Under the terms of the Magnuson bill, the Secretary of Agriculture could continue to approve

timber sales, but receipts from the sales must remain in a special fund until the issue of Native

claims was settled. This cleared a major obstacle to developing timber resources on the Tongass

National Forest. The next year (1948), a firm from Magnuson's state, Puget Sound Pulp and

Timber, signed a preliminary agreement with the Forest Service in 1948 to locate a pulp mill at

Ward Cove near Ketchikan, thus realizing the goal of industrial development with Alaska forest

products that Heintzleman had pursued since the 1920s. That same year, Heintzleman's protégé,

Ray Taylor, arrived in Alaska to direct the Alaska Forest Research Center in Juneau.43

4 3Rakestraw, Forest Service in Alaska, 125-127 .

41

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. 

Text errors identified by the software have been corrected; 

however, some errors may remain. 
CHAPTER THREE:

Forest Research With

the Alaska Forest

Research Center

Utilitarian principles of forestry were the driving

force behind establishing and managing the

Alaska Forest Research Center as an independent branch of Forest Service activity in Alaska

beginning in 1948, but public support for a stronger

preservationist component in the management of the

National Forests gradually gained more attention in

the United States over the next several decades. Cold

War concerns and defense spending promoted economic development in Alaska through the prosperous

years of the late 1950s, and as American consumers

gained more disposable income and leisure time, they

increased their demand for forest resources and recreational pursuits. The Center functioned during this time

as a small, but independent research facility reporting

directly to the Washington Office, and it reflected the

principles and priorities of its first director, Raymond F.
Taylor, who guided the Center's growth from a two-person operation when he first began work in July 1 948 to

a staff of 14 by 1959, when he retired and Alaska became a state. Taylor, at the time he took the reins of the

Center, was firmly committed to the principles of utilitarian research as promulgated by Heintzleman during

his earlier years in Alaska. Taylor accepted the assignment to head the Center with assurances he would report directly to Washington and not to Heintzleman,

but Heintzleman remained a powerful force in Alaska

for most of Taylor's tenure, first as regional forester from

1937 through 1 953, and then as Territorial Governor of

Alaska, from 1953 through early 1957. Less than two

years after Heintzleman resigned as governor (4 months

before the end of his term), Taylor retired as director of

the Alaska Forest Research Center.1

Ray Taylor fostered a frontiersmanship ethic

in the early years of the Alaska Forest

Research Center. In this 1954 photo, which

he included as an illustration tor his

autobiographical memoir, he notes "I'm

about to get a drink. " (Taylor m.s., p. 57)

Origins and Establishment of the Alaska Forest Research Center

Timber cut on National Forests in Alaska increased from 43 million board feet in 1936 to 60

million in 1950 under the Heintzleman administration, and Heintzleman aggressively courted

the pulp industry in a series of negotiations that placed high priority on locating marketable

stands, demonstrating their long-term potential to attract investors, and allaying concerns about

the possible effects of logging operations on salmon habitat and the dangers of water pollution

from pulp processing. This need for information paved the way for a 1948 congressional appropriation of $50,000 for funding the Research Center that Congress had authorized nearly two

decades earlier. Heintzleman worked with scientists from the Alaska Water Pollution Board, the

Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, and the Forest Products Laboratory to

address these concerns, and Taylor arrived in Juneau in July 1948 to organize the Alaska Forest

Research Center. The next month, the Forest Service approved a preliminary award to the Ketchikan

Pulp Company, controlled by American Viscose Corporation and Puget Sound Pulp and Timber,

out of Bellingham, Washington.2

1Memo 15 March 1959 from R.F. Taylor, Forester in Charge, Alaska Forest Research Center, luneau to

Regional Forester, Region 10, "regarding Raymond F. Taylor, History of Service." Located in slorage

room, Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service. Naske, Alaska, 155.

