfortunately, he 

directed his energy in the wrong direction. 

He thought he was trying to curtail the 

funds for Dutch elm disease control when 

in reality it was forest insect research.

Lee Strong, Chief of BE&PQ, told 

Dr. F. C. Craighead, Chief of FII, that he 

had to come up with cuts and where he 

would apply the cuts. Craighead applied 

the cuts percentage-wise across all the 

laboratories, but the pressure from the 

west coast industries was so great against 

cutting the California and Portland labs 

that Strong was told that he couldn’t 

cut those so heavily. At that time, Paul 

Keen at Portland, and John Miller at 

the Berkeley, CA. FIL, had some major 

projects underway on the susceptibility of 

ponderosa pine to attack by the western 

pine beetle. Their programs had a lot of 

industry and forester support. Craighead, in turn, was 

given an edict to cut out one station. They decided that 

it would be the Fort Collins FIL, and it was closed 

1 July 1940. De Leon and Wygant were transferred to 

Berkeley. Bob Furniss returned to Portland.

Figure 11. Robert L. Furniss at Estes Park, CO, after 

his transfer to Fort Collins from Portland, OR, in 1940. 

Photo by Frances Furniss.

Figure 10. Sampling white grubs in soil at a forest tree nursery, Baltic, SD, 

August 7, 1936. Photo FC-227 by N. D. Wygant.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

In 1940 and 1941, insect problems were developing 

in Forest Service Regions 2 and 3 (including Colorado 

and New Mexico). Wygant was sent to New Mexico to 

assess the Great Basin tent caterpillar problem in the 

aspen stands. Thousands of acres were being defoliated 

and fishermen, picnickers, and others were complaining 

because of the vast number of caterpillars.

Fort Collins Lab Reopened—1942

These insect problems resulted in reopening the Fort 

Collins lab on 1 July 1942, with Wygant in charge. Many 

of the younger forest entomologists were in military 

service so staffing was inadequate. Wygant recalled: “ 

I was supposed to attend to all the insect problems in 

New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and 

South Dakota plus the Great Plains. Most of my time 

was spent in examining and evaluating the various 

infestations present at that time.”

Spruce Beetle

In the summer of 1943, a District Ranger on the White 

River NF reported a bark beetle infestation in Englemann 

spruce on the White River Plateau north of Glenwood 

Springs, CO. In September, he and Wygant took a 5-

day trip on horseback and discovered that the infestation extended over 500,000 acres. The bark beetle was 

identified as the Englemann spruce beetle (now called 

the “spruce beetle,” Dendroctonus rufipennis). Calvin 

L. Massey (1914-1984), who had studied entomology at 

Duke University under Beal, was employed to study the 

biology of the beetle on the White River NF. Massey 

discovered that the beetle had a 2-year cycle instead of 

1-year as reported by A. D. Hopkins. Also, George R. 

Struble from the Berkeley FIL was assigned to study 

the biology of the beetle on the Grand Mesa NF, CO, 

where another outbreak was located. He discovered 

that most of the beetles overwinter in their second year 

as adults beneath the bark at the base of the trees. This 

habit has an important bearing on the ability of this 

beetle to survive the cold winters of the sub-alpine zone. 

A comprehensive account of this outbreak is contained 

in Massey and Wygant (1954).

Trap Trees

In retrospect, it was determined that the outbreak on 

the White River NF and elsewhere developed in trees 

blown down by a severe windstorm on 30 June 1939. 

Subsequent studies disclosed that, if there were felled 

logs or windthrown trees available, the beetles preferred 

these trees to standing trees. Thus, interest focused on 

use of trap trees. A trap tree is a green spruce tree that is 

felled just prior to the flight of the beetle. David McComb, 

a summer employee working on his Masters degree, 

and Roy Nagel, who was transferred from Beltsville, 

MD, found that the number of attacks per square foot 

in windthrown or felled trees was approximately 10 

times that on standing trees. Hence, it looked as though 

one trap tree would absorb the population from up to 

10 standing trees.

The beetle flies in June and early July, so trap trees 

must be felled in the previous fall or early spring. They 

were located along roads where they could be hauled to 

a mill where the infested slabs could be burned. Problems resulted in some cases where trap trees were felled 

ahead of the building of roads. By the time the roads 

were built and the timber sale awarded, the beetles had 

already flown from the trap trees. As a result, the trap 

tree method lost its appeal.

Chemical Treatment

Most infested trees were sprayed with orthodichlorobenzene in fuel oil using a method developed at the 

Coeur d’Alene FIL for control of the mountain pine 

beetle. It was used during the 1949 and 1950 control 

campaigns to spray trunks of standing trees to a height of 

about 35 feet. Bob Chism from the BE&PQ, Morristown, 

NJ, was assigned to the laboratory and, with Massey, 

developed a water emulsion spray. Because water was 

available in the forest, this spray eliminated the need 

to transport large quantities of fuel oil to inaccessible 

locations (fig. 12). In 1950 and 1951, an emulsion of 

ethylene dibromide proved to be effective and cheaper 

than orthodichlorobenzene and was used against both 

the spruce beetle and Black Hills beetle (fig. 13).

Tom T. Terrell transferred from the Coeur d’Alene FIL 

to Fort Collins in 1944 to help with the spruce beetle 

survey. Tom had a lot of experience with surveys of the 

mountain pine beetle in Idaho and Montana and was 

the ideal person to spearhead the surveys of the spruce 

beetle. His work involved sampling infested trees on 

the ground and conducting aerial surveys. Later, Amel 

Landgraf, Fred B. Knight (see Appendix A), and seasonal 

employees helped on the aerial surveys. Aerial surveys 

are not useful for early detection of spruce beetle outbreaks because the trees infested by the beetle in July and 

August do not fade until the following spring. Even then 
10 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

the needles tend to drop off before they become the 

characteristically yellowish color that pine trees 

display after being infested with bark beetles. So, 

surveys were mostly done on the ground.

From 1944 to 1951, Terrell and his crews were 

responsible for both the detection of new outbreaks and measuring the mortality of spruce in 

the old outbreaks. By 1949, the mortality from 

the beetle had reached more than 3 billion board 

feet on the White River NF (Wygant and Nelson 

1949). By that time, most of the larger trees were 

killed, so efforts now focused on possibly preventing the flight of the beetles out of that area into 

adjacent national forests. Surveys of the spruce 

beetle were made in the surrounding forests to 

determine where the beetles might have flown. 

The airport at Eagle, CO, was closed for 2 days 

in June because the beetles were so abundant. On 

the White River Plateau, drowned beetles were 

reported to be a foot deep and 8 to 10 feet wide 

for a distance of a mile on the leeward side of

Trappers Lake.

Figure 13. Mel McKnight spraying ethylene di-bromide 

insecticide on a ponderosa pine infested with the 

Black Hills beetle, Lookout Mountain, Golden, CO, 

June 1959 (Fort Collins Forest Insect Laboratory 

photo FC-823 by A. E. Langraf).

Figure 12. Packing orthodichlorobenzene insecticide for 

spraying Engelmann spruce infested with the spruce beetle, 

Arapaho National Forest, CO, August 1950 (Photo WO462737A by L. J. Prater).

Some believed that much of the Englemann 

spruce type in Colorado—which was overmature and highly susceptible—could be lost 

unless control measures were taken. After 

review of the surveys and research results, a 

control project was proposed for the season 

of 1950. There was very much debate. Robert 

Furniss, Paul Keen, and John Miller were 

opposed to this method based on their experience with outbreaks of the western pine beetle 

and the mountain pine beetle in California and 

Oregon. The outcome didn’t warrant the expenditure, so their philosophy carried through to 

the proposed spruce beetle control. On the other 

extreme were some naturalists who said control 

must be achieved at any cost. The issue attracted 

two congressional investigations. Some congressmen flew over the area to view the dead 

spruce, and two members of the Congressional 

Finance Committee reviewed the proposal. The 

project would cost about 2 million dollars—a 

lot of money in 1949. Finally, it was decided 

that a project would be undertaken in 1950.

In 1950, 1 million trees were treated with orthodichlorobenzene or ethylene dibromide. Several large 

camps were setup by the Forest Service on the White 

River, Routt, Holy Cross, and Arapaho NFs (fig. 14) 

for the spring project. The program was carried out 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 11

efficiently; however, surveys that fall indicated that the 

outbreak was by no means under control and an equally 

large or larger project would be necessary in 1951.

That project never came about due to the intervention 

of nature. On 1 February 1951, an all-time low temperature was recorded by mountain weather stations in 

Colorado. For example, the low temperature at Eagle was 

–59° F. It was known from laboratory tests that larvae 

were killed at –32° F and adults died at –12° F. Survey 

crews were sent out on snowcats, snowshoes, and skis to 

collect samples. These samples indicated that 90 percent 

of the beetle population was killed by the freeze. Fewer 

beetles enhanced the effect of woodpeckers, which had 

increased to a very high level, and they further reduced 

the number of beetles that were able to infest trees in 

the summer of 1951.

Freeze Got the Black Hills Beetle, 

too—for a While

The freeze was widespread throughout the Rocky 

Mountains. It also had a pronounced effect on the 

Black Hills beetle, now known as the mountain pine 

beetle (MPB), in the Black Hills of South Dakota and 

on the Front Range of Colorado. Surveys showed that 

approximately 90 percent of the population was killed. 

The concern and need for direct control measures was 

alleviated for several years until the population had a 

chance to build up again. By the mid-1950s, beetles had 

Figure 14. Spruce forest in 

Piney Ridge Basin, Arapaho 

NF, CO, where 50,000 trees, 

infested by the spruce beetle, 

were sprayed with insecticide 

in 1950 (Photo WO-462780 

by L. J. Prater).

built up to epidemic proportion, both in the Black Hills 

and on the Front Range.

As mentioned, Robert Furniss and Paul Keen favored 

selective cutting of high risk or susceptible ponderosa 

pine for management of the western pine beetle. However, 

Keen spent a week with Wilford and Wygant looking at 

infested young stands of ponderosa pine in the northern 

Black Hills. The trees were mostly 60 to 80 years old 

and in overstocked stands. There appeared to be no 

selectivity on the part of the beetles for any specific 

class of tree. Keen agreed that what worked against the 

western pine beetle wouldn’t necessarily be effective 

against the MPB in these stands. In subsequent years, 

J. M. Schmid showed that partial cutting to reduce stand 

density reduced pine mortality caused by the MPB (see 

Appendix B).

For lack of a better method, attention turned to testing 

lindane, a contact insecticide. Massey found that Black 

Hills beetles were killed when allowed to crawl over 

filter papers coated with equivalent of one-twentieth 

of a pound of lindane per acre. A pilot test involving 

100 acres was set up in the Black Hills in cooperation 

with the Beltsville, MD, laboratory. Up to 2 pounds of 

lindane were applied per acre repeatedly for a period of 

2 or 3 days, “The foliage and bark of the trees literally 

glistened with the insecticide.” Inexplicably, there were 

more infested trees in the treated area than in untreated 

areas. A similar case was encountered with DDT against 

the pine tip moth in the Nebraska NF. The DDT was 
12 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

applied the first year at rates of 1 and 2 pounds per acre. 

Excellent results were obtained that year, but repeated 

tests produced no treatment effect.

Spruce Budworm

During the latter part of the spruce beetle episode, 

outbreaks of the western spruce budworm were beginning in southern Colorado, in particular, and in Rocky 

Mountain National Park. DDT was just becoming 

available and the Forest Service requested that some 

experimental test-spraying be done. Leslie W. Orr, from 

the Beltsville laboratory, was assigned to do this study. 

DDT was applied with excellent results from the ground 

in Rocky Mountain NP using a high pressure sprayer. 

However, aerial spraying of 30 acres near Estes Park in 

the following year produced inconclusive results. The 

spray was applied in mid-June, but was followed by a 

freeze that killed the new growth on the Douglas-fir. As 

a result, many of the caterpillars starved to death on the 

sprayed plots as well as on the unsprayed plots. So, the 

effectiveness of spraying couldn’t be measured.

Noel Wygant recalled the following story: “When 

you do aerial spraying, you get up about four o’clock in 

the morning and be out there with your plane loaded 

to take off at daybreak. ... a Denver Post reporter was 

planning to make an account of it and he said, ‘Well, 

boys, I don’t get up at four o’clock so I’ll see you later 

in the day.’ He wrote his story the night before and sent 

it in. It turned out the next morning that the wind was 

too high so we didn’t spray. We weren’t able to spray 

for 3 more days. Coincidentally, the cedar wax wing 

migration was taking place in the city of Loveland. At 

the same time, a severe ice and snow storm occurred 

there, killing many of these birds. An article came out 

in the Denver Post about the effects of DDT spraying 

on the bird life, although Loveland was 30 miles away 

from where we had applied the DDT.”

Fort Collins, Post 1968

Wygant retired in 1968 (he died in Fort Collins on 1 May 

1992 at age 84) and was replaced as Project Leader by 

Robert E. Stevens, who transferred from the Washington 

Office. Stevens cooperated with Frank Hawksworth, a 

mistletoe taxonomist at RM, on studies of insects infesting dwarf mistletoes (Stevens and Hawksworth 1984), 

and with PNW entomologists on defoliating moths and 

MPB-­ponderosa pine interactions (Sartwell and Stevens 

1975). John M. Schmid joined the staff in 1966 after 

three seasons of summer work (see Appendix B). During the period 1959 to 1973, Melvin E. McKnight also 

worked for RM, stationed initially at Fort Collins and 

later as Project Leader at Bottineau, ND (see Appendix 

C). William F. McCambridge (1923-2007) worked at Fort 

Collins during two periods: 1948 to 1952 and 1962 to 

1981. Among his accomplishments was the development 

of a spray to prevent infestation of ponderosa pine by 

the mountain pine beetle (fig. 15) (McCambridge 1982). 