2Rakestraw, 127-129; Taylor, "First Annual Report of the Alaska Forest Research Center,": 1948 Localed

in the storage room, luneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, 1, 6-8; Taylor, (Notes

and addenda located in the storage room, luneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service);

Cowlin, "lederal Forest Research,' 280-81;

44
Taylor's unit grew from two to tour employees within 6 months after his arrival in July 1948.

Taylor's staff at the Center by the end of 1 948 included Forester Richard Godman, who transferred

from the Massabesic Experimental Forest in Maine in early July, Clerk-Stenographer Elizabeth

Corey, who transferred from Washington in October, and Forester Lawrence Zach, who transferred from the Admiralty Division of the Tongass National Forest in December. Taylor and Godman

initially worked from a desk in one corner of a room in the Regional Office as they began typesite identification of forest stands "merchantable for pulp" during their first short field season with

the Center. Shortly after Zach arrived in Juneau in December 1 948, Taylor's unit (Taylor, Godman,

Corey, and Zach) moved out of the cramped quarters in the Regional Office and set up shop in

the crewhouse previously constructed by CCC workers on the Juneau waterfront, where they

shared space in the building that also housed the U.S. Geological Survey. The type-site identification work remained a staff priority at the Center as contract negotiations with the Ketchikan

Pulp Company continued over the next 3 years. The contract, finally signed in July 1 951, awarded

'The trees were enormous." lohn Grove strikes a

sacrititcial pose before a large spiuce at Virgin Bay in

1951, the third year ot operation lor the Alaska Forest

Research Center, (juneau 413)

Lawrence Zach spraving "aminiate" on

salmonberrv brush near the Hollis laboratory

site in 1953. (luneau 324)

The skeletal crew and resources in the early years of the

Research Center contributed to the sense of exploration

and discovery, as in this photo ot Harold Lutz, 7.

Mardahl, and Ray Taylor going ashore at Karta Bay in

June 1950. (Farr collection)

"just finding out

what's out there,"

or gathering baseline data, was an

early priority ot

Research in

Alaska. Here,

Dick Godman

measures cl.b.h.

on the largest

second-growth

tree found on this

logged-over site

in 1955. Data

from this study

indicated the tree

was 20 years old.

(luneau 338)

45
1.5 billion cubic feet of timber on a 50-year contract at 85¢ per cubic foot for pulpwood, and

between $1.50 and $3 for saw timber, depending on the species.3

Securing adequate office space, transportation, and temporary workers with logistical support

for field research were leading priorities for the Center in the first few years of its existence.

Office space at the crewhouse amounted to 700 square feet, including four offices and a storage

closet in the crewhouse, which was refurbished on a budget of less than $1,100. Taylor arranged

for the transfer and refitting of a twin-engine, diesel-powered boat from the Navy surplus yard in

Seattle with help from Region 6 and the Washington Office. By 1949, the Center commanded a

small fleet consisting of a Steelcraft cruiser for short trips and fast travel, several work skiffs with

outboard motors, and a small wanigan (essentially a scow measuring 18 x 50 feet supporting a

refurbished army surplus hut measuring 1 6 x 24 feet that could be towed from site to site) with a

kitchen, six bunks, a toilet, shower, and power plant. Taylor also arranged with Region 10 to

lease the diesel-powered Ranger 7. This fleet was supported with a radio system borrowed from

Region 10 that failed to operate when needed, and several research assistants who Taylor recruited in 1949 from his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Washington.4

Center scientists concentrated their studies of timber regeneration and the effects of logging

near salmon streams in the Maybeso Valley on Prince of Wales Island, and they drew heavily on

other agencies for technical and logistical support. Despite Taylor's insistence on autonomous

status for the Center as a Research facility responsible only to the Washington Office, Taylor

worked closely with Heintzleman and Region 10. Although Taylor repeatedly emphasized "...no

pressure brought to bear on the selection of research problems," he also acknowledged "...considerable help from all branches of Region 10 with little or no thought of cost." The Center hosted

the annual Christmas party for Region 10 employees and personnel with the U.S. Geological

Survey, and the USGS water resources specialist in Juneau helped Taylor's crew install water stage

recorders for the salmon stream study.5

Taylor solicited input from other federal and territorial agencies and promoted the mission of

the new research center in a series of meetings and presentations with administrative officials

during his first few years in Alaska. He reported establishing "cooperative relations" with the Fish

and Wildlife Service offices in Juneau. Taylor also reported he had established a similar contact

3David M. Smith, currently Professor Emeritus of Silviculture at Yale University, who spoke with

Heintzleman in the 1950s when the former Regional Forester was involved in fundraising efforts at Yale,

observes lhat, in hindsight, the deal that Heintzleman made with the pulp companies was "...too much

of a sweetheart deal and that he was just too eager to lure them in." Smith cautions, however, that "...it

must be remembered that about 1940 [11 years before the deal was signed] ponderosa pine stumpage in

the Northwest was selling for 50c to $1.50 per M." Correspondence from David M. Smith to John A.

Sandor 2b February 1995. [R.F. Taylor], "First Annual Report of the Alaska Forest Research Center,"

(1948) Located in the storage room, luneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, 1-8;

R.F. Taylor, "Second Annual Report: Alaska Forest Research Center, 1949," located in the storage room,

luneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, 5-6; [Taylor], "Third Annual Report [1950]

Alaska Forest Research Center: Forest Research Needs of Alaska and Progress Made to Date, February

20, 1951;" located in the Library, Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, 1, 10-31.

4

Taylor, "First Annual Report," 2-4; Taylor, "Second Annual Report," 33-34;

5

Taylor, "First Annual Report," 4-5.

46
Boats and water routes provided ac cess

and a home-away-from-home tor livid

crews in Alaska. Research "wamgans," a

name derived from the Ojibwa term

"wannikan," meaning "man-made hole,"

were essentially barges with living

quarters and laboratory facilities

constructed on deck that were towed to

field sites. This one anchored on Harris

River in 1958. (Juneau 854)

This 1955 photograph ol a ravine in Halt-Mile Creek on the Maybeso

Experimental Forest shows soil sliding and erosion on a site logged in

1954. The scientist who took the photograph noted on the tile copy

of the print: "erosion seems to be accelerating. " (juneau,

unnumbered)

with George Klez, who headed Fisheries Management, and with whom Taylor's Research unit

cooperated in the study of the effect of logging on salmon streams. The Forestry Division of the

Bureau of Land Management, which maintained a headquarters in Anchorage for Alaska operations, also asked Taylor to construct volume tables from their measurements and to draw up a

plan for obtaining growth and yield data. Taylor also visited Fairbanks and toured the interior

forests north of town from the air as part of a series of discussions with BLM officials concerning

their fire protection program.6

Research efforts at the Center in this early phase of its existence were mostly reactive, as

Regional Foresters with the BLM and the Forest Service raised various "problems" and "concerns"

that Taylor and his staff sought to address. Taylor repeatedly emphasized his independence from

Region 10 in the Center's annual reports, but given the virtual meeting of minds between himself

and Heintzleman on the subject of pulp mills, any direct pressure from Heintzleman for targeted

research would have been superfluous (and probably counter-productive, given Taylor's reputation for an aggressivly independent personal style). Taylor, for his part, noted in his reports that

the small size of the Center forced him to target areas of inquiry where forest research was of

"highest priority," and he observed that most of the Center's research on the Tongass National

Forest was "...geared to needs related to an early development of the timber and pulp industry."7

As planning for the pulp mill moved into high gear, Taylor pressed for more studies of coastal

and interior Alaska to facilitate economic development. He lobbied for a forest survey on the

Tongass National Forest before the Ketchikan mill began operations, warning: "Too little is known

'Taylor, "first Annual Report," 4-6.

Tavlor, "Second Annual Report," I-2.