Stephen A. Mata assisted McKnight, McCambridge, and 

Schmid in their studies throughout his exceptional career 

as a technician beginning in 1964 (see Appendix D). 

Personnel of the Fort Collins forest insect research 

project in 1973 are shown in figure 16.

Figure 15. An emulsified spray was developed by Bill 

McCambridge to protect individual ponderosa pine from 

attack by the mountain pine beetle in recreational areas 

of the Black Hills, SD, and Colorado (McCambridge 

1982). Photo provided by S. A. Mata.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 13

Albuquerque Laboratory 

Established in 1952

Jack W. Bongberg (1911-1976) was transferred from 

the Berkeley FIL to Albuquerque, NM, to establish a 

forest insect and disease laboratory effective 1 September 1952. The area served was Arizona and New 

Mexico. He transferred to Washington, D.C. in 1955. 

Calvin L. Massey (1914-1984) replaced Bongberg and 

remained in Albuquerque until his retirement in 1972. 

William F. McCambridge worked in Albuquerque from 

1958 to 1960, assigned to study the piñon needle scale, 

Matsucoccus acalypyus Herbert, in Mesa Verde and 

Grand Canyon National Parks (McCambridge 1974). 

McCambridge had transferred to Albuquerque after 

being the first forest entomologist assigned to Alaska 

(1952 to 1957). R. K. Bennett was in Albuquerque with 

Bongberg, and M. J. Stelzer and J. F. Chansler were 

there with Massey in 1962 on a project titled: “Biology, 

Ecology, and Control of Bark Beetles and Defoliators 

in the Southwest” (Price 1976). Dan Jennings was in 

Albuquerque intermittently and in various capacities 

from 1960 until the lab closed in 1976 (See Appendix E). 

He then transferred to Maine to work on the eastern 

spruce budworm.

Calvin L. Massey

Cal Massey was born in Denver, 20 November 1914 

(Larson 1979b). His interest in entomology came about 

indirectly. He suffered a broken neck in high school 

football and because of it, he received a scholarship to 

Colorado A&M College from the State Rehabilitation 

Service. There, he took instruction from several inspirational teachers (“Miss Palmer,” an aphid specialist; 

“Dr. List, who was an excellent entomologist”; and “John 

Hoerner, who was probably more interested in students 

than any man that I have known.”). While he was a student at Colorado A & M, worked during one summer 

for the Fort Collins lab in the Black Hills on a study 

of Black Hills beetle seasonal history. During another 

summer, he assisted with studies of the pandora moth on 

the Arapaho NF and the cottonwood borer on the Shelter 

Belt Project. In 1939, he enrolled at Duke University and 

received a MA (pandora moth life history) and a Ph.D. 

(1943) on bark beetles of North Carolina. In 1944, he 

was employed by Noel Wygant at the Fort Collins lab 

to study the Engelmann spruce beetle.

Massey became interested in nematodes that he 

found infesting the spruce beetle (Massey 1956). He 

contacted Gerald Thorne, a retired nematologist, formerly with Agricultural Research Service, then living 

in Salt Lake City. Through Thorne’s tutelage, Massey 

went on to describe many bark beetle nematodes. I 

am aware that some conflict developed regarding the 

Thorne-Massey concepts and those of their counter-parts 

at the University of California, Berkeley. But that seems 

universal in matters as subjective as the classification 

of organisms.

I became interested in parasitic nematodes in 1956 

while studying the Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus 

pseudotsuge Hopkins, at Boise (INT). This led to communicating with Massey to learn his procedure for mounting and preserving such nematodes on glass slides for 

identification. With his help, five species of nematodes 

were identified from this beetle (Furniss 1967).

In 1961, I went to Albuquerque to receive training in 

nematode identification. Prior to my arrival, Massey 

had not made any preparations, merely spread out some 

slides and reprints, and then left. While he was gone, 

I had difficulty focusing the microscope and sought to 

adjust it. Then, I looked at his type slides and drawings and could not see some illustrated features on the 

slides. So, when he returned, I made it known that I had 

adjusted the microscope, but he didn’t like that I had 

Figure 16. Personnel of Forest Insect Research at 

Fort Collins, CO, 1973. Front, left to right: Gladys 

Turner and Esther Hanson (clerical staff); Standing: 

John Schmid (Entomologist), Jim Mitchell (Technician), 

Steve Mata (Technician), Robert E. Stevens (Project 

Leader), and William F. McCambridge (Entomologist). 

Photo provided by R. E. Stevens.
14 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

tampered with it. He suggested that I wasn’t able to see 

some of the features so clear in the drawings because I 

didn’t have as much experience as he did. I was left to 

presume that his published drawings must represent a 

composite of slides, each of which showed better some 

features than others.

While I was there, I learned why a nematode from my 

Douglas-fir beetle study had been identified by Massey 

only to genus (Parasitaphelenchus sp.). He explained 

that only the larval (immature) stage occurs in the 

beetle’s body cavity, whereas the mature stage, which 

occurs in the frass of the beetle’s gallery, is needed 

for specific identification. So, when I returned home, 

I put frass in a Berlese funnel and got adults, which 

Massey later described as P. beccus Massey (Massey 

1974) although he omitted the type locality (Moscow 

Mountain, Latah County, ID). His publication (Massey 

1974) is a valuable resource, not likely to be supplanted 

in the foreseeable future.

Throughout the 30 years since Massey retired, the 

whereabouts of his nematode slide collection (including 

holotypes from which he described new species) was 

unknown. During preparation of this manuscript in April 

2006, I made a last effort to locate them. Through extraordinary luck, I learned that the collection was discovered 

in 2001 in a closet in deteriorating condition and is now 

at the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, W 

529 Nebraska Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

The collection consists of 1,800 slides including 134 

holotypes. It is unknown why slides of such immense 

scientific importance were not deposited in the U.S. 

National Collection or other suitable repository.

Northern Rocky Mountains

Josef Brunner

Josef Brunner (fig. 17) came to Montana from Bavaria 

in 1898 to hunt big game and write outdoor articles. 

His book, “Tracks and Tracking,” was published for 

the Boy Scouts (Brunner 1909). While hunting in the 

Little Snowy Mountains, he noticed extensive killing of 

lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta Douglas, by bark beetles 

and wrote (2 January 1909) to Chief Forester Gifford 

Pinchot in Washington, D.C., wanting to know “... the 

name of the little bug which makes the inner bark of 

freshly fallen trees (pine, spruce, fir) its primary breeding place and then attacks en masse nearby standing 

green trees? ... the name is wanted for use in a magazine 

article into which I do not wish any mistake to find its 

way.” The letter was forwarded to Hopkins. The two men 

corresponded further and Brunner’s interest in forest 

insects led Hopkins to hire him on 1 July 1909 as Agent 

and Expert at $1,200 per annum (Furniss 2003).

An experience that shaped Brunner’s studies and 

related them to fire was detailed in his letter to Hopkins, 8 October 1913: “I returned yesterday from the 

trip up the Clearwater River. I was only two days off 

hunting as I found so much of interest in the forest 

insect line up there that hunting became a matter of 

less consequence to me.” Near Rainy Lake, he found 

thousands of lodgepole pine trees infested with larvae 

of a pitch moth, Vespamima sequoiae. Their feeding 

injury to the inner bark caused up to 5 pounds of pitch 

to be exuded from a single tree. Brunner believed that 

the highly flammable pitch intensified forest fires. This 

belief, and his subsequent studies of pitch moths (Brunner 

1914, 1915), fueled his ongoing conflict with the Forest 

Service regarding the relationships and importance of 

insects versus wildfires. On 29 January 1916, he wrote 

to Hopkins: “I am getting toward the end with the paper 

on Fire and Insects ...” Hopkins mentioned that the 

paper would have to be reviewed by the Forest Service. 

Brunner got excited (17 October 1916) at the mention of 

the Forest Service and wanted assurance that he would 

see their criticism. If too critical, he vowed to add some 

scandalous stuff about a tie sale in the Clinton area 

that was struck from the original manuscript. “This is 

the clearest case of ‘Raubwirthshaft’ (plundering) and 

Figure 17. Josef Brunner (left) and Jack L. Webb on a 

field trip in Montana during July, 1910 (Burke 1946).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 15

worse than any practiced by the so-called ‘timer (timber) 

wolves,’ which came under my observation. If they do 

not like it now the only way to bring them to reason is 

to bring out the truth unvarnished and let them answer 

publicly for their plunders.” The paper was never published, however, due to a growing rift between him and 

Hopkins that resulted in Brunner leaving the Service in 

June 1917 (Furniss 2003).

Postscript: In 1950, when I was hired, older personnel 

of the Division of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of 

Entomology and Plant Quarantine, still sought to show 

that insects caused greater loss of trees than did forest 

fires. In an ironic twist of fate, FII was abolished in 1953 

and its personnel, including me, were transferred to the 

Forest Service. However, by then forest entomology was 

taking new directions and the issue died on its own.

James C. Evenden

On 30 June 1914, Brunner wrote to Hopkins that 

James C. Evenden (fig. 18) was on the Civil Service list of 

persons who passed the test for the Entomological Ranger 

position. Brunner commented (6 July 1914): “If Evenden... 

takes the place of Fleming (who resigned) I hope he is city 

broke and does not make a fool of himself when he gets 

into town after being out in camp, like they all seem to do” 

(Furniss 2003).

Evenden was appointed Entomological Ranger at 

$900 per annum on 1 October or as soon as he could 

terminate his employment with the Forest Service on 

the Mount Hood District, OR, and report to Brunner. 

Again, Brunner casts his doubts (3 August 1914): “After 

Oct. 1th, Mr. Evenden, if not hardened in to outdoor life, 

will find camping rather disagreeable and I should not 

be surprised, if he did not leave us in the lurch again 

when the rigor of our winters become full blown. I hope 

he will pan out o.k. but I expect to hear a lot of kicking 

never the less on account of unpleasant weather conditions, if he is a greenhorn in the woods. Well, we will 

see” (Furniss 2003).

Evenden arrived in Missoula, MT, on 6 October 1914 

and got instructions from Brunner to proceed to Potomac, 

MT, near what was to be Evenden’s winter camp. Arriving 

at the so-called winter camp 2 days later, Evenden was 

dismayed to find: “... that the camp consisted of a 7 x 

9-ft tent, some bedding rolled up in one corner, a fire ring 

of stones out in front with a frying pan and a few other 

cooking utensils, but no food to cook” (Larson 1979c). 

He retreated to the community of Potomac, MT, for the 

night and on the next day “rustled some old lumber, an 

old cooking stove with no legs, and a heating stove and 

returned to camp.” Most of the items were given to him 

by townspeople. He thought he would have returned 

home if train fare was available, however, in a few 

days he and Entomological Ranger Albert Wagner had 

set up a rather comfortable camp with separate tents 

for cooking and sleeping. On 24 October 1914, Brunner wrote Hopkins: “Have just returned from a trip to 

Wagner’s and Evenden’s camp ... Evenden appears to 

be promising material and my fear that he might be 

rather a drag than a help in camp, I am glad to state, is 

entirely demolished” (Furniss 2003).

Evenden enlisted in the Army in May 1917 and served 

in Europe as a First Lieutenant and Captain in the 

363rd Infantry, 91st Division, from August 1917 to June 

1919. He was re-instated 15 June 1919 at Coeur d’Alene 

(fig. 19), and remained there throughout his career, retiring 31 December 1954.

Figure 18. James C. Evenden at a mountain pine 

beetle control camp, Big Hole Basin, MT, 1927 

(Coeur d’Alene Forest Insect Laboratory Photo 352).
16 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

Coeur d’Alene Forest Insect 

Laboratory 1919 to 1954

Henry J. Rust

Henry J. Rust (1878-1948) was the first person hired by 

Evenden (in 1921). Henry (fig. 20) was a keen observer, 

patient with detail, and a skilled photographer. He 

personally reared all insect material collected by him 

Figure 20. Henry J. Rust. Photo provided by Barry Rust.

and others at the lab and kept detailed records, catalogs, and reports of the results, which were studies in 

themselves. Although he was not college-trained, he 

was assigned because of his abilities to study the biology of the pine engraver beetle and the role of predators in controlling the mountain pine beetle. He was 

deeply interested in mammals and birds and included 

their influence as predators in the latter study. He 

published on the mammals of Idaho (Rust 1946) and 

on his extraordinary study of the Pacific nighthawk 

on Tubbs Hill near Coeur d’Alene (Rust 1947).

Tom T. Terrell

Tom T. Terrell (1904-1985) was next to be hired. 

Terrell, a high school graduate, was launched unwittingly 

into a career in forest entomology in 1926 at age 22. 

He was reporting to work as a fire guard for the Forest 

Service in Montana when, “At Wisdom (Montana), I got 

on the wrong FS truck and ended up at a bark beetle 

control camp where I met Jim Evenden. Jim thought 

that I might be a good spotter (locating infested trees 

to be treated).”

In 1930, Terrell (fig. 21) made the first aerial survey of 

forest insect damage in the northern Rocky Mountains:

“The first flight of the survey could not be called 

auspicious; it was to be over Yellowstone National 

Park (YNP) from a field at Livingston, Montana. I had 

maps of the Park but nothing for the 65 miles between 

Livingston and the Park. The pilot had a railroad folder 

that showed a line going straight south to the Park. 