47
Lawrence Zach taking a discharge measurement

with a Price Current Meter #2400, waders, and a

tag line. (Juneau, unnumbered)

Zach took this photo from a 1950 study at

McCarty Cove as an example of potential

erosion. He noted that the "road & mud & silt

that will wash in fall floods...can't hurt this

non-tish stream... tor forestry, erosion

probably beneficial it it promotes drainage. "

(Juneau 789)

of this climax forest.....It is practically impossible to manage a forest area without an inventory of

growing stock." Toward that end, he acquired two sets of aerial photographs of southeast Alaska

at scales of 1:20,000 and 1:40,000) taken by the U.S. Navy in 1948. He also pointed out the vast

expanse of burned-over forests in the interior that he had toured with the BLM, and argued that a

study of this area was necessary to determine the extent of damage to timber resources. Taylor

contracted his former classmate from Yale, H.J. Lutz, to begin an investigation of the ecological

significance and effects of uncontrolled fires on marketable timber in the interior. The Center

lacked sullicient resources to fund work in the interior, however, and Lutz worked with Taylor in

i 949 to select a portion of the Kenai Peninsula of the Chugach National Forest as the first of a

planned series of studies that Taylor claimed would be "representative" of the interior forests of

Alaska." Differences between forest conditions in the southwest Alaska region of the Kenai and

those of inland Alaska notwithstanding, this compromise solution that Taylor and Lutz devised

stands as a good indication of the difficult conditions of funding and logistics that have long

plagued research efforts in Alaska.

Tavlot. 'Second Annual Report." 1-2. I 8-1 9; Taylor, "Third Annual Report," preface.

48

Despite Ray Taylor's assertion in the early 1950s that research in 

Alaska offered an opportunity to study an area "untouched by 

logging," scientists found ample evidence of early timber 

harvests, such as this old stump of a tree logged in 1918 at 

Mission Cove, which afforded Torolf Torgerson a view of the 

surrounding (regenerating) forest. (Farr collection)
Research conditions in Alaska required

adaptive technology, such as this oil tube

for winter operation of a stream gauge.

Constructed of a 20-foot-long section of

20-gauge galvanized iron, this 75-pound

tube had to be packed to the site, where

in 1950, it was placed in a gauge-house

well and then given a "charge" of 10

gallons of kerosene. A measurement float

rested on the kerosene, which formed a

nonfreezing barrier through the ice to

unfrozen water below,

(luneau 804)

Unidentified researcher with the Alaska

Forest Research Center taking a stream

discharge measurement in 1957. The

photographer (RCM) noted on the file

copy: "Note concentration required by

operator to watch bucket wheel and stopwatch simultaneously." (Juneau 547)

Research Priorities and the Maybeso Experimental Forest

Taylor argued that forest research in Alaska was unique because it "did not follow forest

devastation" and it primarily dealt with "...nature's climax forest as yet almost untouched by the

axe." Much of the early research by Center personnel, however, was either on sites logged-over

in the 1 920s, or on drainages about to be logged or already logged under the pulp mill allotment

on the Tongass. The first, experimental forest in Alaska was established in the Maybeso Valley of

Prince of Wales Island on National Forest land that included an abandoned townsite where adjacent areas were logged over for timber and firewood by former residents. The Center initiated

studies of stream discharge, water temperature, solids, and woody debris in major stream channels of the Maybeso Valley in 1949, when it became obvious the area would be a source of pulp

timber for the Ketchikan mill. Intensive logging in the area began in the early 1950s and continued through the next decade, and the Maybeso Experimental Forest was formally established in

1956.9

Center scientists studied major streams in the Maybeso Valley as early as 1949 in response to

concerns that the proposed logging operations might disrupt the fisheries of coastal Alaska, and

they helped clear the way for final approval of the pulp timber allotment. On 20 February 1951,

less than two years after initiating those studies, Taylor and his limited staff reported in an executive summary that "No evidence was found that logging had destroyed any of the streams for

spawning."10 The body of the report, however, cautioned (over 29 pages later) that "...so much is

still unknown about salmon that our best bet is to concentrate on the physical characteristics of

our streams and whether or not logging alters those characteristics." The paragraphs immedi9Taylor fourth Annual Report, Alaska Forest Research Center, 1951," located in Library, Juneau Office,

PNVV Station, 2-3; Taylor, "Second Annual Report," 1-2, 1 8-1 9; Taylor, "Third Annual Report," preface;

10Mavbeso Experimental Forest Establishment File" Central History Files, Portland Office, PNW Station.

11Tavlor, 'Third Annual Report," preface.

49
Lawrence Zach in a cable car above the

Harris River on the Maybeso Experimental

Forest in Mav 1951. Climbing into this

shoestring convey ance required a

considerable leap of faith, especially with

spring run-oil swelling the streamtlow below.

The cable cars eventually were replaced with

bridges. (Swanston collection)

ately following that statement further muddied the waters, suggesting that "fluctuations" in stream characteristics and spawning behavior after logging may be the

result of "great fluctuations in nature" that are "beyond

the control of man."11

The early watershed studies on the Maybeso Experimental Forest, reportedly took place in the context of an

ongoing interagency rivalry between Fish and Wildlife

Service officials and Forest Service personnel who, at

the time, did not view their mandate to manage "habitat" as extending to studies of the physiology, habits, or

requirements offish.12 Given these limitations, and the

existing standards of research or knowledge about fisheries and habitat requirements, the studies failed to fully

explore the effects of logging on salmon habitat in small

streams. Their emphasis was on streams draining logged

watersheds, not salmon behavior in the streams or habitat requirements of salmon.13

With negotiations to initiate pulp sales underway,

research concerns naturally focused on what the effects of that logging would be, and Taylor's

research unit valiantly struggled with the limited resources and scant knowledge at hand to supply the answers to questions of enormous import. The results of these studies, however conscientious or independent the scientists involved, inevitably were the product of the assumptions and

priorities of those who framed the initial research questions and the limitations of accepted standards of research or the existing base of knowledge. The newly created Center, moreover, had yet

to establish itself as a viable program with value to potential clients. A definite answer to the

management question that Heintzleman posed (Would clearcutting on watersheds of salmon

streams ruin these streams for spawning?) could achieve that goal more certainly than evasive

disclaimers or a series of "maybe so, maybe no" conclusions.14

Rather than emphasizing the limitations of the study, the preliminary nature of the findings, or

the meager resources at the disposal of his fledgling operation, Taylor's report, understandably

enough, emphasized the positive: what he and his scientists had been able to accomplish with

the means available to them. This positivist, "can-do" approach in the face of overwhelming

odds and meager resources continued traditions of scientific research in Alaska dating back to

11Quotations are from Taylor, "Third Annual Report," 2-7, 21-22, and, 28-31.

12Correspondence from Al Harris to Ken Wright 14 March 1995.

13William Meehan discussed shortcomings of early salmon stream studies in interviews at Juneau on 22

December 1992 and 9 August 1993.

14In keeping with this concern, Taylor summarized his conclusions in a prefatory section of the report

headed: "Pertinent Results in Brief." Taylor, "Third Annual Report," (n.p.); Rakestraw, Forest Service in

Alaska, I29.

50
Research technician preparing silt

haps by washing gravel in running

water to remove "lines" (ca. 1957)

(luneau 557)

Technology in use for watershed

studies in 1957 included this 46-

ounce tin can filled with washed

gravel. This silt trap was placed

in the stream bed on the Harris

River as part of the ettort to

determine whether widespread

logging would affect fisheries in

southeast Alaska, (luneau 559)

William McNeil demonstrates a method

tor obtaining dissolved oxygen samples

from stand pipes in a creek in 1958.