Away we went and got lost in the Absaroka Mountains 

where we were caught in a violent rainstorm. The plane 

was a small open-cockpit biplane, the pilot in the rear 

and me up front. The engine went quiet! Then loud 

pounding behind me! I was about to dive over the side 

and pull the ripcord when I discovered that the pilot 

was pounding on the plane to get my attention. He got 

it. He wanted to know if I didn’t think we ought to go 

back? He had cut the engine so he could talk to me. 

I most certainly agreed with him. I was scared stiff. 

We made it back to the field where Jim Evenden was 

waiting. By that time the storm was real bad. The pilot 

taxied the plane up to the fence where we jumped out 

and with the help of Jim hung onto the plane and the 

fence to keep the plane on the ground until the storm 

let up. The pilot was Nick Mammer who later became 

a famous aviator in the region and one of the first mail 

and airline pilots in our area” (Terrell 1977).

Throughout the years, Terrell was involved in numerous other surveys, both on the ground and in the air, 

and in various control projects in YNP and adjacent 

national forests.

Figure 19. Evenden in front of building in which the 

Coeur d’Alene, ID, Forest Insect Field Station was 

located from 1919 to 1923 (Coeur d’Alene Forest 

Insect Laboratory Photo 92).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 17

Reginald E. Balch

Reginald E. Balch (1894-1994) was another early 

employee at the Coeur d’Alene lab. He was born in 

England and immigrated to Canada at age 19. Following 

service during World War I and graduation from Syracuse 

University, he worked from 1928 to 1929 as a Forest 

Entomologist with the Coeur d’Alene lab. Thereafter he 

moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, becoming Officer-in-Charge of the Forest Biology Laboratory 

where he attracted much acclaim for his work. Relevant 

here, he worked during 1929 in southwestern YNP at 

Bechler River Ranger Station studying competently, 

and in great detail, a budworm on lodgepole pine. He 

concluded (Balch 1930) that it must be a variety of the 

eastern spruce budworm, Cacoecia fumiferana var 

lambertiana Busck, but known now as a distinct species, the sugar pine tortrix, Choristoneura lambertiana

(Busck), infesting pines in much of the west.

During that single season, he described the insect’s life 

stages, life history and habits, natural control (parasites, 

predators); explored a method of representatively sampling 

the insect in trees; mapped the extent of the infestation; 

and determined the impact of defoliation on annual radial 

growth and mortality of infested trees. Although this insect 

was studied later (McGregor 1970), there is no reference in 

literature to Balch’s outstanding and historically important 

study. Balch transferred to Fredericton, New Brunswick, 

Canada, soon afterward and other matters may have kept 

him from publishing this work.

Various other entomologists worked at the Coeur d’Alene 

lab during its existence (Larsen 1979c). Their work 

involved the biology and natural enemies (parasites and 

predators) of the mountain pine beetle (Donald De Leon); 

biology of the Douglas-fir beetle (William D. Bedard, Sr.); 

methods of controlling bark beetles (fig. 22), including 

toxic sprays (Archie L. Gibson); biology of the western 

spruce budworm; and surveys of insect infestations.

Figure 22. The mountain pine beetle was a major cause 

of white pine mortality in Idaho and various methods 

were developed in attempts to control it. One such 

method involved peeling bark while the broods were 

immature as shown here on the Coeur d’Alene National 

Forest ca 1930 (Coeur d’Alene Forest Insect Laboratory 

photo 488 by H. J. Rust).

Figure 21. Tom Terrell and the 

airplane he flew on the first aerial 

survey of forest insect damage 

in the northern Rocky Mountains 

in 1930 (Western Forest Insect 

Work Conference archives, 

unnumbered photo).
18 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

(fig. 23 A). Central used a fleet of eight smaller, singleengine aircraft: Stearman biplanes, and Stinson, Fairchild, 

and Travelair monoplanes. The project was completed on 

2 July. In the course of spraying, three of Central’s aircraft 

crashed: a Travelair ground-looped while landing, another 

Travelair crashed because of engine failure, and a Stearman 

was caught in a downdraft at the head of a canyon (fig.23 

B). The pilots were only slightly injured.

Looking back on the project, its importance went 

beyond its borders. Coincidentally, the western spruce 

budworm had begun to infest vast areas of forests in 

Figure 23. A. Ford Tri-motor spraying DDT to control the 

Douglas-fir tussock moth in Latah County, ID, 1947. B. A 

crashed Stearman, one of three such accidents during this 

project. The project was the largest in the west at the time 

(Coeur d’Alene FIL photos by P. C. Johnson).

Throughout the existence of the Coeur d’Alene lab, 

results of all phases of work whether it be surveys, control supervision, or research were reported annually in 

typed reports. Usually nine copies were typed, consisting 

of the original and eight carbon copies. These reports 

were sent to whomever the subject of the report directly 

applied—Yellowstone NP, ranger districts, western labs 

such at Berkeley and Portland, Regional offices of the 

Forest Service, and the Washington Office. A total of 

548 reports, mostly from the Coeur d’Alene and Missoula 

laboratories (during 1915 to 1958), were listed by Robert 

Denton (Denton 1959). Denton’s mimeographed bibliography is deposited in the Special Collections Library, 

University of Idaho. Actual copies of the reports 

are scattered somewhat; most are presently in 

the Forest Service Region 1 office in the Federal Building, Missoula. Some of the reports 

pertaining to Yellowstone NP are in the archives 

at Mammoth Headquarters, WY.

Douglas-fir Tussock Moth

In May 1947, an armada of assorted aircraft 

took aloft in northern Idaho to control an 

outbreak of the Douglas-fir tussock moth that 

threatened to defoliate 400,000 acres of forest 

centered in Latah County. It was the largest 

aerial spraying project undertaken in western 

forests up to that time. Its successful outcome 

led to still larger projects involving another 

defoliator, the western spruce budworm, in 

vast areas of the northwestern US. This project 

also set a precedent for federal and state costsharing of forest insect control on private land 

(Furniss 2004).

Evenden was in charge of entomological 

aspects, assisted by Phillip C. Johnson who had 

transferred to Coeur d’Alene from the Berkeley 

FIL. No precedent existed for such large scale 

spraying of western forests. However, a spray 

consisting of 1 pound of DDT in 1 gallon of 

oil per acre had been used against the gypsy 

moth in the eastern US and was chosen for this 

project. Likewise, no contracts for such flying 

had been issued. Twenty-seven invitations to bid 

were sent to flying firms. Five responded.

Successful contractors were Johnson Flying 

Service, Missoula, MT, and Central Aircraft, 

Inc., Yakima, WA. Johnson’s aircraft consisted of 

a Douglas DC-3 and two vintage FordTri-motors 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 19

Oregon and Washington. The apparent success of the 

Idaho tussock moth control project was monitored by 

counterparts in Oregon who tested the spray successfully against the budworm in 1948. Thereafter, 9 million acres were sprayed from 1949 to 1958, mostly in 

Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, but also Montana and the 

northern portion of Yellowstone National Park (Furniss 

and Renkin 2003). Spraying of the budworm included 

1 million acres of the Boise NF and four surrounding 

national forests in 1955 — still the largest such project 

involving defoliators of Idaho forests. DDT was banned 

in the US in 1972, after which other insecticides were 

tested (including development of a formulation consisting of the tussock moth virus). However, spraying 

has generally diminished, in part because of a better 

understanding of the dynamics of these defoliators 

and forest composition, and development of preventive 

management practices.

Disbandment of Bureau 

of Entomology and Plant 

Quarantine—1953

In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed ex-President 

Herbert Hoover to a head a commission to improve 

economy in government by reorganizing the Executive 

Departments. As a result, the Bureau of Entomology and 

Plant Quarantine was abolished in December 1953 and 

personnel of the Division of Forest Insect Investigations 

were transferred to the various Forest Service Experiment Stations. Those at Coeur d’Alene went to the NRM 

Station; those at Ogden went to INT; and those at Fort 

Collins went to the RM Station.

After the Bureau disbanded, Orr went to the SO Station at New Orleans in 1954 and Evenden (at Coeur 

d’Alene) was briefly FIR Division Chief for the expanded INT (after NRM was combined). He retired on 

31 December 1954 and the Coeur d’Alene lab and its personnel (fig. 24) were transferred to Missoula on 31 January 

1955. Evenden was replaced by Donald E. Parker, who 

transferred from the Washington Office. Parker retired 

in 1966 and Division Chiefs were replaced with Assistant 

Directors, and Project Leaders came into being. The AD 

involved with Forest Insect Research was Charles A. 

(Chuck) Wellner who had been a Silviculturist. Suddenly, 

Research Entomologists no longer had a line of Entomologists in the administrative chain to Washington. Wellner, 

however, had worked in the northern Rocky Mountains 

throughout his career and that, plus his level-handed 

administrative style, gained the respect of the FIR staff. 

That ended with his retirement.

Missoula Forest Insect Laboratory

When Evenden retired in December 1954, the 

Coeur d’Alene lab was closed, and its personnel were 

moved to a new Forest Insect Laboratory at Missoula. At 

this time, personnel included Phillip C. Johnson (Leader 

succeeding Evenden), Tom Terrell, Archie Gibson, 

Robert E. Denton, and Galen C. Trostle. Scott Tunnock 

and David G. Fellin joined them subsequently. Their 

activities continued to involve the traditional mission of the former Bureau: research, surveys of insect 

damage, and technical supervision of control projects 

on federal and other forest ownerships. However, the 

responsibility for surveys and control supervision was 

transferred to the respective Forest Service Regions on 

1 July 1961. Johnson, Denton, and Fellin continued with 

INT at Missoula, Gibson retired, and the others went to 

Region 1. Richard F. Schmitz joined the staff ca 1958 

after graduating from Oregon State University where 

he had been a classmate of Fellin.

Figure 24. Staff of the Coeur d’Alene FIL and Washington 

Office visitors on a field trip in the Coeur d’Alene National 

Forest, ID. Front from left: Archie Gibson, James A. Beal, 

James C. Evenden, and Phillip C. Johnson. Standing: 

Harvey J. MacAloney, Robert E. Denton, Galen C. Trostle, 

and Tom T. Terrell (Coeur d’Alene FIL photo by P. C. 

Johnson).
20 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

After the survey and control functions were transferred 

to Region 1 (along with Terrell and Tunnock), research 

mainly involved the western spruce budworm (Fellin), 

pine engraver beetle (Schmitz), and regeneration insects 

(Fellin). By his nature, Johnson leaned toward administration, but delved superficially into the budworm and bark 

beetles. His forte was to accompany and entertain official 

visitors on field trips. He could recount, in entertaining 

fashion, the history of whatever subject came to view 

or mind, whether it be some historical town in the Bitterroot Valley, or some insect outbreak or related study 

in progress. He was a particularly good photographer, 

always using a 4 x 5 camera on a tripod and processing 

and enlarging his film and prints. He faithfully took group 

pictures of staff meetings and of visitors, several of which 

are included in this account. His hobby involved trains 

and he would travel to a commanding place along the 

Northern Pacific R.R. to photograph a particular train, 

the schedule of which he knew to the minute. Visitors to 

his residence were certain to be taken to the basement 

where he donned a train engineer’s hat and operated an 

elaborate model railroad that duplicated the real thing, 

including sound effects.

Larch Casebearer

The larch casebearer is native to Eurasia and known 

to have been accidentally introduced into Massachusetts 

by 1886. It was discovered in the western US in 1957 by 

Fellin and Schmitz near St. Maries, ID (Denton 1958). 

They were driving from Oregon State University to 

Missoula for summer employment with the Forest Insect 

Laboratory. On the downgrade south of town, Schmitz 

asked Fellin what was causing the fade (discoloration) 

of the western larch foliage. Fellin, who has difficulty 

perceiving faded foliage, said he didn’t see anything 

wrong. However, they stopped and collected some foliage 

that had abundant case-bearing caterpillars feeding on 

the needles. They presented their find to Johnson, who 

referred to eastern US literature on larch defoliators and 

thereby identified the insect.

Bob Denton, who had begun study of the larch casebearer on western larch in 1957 while stationed at Missoula, continued with that assignment after his transfer to 

Moscow. His studies mainly involved use of introduced 

parasitic wasps, but also included testing non-persistent 

insecticides. In 1967, he and other members of the 

Moscow staff documented a nearly total collapse of the 

needle-mining stage of the casebearer due to extreme 

Figure 25. Personnel of INT Division of Forest Insect 

Research at staff meeting, Missoula, MT, May 3 to 5, 1985. 

Front row from left: Walter E. Cole, Donald E. Parker, Charles 

A. Wellner, and David G. Fellin. Back row: Phillip C. Johnson, 

Richard I. Washburn, Malcolm M. Furniss, Robert E. Denton, 

and Richard F. Schmitz (Photo #1955 by P. C. Johnson).

hot, dry weather, which desiccated needles containing 

the fragile young larvae. Aided by this decimation of the 

population, the various introduced and native parasites 

gained control and have maintained the casebearer to 

where it may now be thought of as “naturalized.” Even if 

present, it can only be found by careful scrutiny. I recall 

Don Parker, who had experience with the casebearer in 

the eastern US, saying at the start that: “Give it 20 years 

and it will become naturalized” (under natural control). 

He missed it by only 10 years too long.