(luneau 851)

Visitors view a counting tower built on an

old tish trap during a demonstration

program in 1958. These outreach

programs were an important component in

Taylor's strategy to develop a client-base

for the Alaska Forest Research Center in its

first decade of operation, (luneau 849)

51

Research technician collecting gravel 

for use in silt traps on the Harris River 

in 1957. (Iuneau 558)

Scientists with the Alaska Forest Research Center spent 

much of their time establishing an infrastructure to 

support research efforts, as in this view of Lawrence 

Zach and an assistant constructing a hand-rail for a log 

bridge on Old Tom Creek in 1950. (Juneau 778)
Lawrence Zach measuring discharge

on Indian Creek near its confluence

with the Harris River at low tide in

1950. (Juneau 769) John drove and A.P. "Cappy" Caporaso loading a boat at a cabin on the

Taku River in 1955. The scientist's life was not always glamorous, and

logistical matters consumed energy, time, and resources. (Juneau 1335)

Steller's 10-hour jaunt on Kayak Island two centuries earlier. That tradition of making do with

resources at hand and forging ahead into unknown territory has often yielded significant rewards

and accolades, but it is not without its pitfalls, as the earlier experiences of Steller and Bering

dramatically demonstrate.

Taylor's report (regardless of his intentions15) served the interests of Heintzleman, who in 1951

was in the final stages of negotiations with the Ketchikan Pulp Company and was starting negotiations with a Japanese firm interested in locating pulp mills in Alaska. One year later, the U.S.

Department of Agriculture awarded Heintzleman its Superior Service Award in recognition of his

management of forest resources in Alaska.16 Heintzleman's star was clearly on the rise, and his

long-standing commitment to support forest research in Alaska was a critical factor central to the

successful emergence of Taylor and the Center.

At this stage in the development of a research program, the Center lacked access to many of

the tools commonly available to forest researchers in other regions of the Forest Service, but

Taylor and his staff compensated by piggybacking their research on forest management projects

15Although Taylor's commitment to scientific veracity and independent research is not in dispute, his

personal inclinations on the subject of developing a pulp industry in southeast Alaska were straightforward and are certainly relevant to the manner in which he reported the initial results of research

accomplished by his unit, which by his own admission, was understaffed and underfunded. Taylor, for

example, went out of his way to express support for developing an industry based on the fiber content of

coastal forests in an unusual expository preface to the Center's "Third Annual Report". In that preface,

Taylor elaborated on the perceived need for political, social, and economic development in southeast

Alaska in an editorial outlining the population growth of Alaska and the need, as he saw it, for a "yearround permanent industry." Taylor, "Third Annual Report," 1-3.

16On Hemlzlemans pulp mill negotiations, see Records of the Forest Service, Regional Forester, Juneau,

Alaska. "Japanese Mission, Historical Records" located in the National Archives-Alaska Region;

Rakestraw 128; and Taylor, "History," (Notes and addenda located in storage room, (uneau Forestry

Sciences 1 aboratorv, USDA Forest Service).

52
An aerial view of the research camp and other facilities at

Hollis in September 1959. (luneau 692)

Cat Island camp at Hollis on Prince

of Wales Island looking down

floating walkway to Wanigan 12 and

skiffs, with the MV Maybeso at

anchor and a view of clearculs on

the Maybeso Experimental Forest in

the background. Photo taken at high

tide in July 1957. (Helmets

collection)

Watershed study on the Harris River, spur 241. The

drainage was tirst cat-logged, then the creek was

diverted, the gravel removed and tinallv, the creek

re-diverted lo its original coutse minus the graveli.