More Reorganization

Unlike the casebearer, ideas for reorganization of forest 

insect research never subside. In 1961, Forest Service 

Research was reorganized and the designation “Forest 

Insect Laboratory” was discontinued and replaced by 

the “Division of Forest Insect Research” headed by a 

Division Chief (Donald E. Parker at Ogden) and Research 

Work Units headed by a Project Leader (Johnson at 

Missoula). The combined forest insect research personnel at this time are shown in figure 25. Eventually, 

personnel in disciplines such as forest entomology were 

absorbed into multi-disciplinary research work units and 

ecosystem units. As personnel at Missoula gradually 

retired or transferred, only Fellin remained (assigned 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 21

Boise

In 1953, defoliator outbreaks in southern Idaho—coupled with dissolution of BE&PQ and transfer of its FII 

personnel to the Forest Service and the consolidation of 

NRM with INT—led to lasting changes in forest entomology at INT. Igniting this change was an outbreak of 

the pine butterfly in the extensive ponderosa pine stands 

centered on the Boise NF. In 1954, 169,000 acres were 

sprayed with DDT under Orr’s supervision. This episode, 

and perhaps consolidation of NRM and INT, elevated 

entomology into prominence in this area. Additional 

entomologists were added to the Ogden staff; Walter 

E. Cole, a recent graduate of Colorado State College, 

was hired and I transferred from the California Forest 

and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, in October 

1954.

Also at this time, a vast outbreak of the western spruce 

budworm occurred on 1 million acres on the Boise NF 

and four surrounding national forests. Plans were afoot 

to spray the infestation with DDT. To address these and 

other insect-related forest management problems, Cole 

and I were transferred in May 1955 from Ogden to the 

Boise Research Center on Myrtle Street in Boise, ID. 

I became the entomologist in charge of the subsequent 

1-million acre control project (Furniss 1957), during 

which I occupied a residence at the administrative site 

of the Boise Basin Experimental Forest at Idaho City.

In 1956, I was assigned to research on the Douglas-fir 

beetle and chose a study area on the South Fork of the 

Salmon River on the Krassel Ranger District, Payette 

NF. From then until 1963, my family and I spent entire 

summers in a building constructed by the CCC in the 

1930s (fig. 27). The facility had no electricity or phone. 

My wife, Irene, cooked on a wood stove that also heated 

water by means of a water pipe leading into the firebox. 

A wringer washing machine was rigged to operate by 

a gasoline Briggs & Stratton 4-stroke gasoline engine. 

Coleman lanterns fueled with white gas provided light. 

Refrigeration was provided by a Servel (kerosene burner) 

refrigerator.

Other personnel at Boise Research Center included 

Robert Ferguson in range research and Joe Basile, a 

wildlife biologist assigned there by the Idaho Department 

of Fish and Game. They were trying to determine why 

bitterbrush was dying or not regenerating on deer winter 

range in the Payette and Boise River drainages. At a coffee break, I chided them about not including insects in 

their investigation. I was challenged to participate and, 

indeed, a stink bug was subsequently found to feed on 

to a Silviculture RWU). He retired 3 January 1986, thus 

becoming the last USDA Research Forest Entomologist stationed in the northern Rocky Mountains since 

Brunner’s appointment in 1909.

Ogden

At various times, INT was within the scope of laboratories at Coeur d’Alene and Fort Collins. However, 

the area encompassed by the Intermountain Station 

prior to consolidation with NRM received relatively 

little attention by Forest Entomologists. Possibly the 

long traveling distance, perceived lesser importance of 

the forest resource, and perhaps, less diversity and less 

severity of forest insect problems, may have accounted for 

such lack of visitation by Entomologists. This began to 

change in July 1949 when Leslie W. Orr was transferred 

to Ogden from the Washington Office of the BE&PQ 

Division of Forest Insect Investigations. His address was 

USDA Forest Insect Laboratory, Box 731, Post Office 

Building. The area assigned to this laboratory coincided 

with that of the INT, including southern Idaho. He was 

joined soon thereafter by Richard I. Washburn, who had 

recently graduated from Colorado State College (now 

University). Washburn was assigned to activities on the 

Dixie NF in southern Utah involving the Black Hills 

beetle in ponderosa pine (fig. 26).

Figure 26. Left to right: J. C. Evenden, L. W. Orr, and R. I. 

Washburn examining a ponderosa pine infested with Black 

Hills beetle, Dixie National Forest, UT, 1954. Author photo.
22 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

bitterbrush seed in the juice stage, drastically lowering its viability (Ferguson and others 1963, Basile and 

others 1964). Eventually, shrub entomology was made 

a part of my assigned research and I studied insects on 

five genera of shrubs in the Northwest. I continued this 

work on willows in Alaska after retirement, sponsored 

by Forest Service Region 10, Anchorage.

Cole was assigned to study the western spruce budworm at Boise until transferring back to Ogden to study 

the mountain pine beetle. He retired there in 1984 and 

Gene Amman became Project Leader. After Amman 

retired in 1993, the mountain pine beetle project was 

relocated to Logan, UT, with Jesse Logan and Barbara 

Bentz as successive project leaders.

Moscow Forestry Sciences 

Laboratory 1963 To 1982

In May, 1963, I transferred to the newly built Forestry 

Sciences Laboratory at Moscow, ID, and enrolled in a 

graduate study in entomology at University of Idaho 

under the Government Employees Training Act. For my 

thesis, I studied the bionomics of a geometrid (looper) 

defoliator of mountain mahogany on Juniper Mountain, 

Owyhee County. My major Professor was William F. 

Barr who, besides being a prominent beetle taxonomist, 

studied insects of semi-arid-land shrubs. Association 

with Barr was partly responsible for my interest in 

insects offorest-related shrubs important to wildlife and 

I continued to study them long after retirement.

In 1969, Johnson (at Missoula) retired and a new 

research work unit, Insects of Northern Rocky Mountain Forest Trees and Wildland Shrubs was established 

at Moscow. I became Project Leader. Scientific staff 

consisted of Washburn (spruce budworm), Denton (larch 

casebearer), and Schmitz (pine engraver beetle).

From 1970 to 1982, I field tested various bark beetle 

pheromones and discovered the anti-aggregative effect 

of methylcyclohexenone (MCH) produced by Douglasfir beetles after mating (Furniss and others 1972). It had 

been thought by its discoverer, Julius Rudinsky of Oregon 

State University, to be an attractant. I then conducted a 

cooperative 10-year research and development project that 

resulted in a controlled-release formulation (patented) of 

this pheromone (Furniss and others 1977) and the technology for applying it by helicopter (fig. 28) to prevent 

populations of beetles from developing in storm-damaged 

trees where they generate outbreaks (Furniss and others 

1981). Region 1 personnel conducted a pilot test of the 

method in 1982 (McGregor and others 1984). Use of MCH 

was registered by the EPA in 1999. During the 1970s, 

other entomologists at Moscow retired (Washburn and 

Denton) or transferred (Schmitz to Ogden). I retired in 

April 1982, ending the continuous residence in Idaho of 

a USDA Research Forest Entomologist since Evenden 

moved to Coeur d’Alene in the second decade of that 

century.

Figure 27. Field quarters 

for the author’s study of 

the Douglas-fir beetle from 

1956 to 1963 at Camp 

Creek on the South Fork 

of the Salmon River, ID. 

Author photo.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 23

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Figure 28. A. Helicopter applying a controlled-release 

formulation of the Douglas-fir beetle anti-aggregative 

pheromone, methylcyclohexanone (MCH). B. Inert dimerpolyamine beads containing 2 percent MCH that is eluted 

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24 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

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Price, R. 1976. History of Forest Service research in the central and 

southern Rocky Mountain Regions 1908-1975. USDA For. Serv. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-27. Fort Collins, CO.

Rust, H. J. 1946. Mammals of Northern Idaho. Jour. Mammalogy 

27(4):308-327.

Rust, H. J. 1947. Migration and nesting of nighthawks in northern 

Idaho. The Condor 49(5):177-188.

Sartwell, C., and R. E. Stevens. 1975. Mountain pine beetle in 

ponderosa pine: prospects for silvicultural control in second-growth 

stands. J. For. 73:136-140.

Schmid, J. M., and Frye, R. H. 1977. Spruce beetle in the Rockies. 

USDA For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Report RM-49. Fort Collins, CO.

Schmid, J. M., and Bennett, D. D. 1988. The North Kaibab pandora 

moth outbreak, 1978-1984. USDA For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Report 

RM-153. Fort Collins, CO.

Schmid, J. M., and Mata, S. A. 1992. Stand density and mountain 

pine beetle-caused tree mortality in ponderosa pine stands. USDA 

For. Serv. Res. Note RM-515. Fort Collins, CO.

Schmid, J. M., and Mata, S. A. 2005. Mountain pine beetle-caused 

tree mortality in plots surrounded by unmanaged stands. USDA 

For. Serv. Res. Paper RMRS-RP-54. Fort Collins, CO.

Stevens, R. E., and F. G. Hawksworth. 1984. Insect-dwarf mistletoe 

relationships: An update. In Proc. Biology of dwarf Mistletoes 

Symposium. F. G. Hawksworth and R. F. Scharpf, coordinators. 

USDA For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rept. RM-111. Fort Collins, CO.

Terrell, T. T. 1977. In Maunder, E. R. 1977. Oral history volume of 

forest entomology in the west. Forest History Society and USDA For. 

Serv. (Special Collections and Archives, Univ. Idaho, Moscow).

Wood, S.L. 1963. A revision of the bark beetle genus Dendroctonus

Erichson (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Great. Bas. Nat. 23:1-117.

Wygant, N. D., and A. L. Nelson. 1949. Four billion feet of 

beetle-killed spruce. USDA Yearbook Agric. 1949. p 417-422. 

Washington, D.C.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 25

The person I knew best was Bill Wilford, who was 

the number 2 man in Fort Collins and the person who 

worked most closely with people doing spruce beetle 

control work. He was in charge of spruce beetle surveys, which was my prime assignment along with the 

mountain pine beetle and general insect problems in the 

region. Other personnel during my years at Fort Collins 

(1951 to 1960) included Noel Wygant, in overall charge, 

who supervised research by Cal Massey, Roy Nagel, 

Bill McCambridge, and me on surveys working under 

Wilford. McCambridge was transferred to Juneau, AK, 

in fall of 1952 (first Forest Entomologist to be stationed 

there). Frank Yasinski replaced him in Fort Collins.

My research mainly involved insect population sampling 

and I developed the procedure for sequential sampling of 

beetle populations. I had additional research responsibilities as well. I was involved in aerial surveys of the spruce 

beetle and mountain pine beetle, piloted by Robert Heller 

Appendix A—Fred B. Knight’s Recollections of Fort Collins, 1951 to 1960

who was stationed at Beltsville, MD. For many years, I 

put in a day or two at Mesa Verde going over their lands 

with the Park people (a fun job). Another nice job was 

going every year by horseback to inspect insect damage 

on Missionary Ridge before roads were built. Mountain 

pine beetle research gave me opportunities to visit most 

of the ponderosa pine forests of the region. We worked 

in the Black Hills and the Bighorns (mountains) of 

Wyoming and throughout Colorado. There was a lot of 

travel alone in the old green Forest Service panel trucks 

without a radio to listen to. Radios were allowed about 

the time I left for Michigan. Those were all wonderful, 

productive years for me (Fred taught forest entomology at University of Michigan [John Schmid and Gene 

Amman were among his students] and later at University 

of Maine. At the time of this writing, he was retired and 

living in Bangor, ME).
26 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

Insect Project and Personnel 

In 1963, the Forest Insect Research Project at the Rocky 

Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (RM) 

in Fort Collins, CO, consisted of three Entomologists 

(Noel Wygant, project leader; William McCambridge; 

Mel McKnight), one chemist (Roy Nagel), one biological technician (Charles Germain), and a secretary (Judy 

Dimmick). The project was housed on the second floor 

of South Hall, a two-storied barracks type building on 

the CSU campus. At that time, research projects and the 

administrative staff were housed in various buildings on 

the CSU campus. South Hall has long since been razed 

and replaced by the Natural and Environmental Sciences 

building. The project had laboratory space in one wing 

of the CSU greenhouse facility, which was located just 

south of South Hall. In 1967, all RM personnel moved 

into the new facility on West Prospect Street.

Noel Wygant, Project Leader, worked on the spruce 

beetle (SB), but was winding down his research in 1963. 

He was still investigating the effects of temperatures 

on SB development and the use of cacodylic acid in SB 

control. Dr. Wygant retired in 1968.

William (Mac) McCambridge worked on the mountain 

pine beetle (MPB). In the mid-1960s, epidemic MPB 

populations developed on the Front Range of Colorado. 

Mac used the infestations to study MPB emergence and 

attack densities near Allenspark; the effectiveness of 

protective sprays against the MPB in Lory State Park 

and the Red Feather Lakes area; MPB response to 

various “attractants;” and MPB-caused tree mortality 

in unmanaged stands in Lory State Park.

Simultaneously with his work in the Front Range of 

Colorado, Mac assisted Bob Heller’s Berkeley, CA, 

remote sensing project in the mid-1960s. Heller’s project 

involved studying the use of thermal imagery and high 

altitude photography for detecting MPB infestations. 

The study site was located in the northern Black Hills 

just east of Terry Peak and in conjunction with the study 

area of John Schmid. For Christmas 1965, Mac received 

a subscription to Playboy magazine from an anonymous 

individual. Mac suspected someone from Heller’s crew, 

most likely Phil Weber or Dick Myhre. During field work 

one day in the following year, Mac announced that he 

had not brought a lunch and had to run to town to buy 

something to eat. He asked if anyone wanted anything 

from the store. Dick Myhre responded that he needed a 

sandwich or something edible, but wasn’t real precise. 

Mac went to town, bought a loaf of bread, some lettuce, 

and maybe pickles and salad dressing. On the way back 

to the study area, he stopped in the barnyard on the way 

to the study area and picked up a cowpie. He placed it 

between two slices of bread with some lettuce and other 

items. He gave the “sandwich” to Myhre and when Dick 

asked what kind of sandwich it was, Mac replied with 

a straight face “beef.” Fortunately for Myhre, he lifted 

the top slice of bread before biting into the sandwich. 

After that, a “Big Mac” had a different connotation in 

the Black Hills!

Mel McKnight worked on the population dynamics 

of western spruce budworm (WSBW) populations in 

Colorado and New Mexico. His research concentrated 

on survival/mortality of the different life stages with 

emphasis on the role of insect parasites on WSBW 

population levels. His research culminated in a Ph.D. 

dissertation in 1967 titled “Ecology of the western 

budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman (Lepidoptera: Torticidae), in Colorado.” Mel transferred to the 

Shelterbelt Laboratory in Bottineau, ND, in 1968 to work 

on shelterbelt insects. Mel worked on shelterbelt insects 

until 1973 when he transferred to WO and became one 

of the coordinators for the joint Canada-United States 

Spruce Budworms Program (CANUSA).

Roy Nagel worked on the spruce beetle. He tested 

chemicals for their effectiveness against the spruce beetle, 

tagged beetles with radioactive chemicals to follow their 

direction and distance of dispersal, and collaborated 

with others on the development of the trap tree method 

for reducing SB populations. Roy retired in 1966 and 

was replaced by J. M. Schmid.

Roy’s reputation for playing practical jokes was well 

known among his associates. One of his favorite tricks 

was to place a cerambycid or cockroach in a small metal 

aspirin container, the type that aspirin tablets were sold 

in during the 1960s. He would carry the container in 

his pocket. When eating in a restaurant, he would order 

coffee. After the waitress had delivered the coffee and 

he had drunk a portion of it, he would remove the insect 

from the container and place it in the remaining coffee. He 

Appendix B—John M. Schmid’s Recollections of 

Forest Insect Research at the RM Station, 1963 to 1992
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 27

would then holler for the waitress and after she returned 

to the table, begin to berate her with comments about 

the cleanliness of the establishment and/or the quality of 

the food. Eventually, he received additional free coffee 

and/or a free meal. If he received a Roosevelt dime in 

change while paying his bill, he would throw it back at 

the cashier because he hated Roosevelt.

Roy was also known for spending time on non-entomological activities when on field trips. According to 

Don Lucht, former Entomologist with Forest Insect and 

Disease Management (FIDM) in Albuquerque, Roy and 

Don traveled to the vicinity of Lizard Head pass near 

Telluride, CO, in 1954 to check on background levels 

of radiation in the forest. Because the US had recently 

exploded an atomic bomb, radioactive fallout from the 

explosion had increased the radiation levels in the forest 

to the point that background radiation levels were well 

above what would be normally expected. Rather than 

cancel their field work because of the radiation threat 

and return immediately to Fort Collins, they jokingly 

said that they spent most of the time looking for “twoheaded railroad spikes” along the narrow gauge railroad 

tracks in the area.

Chuck Germain assisted the entomologists in their 

various projects. He was an accomplished guitarist and 

regularly played at various locations in the Cheyenne-Fort 

Collins-Denver area on the weekends. He transferred to 

the FIDM unit in Albuquerque, NM, in 1967.

Jim Mitchell replaced Germain as the project’s technician. He worked for various members of the project in 

Fort Collins, but was primarily assigned to work with 

Schmid during the 1970s. He conducted the SB solar heat 

study in the summers of 1970 and 1971, and a study on 

seed and cone insects of Engelmann spruce from 1974 

to 1977. When the project was terminated in 1981, he 

was offered a job in Flagstaff, AZ, and accepted it.

Steve Mata (see Appendix D) was hired as a Biological 

Technician in 1964 to work with McKnight on WSBW 

research. After McKnight transferred to Bottineau in 

1968, Mata was assigned to work with Mac until 1981 

when the insect project was terminated. He then worked 

with Stevens and others until Stevens retired in 1983. 

Thereafter, Mata worked exclusively with Schmid, who 

retired in 1992. After Schmid retired, Mata became a 

Forestry Technician and worked with Wayne Shepperd 

until 2005. Mata retired in June 2005 upon completing 

40 years service with the Rocky Mountain Station. 

Despite being assigned to various supervisors and lines 

of work during his career, Steve maintained a high-level 

of performance and became well-versed in bark beetle 

ecology and management, data analysis via computers, 

and management of studies assigned to him.

Bob Stevens replaced Noel Wygant as Project Leader in 

1968, transferring to Fort Collins from the Washington 

Office. Stevens was project leader until the project was 

terminated in 1981. He was then offered a position in 

the multifunctional project in Fort Collins, which was 

headed by Bob Alexander. He worked on that project 

until he retired in 1983.

Pam Farrar joined the project as a Biological Technician in May 1976. She worked with Schmid on insects 

associated with sagebrush on the Stratton Experimental 

Watershed west of Saratoga, WY, on WSBW parasites 

in chemically treated and non-treated areas in northern 

New Mexico, and on the distribution of foliage on white 

fir and Douglas-fir. When the project was terminated 

in 1981, she was offered a position in Lincoln, NE. 

She declined the offer and accepted an Administrative 

Assistant position in fiscal at Station headquarters in 

Fort Collins. She continued in that position until October 

1982 when she accepted a Biological Technician position 

with the wildlife project (Effects of multiple-use management on wildlife in the Central Rocky Mountains) 

in Laramie, WY.

In 1981, the insect project in Fort Collins was terminated. Stevens and Mata were offered positions 

in a multifunctional project in Fort Collins and both 

accepted. McCambridge and Farrar were offered positions in Lincoln, NE, but both declined the offers. 

McCambridge remained in Fort Collins for another 

year to finish manuscripts on studies he had completed 

and then retired. Farrar accepted a position in fiscal at 

station headquarters. Mitchell and Schmid were offered 

positions in Flagstaff, AZ. Both accepted the offers and 

transferred to Flagstaff in 1981/1982.

Although entomological research as a separate project 

in Fort Collins ended with the termination of the insect 

project, some research continued as part of Alexander’s 

multifunctional project. In addition, entomological 

research was incorporated with Frank Hawkworth’s 

pathology project when it became a disease-insect impact 

project in the mid-1980s.

Personal Account

I began work as a temporary summer employee at 

RM in Fort Collins in the summer of 1963 through the 

efforts of Fred Knight. Dr. Knight worked at RM as a 

research entomologist from 1950 to 1960 and resigned 
28 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

from the RM Station in 1960 to become professor of 

forest entomology in the School of Natural Resources 

at the University of Michigan. Dr. Knight maintained 

contact with his former associates at RM and when the 

insect project planned to hire temporary workers, he was 

contacted to see if he had any prospective candidates 

for the summer work. I was fortunate to be one of his 

students in 1963 and to be recommended for the job.

The position was primarily to assist McCambridge in 

his studies on the MPB. However, McKnight needed 

assistance with his WSBW work in the initial part of 

the summer so I traveled with him to northern New 

Mexico to sample WSBW populations. After that, I 

worked with McCambridge on MPB. I spent time in 

late July and early August checking emergence cages 

and determining the location and rates of MPB attacks 

on ponderosa pine near Allenspark, CO. In addition, I 

came to RM hoping I could gather data during the summer, which to use for a graduate degree. At the time, the 

project focused on why some MPB-attacked trees were 

unsuccessfully attacked, i.e., trees were attacked but not 

killed. Thinking at that time centered around anatomical 

differences in the trees and the possibility that unsuccessfully attacked trees may have greater numbers of 

resin canals than successfully attacked trees. When not 

working for McCambridge, I was allowed to search for 

unsuccessfully-attacked trees and take increment cores 

from them and adjacent successfully-attacked trees. I 

took the cores back to the U. of Michigan.

In 1964, I returned to the RM Station in Fort Collins 

for another summer of employment and worked with 

McKnight on his WSBW parasite studies. Except for 

field trips to locations in Colorado to collect WSBW 

larvae and pupae, I worked most of the summer in 

McKnight’s trailer lab rearing budworms and their 

parasites. The larvae were constantly supplied fresh 

foliage and parasite cocoons were removed and placed 

in separate containers as they appeared. The cocoons 

were maintained until the adults emerged. Eventually, 

the adults were identified and levels of parasitism were 

determined for each species.

My reasons for returning in 1964 were to present 

Dr. Wygant with my thesis and to see if the project 

would finance a study for another graduate degree. After 

consultation with other project personnel, he agreed to 

finance another study.

During the 1964/1965 school year at Michigan, I 

selected the topic of parasites and predators of the MPB 

for my graduate degree. I returned to Fort Collins in May 

1965 and began work on the study. Initially, locating a 

suitable study area became the first priority. Bill Bailey, 

aerial survey specialist with FIDM in Lakewood, CO, 

was familiar with MPB infestations on the Roosevelt 

NF and agreed to show them to me. We journeyed up 

the Poudre Canyon and stopped near Washout Gulch 

to examine a spot uphill. When we left the vehicle, we 

walked through sagebrush and other brush on the lower 

slopes. We stopped to rest part way up the slope and as 

Bill leaned against a rock, I told Bill he’d better check 

his pants as he had two ticks on one pantleg. He spotted them and then began to laugh. He said you better 

examine your own pants, John. As I looked down, I saw 

10 ticks, five on each leg. Fortunately, that site was not 

suitable for the study.

After examining a number of locations near Estes Park, 

Poudre Canyon, and Red Feather Lakes, I reported to 

Dr. Wygant that I had been unable to locate a suitable 

area. He asked Mac to take me to the Black Hills because 

epidemic MPB populations existed in the northern Hills 

in 1965. We went to the Black Hills in June 1965 and 

eventually located a suitable study area east of Terry 

Peak in the exemption area. The area is pictured in 

figure 214 in Furniss and Carolin’s book, Western Forest Insects (1977). Mac was working on MPB responses 

to various chemicals (attractants) in the laboratory in 

1965. He used large numbers of MPB in the tests and 

was always obtaining beetle-infested bolts whenever 

possible. As we left the Hills during our scouting trip, 

we stopped along Highway 85 just east of O’Neil Pass 

to cut an infested tree. I reached to take the chainsaw 

out of the truck but Mac said “Let me have the chainsaw, let the old Alaskee (Alaska vet) logger show you 

how.” For those unfamiliar with Mac, he had worked 

in southern Alaska before working in the central Rockies. Mac proceeded to cut the tree and, in his words, 

hung that tree to a “fair-thee-well.” He cut bolts off the 

base of the tree but no amount of bolt removal shook 

the tree loose. Instead, it just became entangled in the 

other trees and the stem became more vertical so that 

when we left it, the tree looked like the crown started 

at ground-level. I always get a chuckle when I drive by 

that location!

For the remainder of the summer of 1965 and May 

through September in 1966 and 1967, I worked on the 

study area east of Terry Peak. I spent the days taking 

bark samples for counts of MPB and associated insects 

as well as observing insect predators operating on the 

infested trees. Occasionally, I helped Heller’s crew with 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 29

their studies by periodically photographing infested trees 

to determine changes in their foliage color, and caught a 

ride with Bill Bailey during his annual survey of insect 

conditions in the Black Hills. Changes in my employment status and line of research occurred in 1966 and 

1967. Roy Nagel retired in 1966 and I was selected to 

replace him. Upon completion of my third field season 

in the Black Hills in 1967, I terminated the study and 

worked on data analysis and preparation of the thesis. 

Project research at that time was concentrated on the 

MPB, SB, and WSBW. Because Dr. Wygant was reducing 

his research on the SB, and Mac and Mel were working 

on the MPB and WSBW respectively, I was assigned to 

begin work on the SB in late 1967.

SB research from 1968 to 1977 concentrated on SB 

populations in logging residuals and blowdown, SB 

mortality in cull logs caused by solar heat, development 

of spruce-fir stands following SB outbreaks, the use 

of Silvisar 510 to control SB populations, and needle 

temperatures of SB-infested trees. The SB research was 

thus a mix of long- and short-term studies, so different studies were conducted simultaneously. This work 

culminated in a comprehensive publication (Schmid and 

Frye 1977). Intermixed with the SB studies was work 

on the roundheaded pine beetle in New Mexico in 1970 

to 1972, seed and cone insects of Engelmann spruce at 

the Fraser Experimental Forest in Colorado from 1974 

to 1978, and insects associated with sagebrush in the 

Stratton Experimental Watershed west of Saratoga, WY, 

from 1972 to 1974.

Project funding was slowly declining in the late 1970s. 

As a result, the project sought additional funding from the 

1977 Canada-United States Spruce Budworms Research 

and Development Program (CANUSA) to supplement 

dwindling resources. After the departure of McKnight 

in 1968, no significant research had been done on the 

WSBW. Stevens and I submitted proposals that were 

funded. My CANUSA-funded work included: a study of 

the effect of aerial spraying on WSBW parasites (1977 to 

1979), distribution of foliage on white fir and Douglasfir (1979), and the distribution of WSBW parasites on 

white fir and Douglas-fir (1978 to 1979).

In 1979, a major pandora moth infestation was detected on 

the North Kaibab, AZ. Working around the WSBW investigations, several studies were initiated on the pandora moth. 