Photo taken in 1959 (Juneau 567)

Hollis camp at high tide in 1957, including, from

left, a workboat, the 42-toot Research vessel MV

Maybeso, Wanigan 12 (housing the dining area,

cook's quarters, office, bunk rooms, and supplies

storage), two skiffs, the floating walkway to shore,

Wanigan 13, and a small shop. (Helmers

collection)

53
As the local hub of Research efforts on the

Maybeso Experimental Forest, the Hollis

"camp" gradually expanded into an impressive

collection of semipermanent structures by

1958, including floats, shop, "transa-home,"

and cabin, but lite at Hollis could also be an

isolating experience tor research staff with

family in luneau. (Juneau 264)

Years ot scientific work at the Hollis camp made it a rural outpost

of urban culture with considerable appeal to Alaska wildlife such

as this black bear at the Hollis dump. (Farr collection)

and harvest operations. Research efforts in southeast Alaska quickly concentrated around the

major drainages near the Hollis townsite in the Maybeso Valley, although Taylor claimed in his

second annual report that "...the wholeTongass Forest is an experimental area..."17 Taylor repeatedly emphasized the need for "year-round permanent industry" in Alaska, and research efforts

consciously aimed to support the development of a timber industry either directly, with growth

and yield information and volume tables, or indirectly, with research programs designed to clear

obstacles to timber production.18

A visiting professional forester from the Washington Office, W.H. Larrimer, toured the Center's

facilities at Hollis in 1952, reportedly while enroute from the Third Alaskan Science Conference

and while Taylor was away at a conference. Larrimer listened to staff members with the Center

discuss problems with boats19 and workspace in Juneau, and he suggested the need for an experimental forest to minimize the need for travel to and from field sites. This chance meeting and

gripe session apparently sparked efforts over the next 4 years to formally establish an experimental forest on the Maybeso Creek drainage. Research efforts before 1952 focused on three test

streams near the abandoned townsite at Hollis. Later foresters emphasize that extreme diversity

of conditions from site to site is a defining characteristic of forest research in Alaska,20 but at this

17TavIor.Second Annual Report," 34.

18See, lor example, Taylor, "Third Annual Report," 2-7, 21-22, and his comments on the salmon stream

studies, 28-31.

19At the lime of his visit, the Ranger 6 was on loan from Region 10 to the Center because it was

20considered unsafe for further use by Region 10." Taylor suggested it was "not in the interests of the

Forest Ser\ ice Safely program to continue to run these old, rot-filled boats." R. F. Taylor, "Fifth Annual

Report. Alaska Forest Research Center, 1952," (typescript located in the luneau Library, PNW Station),

29

20Interview with Hill Farr 9 August 1993.

54
early stage of gathering basic information on theTongass National Forest,Taylor claimed that this area near Hollis included

"...all forest types common to the southern part of the Forest

and much of the work on cutting methods will be done here,

as logging proceeds." Initial plans for the Maybeso Experimental Forest called for logging the Maybeso and Harris Creek

drainages "right up to the stream's edge..." and reserving the

third drainage (Indian Creek) as an unlogged watershed. The

Center established a 16- x 28-foot cabin at Hollis in 1952 to

support the small 12- x 16-foot office-laboratory constructed

the previous summer, and Taylor proposed construction of a

42-foot boat, aptly named the Maybeso and dedicated upon

completion to support research operations in the Maybeso

Valley and elsewhere.21

Housing and family concerns caused problems with retaining field workers employed by the Center. During the

Center's first decade in operation, staff members who found

themselves working 5 months in the field at the Hollis site

requested reassignment for family reasons. Zach resigned in

1952 to take up farming in Oregon to avoid being separated from his family (who remained in

Juneau for 5 months each year while he worked at Hollis during the field season), and Godman

requested a transfer to the states the same year for similar reasons. Workers living in official

quarters on research projects in the field (the wanigan, research boat, or bunkhouse at Hollis)

also demanded compensation for the weekends they were trapped on site and away from town,

and Taylor suggested a 6-day work week might be the answer. The transfers of Zach and Godman

also left openings for two new scientists and a generational change, of sorts, in research personnel. Taylor recruited Division Supervisor Harold E. Anderson from the Petersburg office to replace Zach, and he held Godman's spot open for 1 year anticipating the return of Cornell graduate Robert Gregory, a botany and soils specialist who had worked for the Center for two summers

before 1 952 and had just left Alaska to begin the graduate program at Yale School of Forestry. A

third recruit, John L. Hall, was hired in 1 952 primarily for computing work in the Juneau office.