Pupal-inhabited sites were burned in 1980 to determine if 

prescribed burning could be used to reduce pandora moth 

populations. Larval populations were sampled in 1981 to 

determine their distribution on host trees.

The insect project was terminated in 1981. I was 

offered a position in Flagstaff, AZ, and transferred there 

in 1982. The research assignment was to determine the 

influence of seed and cone insects on production of 

ponderosa pine seed although neither I nor other project 

personnel had heard that seed and cone insects of ponderosa pine in Arizona were considered an important 

research priority.

Fortunately for me, the pandora moth epidemic continued on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on the 

Kaibab NF. While studies on seed and cone insects 

were initiated in 1984, I spent more of my time on the 

North Kaibab following the pandora moth epidemic. In 

cooperation with Dayle Bennett, Terry Rogers, and Iral 

Ragenovich of Forest Pest Management from Region 3, 

information was derived on: distribution of egg masses, 

first instar larvae and larval populations, emergence of 

moths, growth impact of defoliation, and the effectiveness of several insecticides. The information was summarized in Schmid and Bennett (1988).

In 1984, I transferred back to Fort Collins and replaced 

Stevens as the entomologist in Alexander’s multifunctional project. The research assignment was to determine 

the relationship between stand density and MPB-caused 

tree mortality through the installation of sets of plots, 

usually four plots to a set with three cut to different 

stocking levels (GSLs) and the fourth left uncut to serve 

as the control. With the able assistance of Steve Mata, 

sets of plots were installed in northern Colorado on the 

Arapaho-Roosevelt NF, Routt NF, and Colorado State 

Forest; in southern Wyoming on the Medicine Bow NF; 

and on the Black Hills NF in SD. After installation, 

the plots were monitored for MPB activity. Partial cutting to GSLs of less than 80 sq. ft basal area per acre 

reduced MPB-caused tree mortality in ponderosa pine 

stands (Schmid and Mata 1992), although this treatment 

may be less effective if only a small area is cut within 

an otherwise uncut stand (Schmid and Mata 2005). 

Stands partially cut to GSLs between 80 and 110 may 

also be less susceptible but may grow rather quickly to 

susceptible thresholds. Hopefully, research will follow 

the plots in the future because significant information 

on MPB management can be gained.

Additional studies were undertaken on some sets of 

plots after installation was completed. Bark temperature 

(1989 to 1992), air movement (1989), moisture stress (1986 

to 1988), and verbenone depletion rate (1991) studies 

were performed on various sets of plots. In conjunction 

with Gene Amman, INT, and Ken Lister, FPM Region 2, 
30 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

verbenone studies were conducted in Colorado and South 

Dakota during the summers of 1988 and 1989. In 1992, 

I retired from RM but continue to periodically monitor 

the GSL plots in the Black Hills and Wyoming. During 

my years at RM, I received assistance and support from 

the FIDM crews from Region 2 and 3; National Forest 

personnel from the forests in AZ, CO, NM, SD, and 

WY; the Colorado State Forest Service; and employees 

at RM/RMRS. In particular, Noel Wygant, Bill McCambridge, and Steve Mata made significant contributions 

to my research and productivity.

Although I worked extensively on the MPB and SB, my 

favorite insect to study was the pandora moth. While bark 

beetles cause extensive tree mortality on landscape levels 

that are conspicuously visible, the beetles themselves 

are seldom found outside the bark of trees and are rarely 

seen. The pandora moth, in contrast, is relatively large 

in all stages and easily seen. During the epidemic on the 

North Kaibab NF, adults would swarm at night around the 

outside lights at the Jacob Lake Inn. Literally thousand of 

moths could be seen. In the morning, their bodies littered 

the parking area near the entrance to the Inn and a sound 

similar to popping popcorn could be heard when cars 

drove over their bodies. Some adults became flightless 

because they lost the scales on their wings while constantly 

fluttering around the lights at night. One crawled up my 

pant leg one evening while I was seated near the entrance. 

That epidemic was truly impressive.

I was fortunate to work in most of the Rocky Mountain 

states, but mainly in the southern and central Rockies 

and the Black Hills. Of all the places I worked, my 

favorite place was the Black Hills. The Hills had ample 

MPB populations, an active timber program for MPB 

management (at least when I worked there), significant 

historical events, and scenic/cultural attractions. The 

time spent in the Hills was both professionally and 

personally rewarding. In essence, my research career 

began and ended in the Hills.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 31

My experiences with the USDA Forest Service and 

the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment 

Station began on May 5, 1959 when I was reassigned 

from USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 

Entomology Research Division. I had entered Federal 

service exactly 1 year 11 months earlier, at the end of 

my first year of graduate work in the Department of 

Entomology at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. 

My first professional position had been at the Forage 

Insect Laboratory in Lincoln evaluating mechanisms of 

resistance in alfalfa to the spotted alfalfa aphid.

Instead of “going through the line” at graduation for 

my Master’s degree in 1958, Maria and I took a week’s 

vacation in Estes Park, CO. For us, having come from 

forested Vermont, the mountains and the possibility of 

moving westward had a lot of appeal. My supervisor 

at the time, Dr. Wayne L. Howe, reminded me that the 

Rocky Mountain Station had a research unit in the Plant 

Sciences Building where the Department of Entomology was housed (Wayne worked with Cal Massey for a 

summer in Colorado). Dr. Ralph Read, the leader of that 

unit, told me that RM Station had a vacant position for 

a Survey Entomologist in Fort Collins. I applied for the 

position, interviewed, was accepted, and the reassignment from ARS to Forest Service was arranged. At the 

time, ARS, at least in the Entomology Research Division, 

encouraged young scientists to move around quite often, 

every 2 or 3 years, to gain experience. Alternatives presented to me included Bakersfield, CA (alfalfa insects), 

Tifton, GA (field crop insects), and Cuba (rice insects) 

(Fidel Castro was still in the mountains!). Obviously, the 

mountains and forest insects had more appeal!

Dr. Noel Wygant, Chief, Division of Forest Insect 

Research, and Dr. Bill H. Wilford, Leader, Forest Insect 

Laboratory, took quite a risk in accepting me for the 

position. Or perhaps, it was in desperation as the position had been vacant for some time and the field season 

was rapidly approaching! I believe my predecessors had 

been Ken Stewart and H. Eugene Ostmark. As I recall, 

both had left the Forest Service—Ostmark for the United 

Fruit Company in Honduras. I had no forestry in my 

undergraduate studies in agronomy at the University of 

Vermont and only occasional reference to forest insects 

in my graduate classes at Nebraska. However, I did have 

a strong background and academic record in entomology at the graduate level and much interest in working 

outside in the forest environment.

The responsibility of the Forest Insect Laboratory was 

forest insect research and, in cooperation with Forest 

Service Region 2, forest insect surveys and pilot control 

projects in Colorado and Wyoming. Bill Wilford was in 

charge and was my supervisor. Amel Landgraf did the 

aerial surveys. I was to do ground surveys with Amel. 

Dr. Fred B. Knight was studying bark beetle biology 

and methods of sampling their abundance. Roy H. Nagel 

researched chemical methods of control. These good 

people took me from the world of corn and alfalfa insects 

to the world of bark beetles and defoliators.

My first summer, 1959, was a wonderful experience. I 

traveled throughout the Region, usually with Amel and 

occasionally with Bill, inspecting and sampling bark 

beetle and defoliator infestations. We usually traveled 

with a complete camping outfit and seldom used commercial lodging, choosing instead to camp by the road 

or by a fishable stream, and sometimes in a national 

Forest Guard Station or on the floor in a Ranger Station. Per diem rates were perhaps $6 or $8, less for our 

summer assistants. In 1959, John C. Nord was our summer assistant on surveys. Later Nord spent most of his 

career as a research entomologist in the Southeastern 

Forest Experiment Station. John Chansler and Daniel T. 

Jennings were assistants of Fred Knight and Roy Nagel. 

John served in many locations in his career in forest pest 

management. Dan became a Research Entomologist 

working with Dr. Calvin Massey at Albuquerque. In 

1976, Dan transferred to the Northeast Station to work 

on spruce budworm research at Orono, ME, where Fred 

Knight was Dean of the College of Forest Resources at 

the University of Maine. In 1988, Dan and I were coauthors, with Susan Hacker and Fred Knight, of “North 

American Coniferophagous Choristoneura: A Bibliography.” Dan is still active in research as an authority on 

taxonomy of spiders.

As the newest and most junior member of the group, 

care and maintenance of the laboratory’s insect collection became my responsibility. I became acquainted with 

the Hopkins US System of recording collection data 

and biological information on forest insect specimens 

Appendix C—Melvin E. McKnight’s 

Recollections of the RM Station, 1959 to 1973
32 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

collected during studies and other activities. I maintained 

an interest in the Hopkins System for the remainder of 

my career and beyond.

I don’t recall what sampling method we used in 1959 

for the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, 

(later determined to be the “western spruce budworm,” 

C. occidentalis). By 1960, the protocols developed at 

the Pacific Northwest Station by Carolin and Coulter 

specified that the foliage from one side of each of two 

branches cut from the mid-crowns of five Douglas-fir 

trees per sample plot would be examined to obtain counts 

of budworm egg masses of the current year and previous year to arrive at a ratio suggesting the population 

trend. Climbing trees and examining a lot of foliage 

rather quickly led us to think about the 

feasibility and validity of using smaller 

samples taken from the ground with 

pole pruners. This later became an element of my research assignment.

In 1960 and/or 1961, our budworm 

survey was headquartered at the Del 

Norte Ranger Station, Rio Grande NF. 

John Braidwood and Joe Zimmer were 

summer assistants helping with foliage collections. Four wives of District 

personnel were the foliage examining 

crew and Bill Wilford made the egg 

mass determinations.

On October 1, 1961, I was placed 

on Military Furlough. The Colorado 

National Guard unit, Company B of 

the 140th Signal Battalion (Combat 

Area), of which I was a member (Area 

Communication Chief), was activated in 

response to the Berlin Crisis. I returned 

to a position with the RM Station on 

August 13, 1962.

About this time, 1961 or 1962, a significant reorganization in the Forest Service occurred. Responsibilities 

for forest insect (and disease) surveys were reassigned 

to the Regions. Consequently, Bill Wilford and Amel 

Landgraf left the Station for Region 2 in Denver (Amel 

may have left earlier). Also about this time, Fred Knight 

left the Forest Service and the Station for the University 

of Michigan and Bill McCambridge filled the bark beetle 

position. Noel Wygant was now our Project Leader.

When I returned from military duty, I found myself 

assigned to research on the budworm. A laboratory 

trailer had been designed and built for this work. While 

I was gone, John Schmid had begun studies involving 

rearing-out parasites of the budworm from various locations. Robert Dalleske, a graduate student at Colorado 

State University, was also involved and developed his 

Master’s thesis on budworm parasites. For the 1963 

season, the trailer remained parked at Fort Collins. John 

Schmid continued to assist in the budworm work as did 

Tom Borg, a student from Colorado State University. 

Some time later, two Biological Technician positions 

were made available for budworm research. Steve Mata 

(fig. 29) and Gilbert Olivas filled these positions. Steve 

worked in support of forest insect research at the Station for his entire career. Eventually, the lab trailer and 

a small camper trailer for the technicians were moved 

to the San Isabel Ranger Station, San Isabel NF.

About this time, the massive research effort, “the 

Green River Project,” of the Canadian Forestry Service 

on the spruce budworm in New Brunswick became well 

known. The body of work summarized by R.F. Morris in 1963 became the guidance for many scientists 

studying population dynamics of forest insects. It was 

made clear that my research on the western budworm 

in Colorado was to take the same direction on a microscale. Although I was quite unprepared to undertake 

research largely based on mathematical modeling of 

population dynamics, we did accumulate meaningful 

information in life tables for several budworm populations on the San Isabel National Forest. Although our 

cooperators in pest management in Regions 2 and 3 

Figure 29. Steve Mata checking spruce budworm emergence from Douglas-fir 

samples during study of over-wintering larvae, 1965 (Fort Collins photo FC-634 

by M. E. McKnight).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 33

understood the importance of knowledge of budworm 

population dynamics, they were especially interested 

in development of more efficient budworm sampling 

methods. Thanks to an excellent cooperative relationship with the entomologists in Region 2, I was able to 

incorporate work on sampling methods with the life 

table work. Most of my work on the western budworm 

became my Ph.D. dissertation (1967) at Colorado State 

University, Department of Zoology. With this summary 

in hand, and western budworm populations and damage at a relatively low level, the Region 2 entomologists 

advised the Station that budworm research should not 

be given high priority.

In 1963, Bracon politiventris, normally rare, was 

abundant in some areas and suspected of being the final 

factor in eliminating budworm populations in some specific locations. My laboratory and field studies of its life 

history and habits were not included in the dissertation 

but were published in McKnight (1971).

Another area of research I would have liked to pursue 

was to study, at the cellular level, the supposedly obligate 

diapause of the budworm. I found that second-instar 

budworm larvae, removed from their hibernacula and 

placed on suitable food, would feed and develop normally 

without the period of cold treatment usually considered 

necessary to eventually “break” diapause. This observation encouraged me to think that the mechanism of 

diapause in the budworm was an area worthy of study. 

However, the nature of that research was certainly outside 

the mission of the project.

Coincidentally, about this time a reorganization of 

geographic responsibilities of Forest Service Experiment Stations resulted in the Shelterbelt Laboratory at 

Bottineau, ND, being transferred from the North Central 

Experiment Station to the Rocky Mountain Station (as 

mentioned above, a well-established RM Station research 

unit already existed at Lincoln, NE, that focused on 

problems in Great Plains forestry). The North Central 

Station had conducted some basic survey work on insect 

problems in northern Plains tree plantings and nurseries and staffed a permanent position at the Shelterbelt 

Laboratory. John D. Stein was in that position. I was 

offered the position of Project Leader to establish a new 

project on “Biology, ecology, and control of insects in 

the Great Plains.” I accepted the position and my reassignment was effective April 21, 1968.

The move to Bottineau was less traumatic and the Plains 

environment less foreign to my wife and me than perhaps 

it would have been to other Forest Service entomologists. 

We had lived in Lincoln, NE, 1956 to 1959 while I was 

in graduate school and working for ARS. Part of my 

active duty military time had been spent at Fort Riley, 

KS. We liked the openness of the Great Plains and we 

appreciated their historical importance in the development of our country. We were quite comfortable in the 

small town environment of about 2,500 people. The 

Shelterbelt Laboratory was on the campus of the North 

Dakota School of Forestry (later North Dakota State 

University-Bottineau Branch), one of the oldest forestry 

schools in the nation. The North Dakota Forest Service 

was also located at NDSU.

The other project at the Shelterbelt Laboratory was a 

timber management project headed by Paul Slabaugh, 

Silviculturist. Paul worked for many years in the Great 

Plains and was a wealth of information on all aspects 

of selection, care, and maintenance of trees and tree 

plantings in the harsh environments the width and 

breadth of the Plains. Other scientists in that project 

were Richard Tinus, Tree Physiologist, and Richard 

Cunningham, Geneticist.

I came to the project with good background knowledge of Forest Service Research documentation. At the 

outset, there was a need to implement the work unit 

description, develop problem analyses and study plans, 

and push forward with publications. I also had good 

working relationships with the pest management people 

in Regions 1 and 2. Those units had responsibilities for 

evaluating pest conditions on the Plains. Over time, we 

developed the interests of entomologists in both Regions 

and traveled together extensively looking at insect problems in the Plains.

As the Project Leader of a newly organized research 

effort, I had to develop contacts with a broad array of 

cooperators and clients in universities, state forestry 

agencies, Extension Service, Soil Conservation Service, 

Soil Conservation Districts, Agricultural Research Service, etc. As our interests and responsibilities became 

known, we developed cooperative efforts with several 

institutions and agencies.

Early on it became important to clarify the research role 

of the project with respect to the expectations of some 

of our cooperators. The mission of the project was to 

develop means of detecting, evaluating, and controlling 

insects with damage potential. Tools were provided for 

the action agencies. We did not have authority or means 

to perform the actual work of detecting, evaluating, and 

controlling pests. Further, it was necessary to focus 

attention on insects of greatest damage potential. More 
34 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

than 300 species of insects had been collected from trees 

and shrubs used in protective plantings. Only a few had 

been serious problems, but many more had potential for 

serious damage.

There seemed to be a poor understanding in Forest 

Service Research of the importance of our research 

assignment. The concept of insect-caused impacts on 

protective tree plantings is quite different than impacts 

of forest insects on National Forests and commercial 

forest lands. The justification of our research was to 

reduce insect-caused losses of windbarrier effectiveness, 

esthetics, wildlife food and shelter, highway safety and 

beauty, noise abatement, and invested dollars. Millions 

of dollars have been invested in the plantings in the 

Plains. Unlike the situation in most public and private 

forest lands, every tree and shrub in protective plantings 

has a dollar value derived from the costs of propagation, 

planting, and care. We cited information that in 1968, 

$1,000,000 was reimbursed to farmers in the ASCS 

program in the Northern, Central, and Southern Plains 

for conservation practices involving planting trees and 

shrubs. These were taxpayers’ dollars, a public investment that warranted protection.

For the new project, Jack Stein and I were blessed with 

generous funding for supplies and equipment for our 

laboratories and field work. We invested in high-quality photographic equipment, and we equipped the lab’s 

darkroom. We were able to hire summer assistants for 

the field seasons. The project was allocated a full-time 

technician position. Arden Tagestad was hired for that 

position and continued to support the work until the 

project was moved to Lincoln sometime after 1973.

Jack Stein was an observant and enthusiastic collector of insects. He was especially talented at developing 

guides and keys to identify insects and damage, working tools much needed at the beginning of the project. 

I also did a lot of collecting, especially using portable 

Malaise traps, some in place for a few days, some providing periodic collections over the full season. I was 

particularly interested in the parasitic Hymenoptera 

from those “forested prairie environments,” saved the 

Braconidae for our insect collection at Bottineau, and 

sent the Ichneumonidae to John Schmid at Fort Collins. 

We had good laboratory and greenhouse facilities so 

we all did a lot of rearing out of collected material. For 

example, I arranged for collections from many locations, 

some as far south as Texas, from which we reared pine 

tip moths to better define the taxonomic status of these 

important pests of pine plantings. We cooperated with 

other scientists, including Dan Jennings, testing sex 

attractants for pine tip moths and other insects including the ash or lilac borer. Through our work we added 

many new host and locality records for insects of trees 

and shrubs and their natural enemies as reported in our 

publications and those of our cooperators.

There was good information dating back to early work 

in the 1930s that borers were important pests of tree 

plantings. In the new project, we made a special effort 

to focus on the borers of green ash, an important species in single- and multi-row shelterbelts. With excellent 

cooperation of entomologists from Region 1, we were able 

to get a good quantitative evaluation of borer problems 

in green ash plantings in North Dakota shelterbelts. In 

cooperation with the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, we produced a publication (McKnight and 

Tunnock 1973) that defined the historical problem, the 

situation in 1972, and an approach to reduce the impact 

of borers through surveillance, detection, and suppression. Related to this work, in 1970 we began a series of 

demonstrations, completed after I left the Shelterbelt Lab, 

showing that borer infestations could be significantly 

reduced in field shelterbelts using chemical insecticides. 

These results were also published by the North Dakota 

Experiment Station to reach the target audiences.

In August, 1973, I was reassigned to a Staff Assistant 

position for Forest Insect Research in the Forest Insect 

and Disease Research Staff, in the Forest Service Washington Office. Dr. Mary Ellen Dix was hired to fill the 

vacant position at the Shelterbelt Laboratory in Bottineau. 

When the Rocky Mountain Station closed the laboratory 

at Bottineau in 1983, Jack Stein was transferred to the 

Pacific Southwest Station and an assignment in Hawaii. 

Mary Ellen Dix was reassigned to the RM Station 

laboratory in Lincoln, Nebraska where she published a 

comprehensive and impressive review of accomplishments of Great Plains insect research (Dix 1986).

Reflections

In 1959, Colorado State University had about 5,000 

students. The Rocky Mountain Station offices were at 

various locations on campus. The Director and headquarters staff, including Noel Wygant, Director of Forest 

Insect Research and Lake Gill, Director of Forest Disease 

Research, were housed in the Forestry Building. The Forest Insect Laboratory, and the Forest Disease Laboratory 

with Dr. Frank Hawksworth and Tommy Hinds, was in 

South Hall, a two-story, multi-winged former military 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 35

barracks. The new Station building was built on the 

south edge of campus and occupied in 1967.

•

I first met Cal Massey when I was traveling with Bill 

Wilford. We were in Durango, CO, probably collecting 

foliage for the budworm survey. For some reason, Cal 

was to come up from Albuquerque and meet Bill at the 

Strater Hotel where we were staying. When we settled 

ourselves in the lobby to wait for Cal, Bill told me to 

watch for a fellow with red hair, red face, and smoking 

a cigar. After a long evening, Cal eventually appeared, 

true to Bill’s description. Certainly his language was 

colorful and he was irreverent, yes, but I’m sure it was 

a tough and continuing battle to justify and garner 

support for pioneering research that many considered 

“impractical.”

In the mid-1960s, Federal Employees were encouraged to buy United States Savings Bonds through 

payroll deductions. Allegedly, Cal would “threaten” 

his employees with “Bonds or (be sent to) Bottineau!” 

Those who didn’t know better considered Bottineau to 

be an undesirable location. Even though I bought bonds, 

I went to Bottineau!

I did not have the pleasure of working with Massey in 

Fort Collins or Albuquerque. I was pleased. however, to 

have him visit us in Bottineau. He named a nematode, 

Omemeea maxbassiensis n. gen., n. sp., for the location near Bottineau where he found it in the galleries 

of Leperisinus californicus, a bark beetle in green ash 

and the subject of a study with our cooperator at NDSUBottineau. This is another example demonstrating that 

the northern Great Plains is fertile ground for biological 

investigation.

•

Bill Wilford (fig. 30) was the best supervisor and 

mentor of my career, and a dear friend. I learned much 

from him, the least of which was forest entomology. 

Bill was a rigorous editor. My draft reports came back 

bleeding from his red-pencil treatment. He insisted 

on correct information, proper English, and clear and 

understandable writing. We traveled together often and 

it was always a pleasure. I remember many a beautiful Colorado morning driving down the highway and 

musing “Not a cloud in the sky!” Almost invariably 

Bill took the challenge and eventually found a wisp of 

a cloud I had missed. A stickler for detail! In the field, 

Bill insisted on doing his share and more of whatever 

the task at hand, including climbing the big Douglas-fir 

on the San Juan NF.

The last time we saw Bill was at our home in Bottineau. 

Jack Stein, Arden Tagestad, and I drove up to Edmonton, 

Alberta for the Western Forest Insect Work Conference. 

Bill was in attendance, having driven up from Colorado 

in his Nash Metropolitan. After the meetings, we left for 

home; Bill was to follow some hours later. It was a typically 

cold, blustery drive with whiteouts of wind-driven snow. 

Somewhere along the route we stopped for coffee and there 

were a couple of RCMP officers also in the shop. When we 

left, we commented to the troopers that they might watch 

for an older gentlemen with a little car. Later, when Bill got 

to our house, he said he felt quite safe along that long route 

because he saw so many RCMP vehicles. I don’t believe 

he ever knew that we had arranged his escort!

We last talked to Bill in Easton, Pennsylvania, which 

he apparently considered “home.” (I believe for his 

entire career he kept his bank accounts in Easton!) We 

were on the way to Vermont for a visit, found a phone 

booth near Easton, got his phone number, and called. 

We suggested going to see him, even for a few minutes. 

He asked us not to do so. We suspect he was quite ill. 

He died not long thereafter (he died in 1973 at the home 

of his son, Tom, in Fort Collins).

Figure 30. Bill Wilford. Photo provided by 

M. E. McKnight.
36 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

•

Roy Nagel was a salty ex-Marine. I never worked 

with Roy in the field, but it is my impression he was 

a meticulous scientist insistent on documentation of 

details and observations. He took the time to teach me 

a lot about photography with his beloved Leica system 

and darkroom techniques. I think he appreciated my 

background in entomology more than did some other 

colleagues. In 1968, I was honored to receive the gift 

of his “Imms” (Recent Advances in Entomology, A.D. 

Imms) inscribed on the flyleaf, “R.H. Nagel, Grad. 

School, U. of Minn., 5/20/34.”

•

I have few recollections of Noel Wygant. His office 

was in the Forestry Building until the reorganization 

and move to the new RM Station building. Surely my 

transfer from ARS to the Forest Service and the Station 

was with his approval, and for that I am most thankful. 

I believe he felt that reassignment to shelterbelt insect 

research, his interest of long-standing, was appropriate 

and in my best interest. I remember an expression he 

used fairly often, “That’s just the thing we are trying to 

avoid!” when an idea or suggestion came up in a project 

staff meeting.

•

Arden Tagestad was the best technician I had the pleasure to work with in my career. He was a North Dakota 

farm boy with a family of several young children. He 

had been employed as a part-time or seasonal employee, 

perhaps as an equipment operator, with the local Soil 

Conservation District. He was happy to fill our permanent position as biological technician in support of the 

shelterbelt research project. With our encouragement, he 

took one or more entomology courses at North Dakota 

State University-Bottineau Branch and followed up with 

study on his own. He was a keen observer in the field 

and in the laboratory, had great curiosity about insect 

biology, carefully reared out and collected specimens 

from our many collections for identification, and sorted 

out specimens from countless collections from Malaise 

traps. He was a patient and careful worker and made 

excellent mounts of pine tip moths and other Lepidoptera 

using a handy technique he devised. He participated in 

the Western Forest Insect Work Conference and he was 

respected by professional entomologists and other technicians in the Station and the Regions. When the Station 

closed the Shelterbelt Laboratory at Bottineau, Arden 

went to work for the North Dakota Forest Service in 

Bottineau as a protection specialist. His name appears as 

author or coauthor of several important publications.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 37

My working career started with a phone call from my 

high school Spanish teacher. One day as I was doing odd 

jobs with my friend Gilbert (to just get by), my Spanish 

teacher called me and said that he had a job for me. Little 

did I know that the call was to be the start of my career! 

His name was William Lopez. There’s a school named 

after him in Fort Collins. That shows you what kind of 

man he was in the community. I really respected this 

man and so I went to see him. He handed me a phone 

number and a name and told me to go meet with this 

gentleman that worked for the Forest Service.

I remember the day I went in to meet this man. His 

name was Dr. Noel Wygant, an entomologist and project 

leader for the RM Station. He was a gentle man smoking a pipe. He talked softly and smiled, and laughed 

softly. He talked to me and Gilbert about careers in 

the Forest Service and told us that as time went on we 

would become valuable and advance in the future with 

the station. Boy, did he say a mouth full. I didn’t know 

it at the time but this was to be the start of a 40-year 

career with the Forest Service.

Gilbert and I met with Dr. Wygant on Thursday and 

reported to work the following Monday, September 23, 

1964 as forestry aids. Dr. Wygant introduced us to the 

scientist that we would be working for. His name was 

Melvin McKnight, an Entomologist researching the 

spruce budworm outbreaks on the San Isabel National 

Forest. My whole life took on a new meaning with this 

wonderful man. Mel was known by the name “Serenity,” 

given to him by his peers. Mel was a soft spoken, gentle 

man that I believe was put in my path by my lord creator. 

Just think, I was at that age the military draft was taking 

young men into service. I was about to join the Army to 

complete my military service when I met Mel. Mel was 

a sergeant in the National Guard of Colorado. When I 

told him of my plan to join the Army for my two year 

duty, he sat me down and started to tell me about the 

advantages of joining the National Guard.

First and foremost, the military wouldn’t draft me if I 

joined the National Guard. This would give me enough 

time to establish a temporary, probationary position with 

the Forest Service into a permanent position. So I joined 

the 180th signal battalion National Guard unit in 1964 

located west of Fort Collins. I became a cryptographer 

in the message center section of my unit.

I started my long career with the Forest Service working for Mel. I attended a couple of introductory classes 

on insects at CSU. This started me on a long journey 

of insect research. I might say that I learned to crawl 

on the job with Mel.

William F. McCambridge, supervisor 2: After 3 or 

4 years, other scientists at the station needed help with 

their studies, so Mel offered my services to William F. 

McCambridge, an entomologist who was to become my 

mentor. I advanced to the position of Biological Laboratory Aid and later to Biological Laboratory Technician. 

I learned many things from Mac, such as leadership, 

obedience, respect, loyalty, and much more. He was 

great to work for. I enjoyed about 17 years with him 

investigating the mountain pine beetle, a bark beetle that 

attacks and kills pine trees. When Mac first saw me, I 

was leaning up against the wall in a hallway. His first 

word to me when he passed by was “pitiful.” For a long 

time afterwards the name stuck. We became very close. 

I’ve always known where I stood with Mac. When I did 

something right he would praise me by saying “Stevie, 

one gold star between the eyes” and when I would do 

something wrong he would say “Bend over and grab 

your right ear with your left hand and your left ear with 

your right hand and ....” I could never do that exactly, 

but you get the picture. I loved doing things right for 

Mac. My head swelled so much working for Mac that 

I had to enter a room sideways. With Mac, I like to say 

that I learned to walk on the job.

John M. Schmid, supervisor 3: It was a sad time 

when Mac retired (1981). Again, I was fortunate to work 

with probably one of the most prolific scientists at the 

Rocky Mountain Station, John M. Schmid. Working 

for John, I earned a promotion and my title changed to 

Forest Research Technician. “Tiger,” as I affectionately 

called him, was the man who was to become my role 

model. He probably would have conquered the world if 

he didn’t have to contend with all that red tape. With 

John the mountain pine beetle research took on a different faze. We started to travel more and I would have 

to leave my family for a week at a time, sometimes for 

10-day trips. These were the hard times. I didn’t spend 

much time with my daughters growing up because we 

were always traveling. My sweet wife had to handle 

Appendix D—Stephen A. Mata’s

Recollections of the RM Station, 1964 to 2005
38 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

all the crises and heartaches. I would hear about them 

when I returned from a field trip. But this was part of 

the job I chose.

John had published many studies with beetles and 

other insects. I was very fortunate that he considered 

my work important enough to include me as co-author 

on many of his papers. With John’s encouragement. I 

re-entered college to learn about the Fortran computer 

language. I also attended many class sessions given by 

the station’s biometrician involving data summaries and 

analysis. As a result, I was able to analyze our field data 

so that John could publish at a more rapid rate. I spent 

about 10 to 12 years with John. With John I like to say 

that I learned to run on the job.

I enjoyed my 40 years with the Forest Service. It has 

been hard and rewarding work. I’ve had the pleasure 

of working alongside some of the best scientists in the 

United States and travel to many different states to do 

my work and to attend meetings. In those years, I was 

lucky enough to be added as co-author to over 40 publications. I’m most proud that we established thinning 

studies to combat beetle outbreaks. We also found ways 

to eradicate the beetle in infested logs using solar radiation and clear plastic, an environmentally safe method. 

I will miss the people I’ve come to know at the Rocky 

Mountain Research Station. I hope that it would be said 

of me that I always worked hard and respected the rules 

and regulations put forth by the Forest Service.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007 39

In the fall of 1960, after completing a 6-month tour of 

duty with the U.S. Air Force Reserves, I was hired as 

a biological aid to assist John Chansler and other forest 

entomologists at the RM-Station laboratory in Albuquerque. Both John and I had served as summer field assistants 

at the headquarters laboratory in Fort Collins. The first 

summer (1958), John worked for Fred Knight while I 

worked for Roy Nagel. The second summer (1959), per 

Bill Wilford’s direction, we exchanged supervisors “to 

broaden our experience.” I spent both summers studying the Englemann spruce beetle on the Routt National 

Forest in northern Colorado. During the early 1960s, the 

RM entomological staff at the Albuquerque laboratory 

included Cal Massey, John Chansler, Eugene Ostmark, 

and Milton Stelzer. Ostmark departed shortly after my 

arrival to continue doctoral studies in Florida. He later 

signed on with the United Fruit Company in Central 

America. Bill McCambridge also served at the Albuquerque lab; however, he had transferred to Fort Collins 

by the time I arrived in 1960. During the early 1960s, 

RM-Station forest pathologists at the Albuquerque lab 

included Stuart Andrews, Paul Leightle, and Jerry Riffle. 

Prior to 1960, Forest Pathologist Frank Hawksworth may 

have served at the Albuquerque lab. Range Scientists 

Earl Aldon and Wayne Springfield were also part of 

the RM-Station staff but had offices on campus at the 

University of New Mexico. Later (mid- to late-1960s) 

they moved to the downtown location.

Initially, the Albuquerque laboratory was located in 

the basement of the main U.S. Post Office building on 

Gold Avenue between 4th and 5th streets. Later, the lab 

was moved to the 5th floor of the then “new” Federal 

Building, one block west of the Post Office. The lab and 

associated offices, including a library, insect museum, 

and photographic dark room, occupied most of the northwest portion of the floor of the new Federal Building. 

Sometime during the mid- to late-1960s a greenhouse 

was constructed on the roof of the Federal Building. It 

provided growing space for infective nematode studies. Additional offices off the northwest corridor of 

the new Federal Building were occupied by Region 3 

Forest Entomologists Frank Yasinski (Yas), Don Pierce, 

and Don Lucht. Earlier, Al Rivas served some time as 

a Region 3 forest entomologist, but later transferred to 

timber management.

The early 1960s were tumultuous times following the 

split of forest insect surveys from research. As a result 

of this division, forest insect research suffered deep 

budget cuts, which unfortunately created some friction 

and animosity between research and pest control personnel. I recall hearing heated debates between Cal and 

Yas about this subject and suspect that Cal never fully 

recovered from the split. Nonetheless, the Albuquerque 

folks managed to move forward despite the ensuing 

awkwardness of a split team.

Coffee breaks were always a lively time at the Albuquerque laboratory. Cal Massey generally led the discussion no matter the subject. Who else could shout louder, 

longer, and with emphasized profanity than Cal Massey? 

We were kept in stitches most of time; however, we also 

respected Cal’s vast knowledge of forest entomology 

and related subjects. He spoke with authority and from 

abundant experience learned chiefly “the hard way.”

During my first tenure at the Albuquerque lab, I assisted 

John Chansler with studies on the cold-hardiness of Ips 

confusus and Ips lecontei. We collected “bolts” (sections of tree boles) of infected material from pinyon 

and Ponderosa pine hosts in Arizona, and transported 

the bolts to the Albuquerque lab where we waxed their 

cut ends with paraffin. We almost set the lab on fire 

one day when a pan of melted paraffin ignited! I also 

assisted Milt Stelzer with his studies on the Great Basin 

tent caterpillar (now Western tent caterpillar) in northern 

New Mexico. My “other duties as assigned” included 

pinning and labeling insects in the lab’s insect museum. 

Apparently word had drifted down from Fort Collins 

that I enjoyed these curatorial activities. Cal often visited 

me in the museum and quickly answered any questions 

of insect identity. After my term appointment expired, 

plus an additional 30-day stint in the USAF Reserves 

(Hospital Laboratory Technician, Biggs AFB, El Paso), 

I entered graduate school at Los Angles State College 

(now University of California, Los Angeles) in the fall 

of 1961. However, I dropped out after only one semester, 

returned to Albuquerque, and signed on as Forest Pest 

Entomologist, with Region 3. Frank Yasinski was my 

immediate supervisor. During this time (1961 to 1963), 

the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests were heavily infested with the western spruce budworm which, 

in those days, was treated with DDT. Also during this 

Appendix E—Daniel T. Jennings’ 

Recollections of the Albuquerque Lab, 1960 to 1976
40 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-195. 2007

time, Cal Massey continued to encourage me to return 

to graduate school, which I did in the fall of 1963 at the 

University of New Mexico. After two years of graduate 

work, I applied for a position in forest insect research and 

surprisingly was offered three (!) opportunities: at the 

Southern Station in Pineville, Louisiana (termites); the 

Intermountain Station in Ogden, UT (bark beetles); and 

the North Central Station in St. Paul, Minnesota (jack 

pine budworm). Cal Massey advised me to accept the 

NC Station position, and to continue graduate studies 

at the University of Minnesota. In Minnesota, I worked 

on population dynamics of the jack pine budworm with 

Harold Batzer from 1965 to1968.

One day in the summer of 1968, I received a phone 

call from Cal Massey requesting that I return to the RM 

Station in Albuquerque and fill the position vacated 

by Milt Stelzer. Milt had recently transferred to the 

PNW Station in Corvallis, Oregon. Needless to say, 

I jumped at the opportunity to return to “the Land of 

Enchantment.”

Shortly after my arrival back in Albuquerque in August, 

1968, Cal once again “bore down on me” to continue 

graduate studies for the Ph.D. Fortunately, the Biology 

Department at the University of New Mexico accepted 

my application and dissertation proposal to investigate 

the life history and habits of the southwestern pine tip 

moth. Milt Stelzer had initiated some preliminary studies 

on the tip moth prior to my arrival back in Albuquerque. 

Field work began during the spring of 1969, followed 

by graduate courses in January 1970, and completion 

and defense of the dissertation in November 1972. Cal 

Massey served on the graduate committee; hence, I had 

no choice but to succeed.

As we all know, Cal Massey was a taxonomist par 

excellence. His pioneering studies of parasitic nematodes 

of bark beetles resulted in numerous new discoveries 

and descriptions of previously unknown taxa, including 

new genera and species. He achieved high acclaim in 

nematology with the publication of his magnum opus 

“Biology and Taxonomy of Nematode Parasites and 

Associates of Bark Beetles in the United States” in 

1974. This published tome will remain a valued resource 

for nematologists, forest entomologists, and biocontrol 

experts for decades to come.

Cal spent hours, days, and years meticulously drawing 

and describing new nematode taxa. His pen and ink 

drawings on pebble board are masterpieces of scientific 

illustration, which I greatly admired. The nematode 

collection contains numerous holotypes and paratypes 

of new species.

To make a long story short, Cal Massey played a key role 

in motivating, guiding, and directing me into a research 

career with the USDA, Forest Service. Although he was 

tough as nails, boisterous and outrageous at times, he 

had a heart of gold. He was a good friend and mentor. 

I owe a great deal to him.

Sadly, I was the last research forest entomologist to 

be assigned to the Albuquerque lab. Shortly after Cal 

retired in 1972, his project on nematodes was abolished. 

Although I had been assigned to a separate project, and 

for a short time served as Acting Project Leader, it too 

was abolished and merged with Bob Steven’s project in 

Fort Collins. However, I remained in the Albuquerque lab 

until January of 1976 when I was officially transferred 

to the Northeastern Station in Orono, ME, to work on 

spruce budworm. It was very difficult for me to witness and be affected by these closures. My departure 

represented the end of a long (1952 to 1976) tradition 

of forest insect research at the Albuquerque lab. The 

need for such a sustained research program has not 

diminished one iota! And, it is very doubtful that the 

“Big Bug Programs” will ever fill the void. In fact, such 

accelerated programs are probably responsible for the 

undermining of forest insect research nationwide.
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The Rocky Mountain Research Station develops scientific information 

and technology to improve management, protection, and use of the 

forests and rangelands. Research is designed to meet the needs of 

National Forest managers, Federal and State agencies, public and private 

organizations, academic institutions, industry, and individuals. 

Studies accelerate solutions to problems involving ecosystems, range, 

forests, water, recreation, fire, resource inventory, land reclamation, 

community sustainability, forest engineering technology, multiple use 

economics, wildlife and fish habitat, and forest insects and diseases. 

Studies are conducted cooperatively, and applications may be found 

worldwide.

Research Locations

Flagstaff, Arizona Reno, Nevada

Fort Collins, Colorado* Albuquerque, New Mexico

Boise, Idaho Rapid City, South Dakota

Moscow, Idaho Logan, Utah

Bozeman, Montana Ogden, Utah

Missoula, Montana Provo, Utah

*Station Headquarters, Natural Resources Research Center,

2150 Centre Avenue, Building A, Fort Collins, CO 80526

RMRS

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RESEARCH STATION