Hall was also a Yale graduate who had worked for the Center the previous two summers.22

Many scientists gained their first

exposure to Alaska Research in the

comforting environs of the Mayheso

Experimental Forest. In this case

Robert Gregory who later gained

reknown tor his studies ot white fir in

the interior, examines a specimen of

suhalpine fir in July 1952. (juneau 458)

21Taylor, ' Fifth Annual Report," 21-22, 29-30; Interview with Al Harris 22 December 1992 in Juneau,

AK: "Mavbeso Experimental Forest Establishment File" History Files, Portland Office, PNW Station.

22Taylor, 'Tilth Annual Report," 30-31.

55
Limestone Inlet was one of the first Research Natural Areas in Alaska. (Farr collection)

Research Natural Areas Established Before 1960

Timber sales and logging operations scheduled for the Maybeso Valley during the 1950s led

Taylor to conclude that "control" areas should be set aside for future reference in studies exploring how these disruptive events might affect what he described as the "natural climax forests" of

southeast Alaska. Toward that end, the Center sought approval for Research Natural Areas at Old

Tom Creek near Ketchikan, and at Pack Creek and Limestone Inlet near Juneau. These three areas

were set aside with approval from Heintzleman and the Washington Office in 1951, and they

were maintained in their natural state, free of logging or other disruptive uses through the 1 980s.

Research Natural Areas generally were proposed by field researchers and were subject to the

approval of forest managers at Region 1 0 and the Washington Office. Proposals that successfully

snaked their way through the approval process typically highlighted the unique features represented within the area while implying that no marketable stands were in the area.23

In an era when the policy ot the Forest Service was to promote timber production on the

Tongass and Chugach National Forests, forest managers usually refused to approve any sites with

harvest potential. Sites might be deemed unsuitable tor harvest if they were either too remote for

economical timber production or if trees on those sites were unlikely to produce valuable timber

56

23Those familiar with this process in Alaska suggest that it was somewhat of an art and those who

succeeded at winning approval tor proposed RNAs honed their sleight-of-hand skills along the way. AI

Harrisrei. alls it was like "pulling teeth... if there was any commercial timber there, it could not get

approver! " Bill Farr observes thai relatively little research work was done on the Research Natural

Areas- because the emphasis in Alaska has always been research on logged-over areas, or development

on logged areas, at least until Charley Wallmo and Tom Hartley began studying deer in the old-growth

forests of southeast Alaska. Interview with Bill farr 21 Dec 1992 in Juneau, AK; Interview with Al

Harris Bill farr, Don Schmiege, Doug Swanston, Bill Meehan. Tom Laurent, Carl Hegg, and Mary Lewis

22 Dec 1992 in luneau, AK; "RNA File,' located in storage room, luneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory,

USDA Foresl Service
in the near future. Given the logistical problem of physical accessibility and the productionoriented research of the period, however, either of these two conditions would undermine the

utility of a site as an RNA: "Benchmark" studies in undisturbed stands would be prohibitively

expensive and difficult to accomplish in remote, inaccessible areas, and unless at least some

areas with commercial timber could be included, the resulting matrix of RNA sites would not

truly represent the entire range of ecosystems in Alaska forests. As a result, relatively few sites

proposed for RNA status gained final approval, and those that were approved seldom played a

significant role in forest research in Alaska for most of the next three decades.24

Administrative Changes and Expansion of the Research Program

Research at the Center branched out into new areas during the mid-1950s as forest policy,

administrative, and personnel changes at the Center, the Region, and nationally expanded the

areas of responsibility for scientists at Juneau, increased the diversity of their educational backgrounds and research interests, and continued the Alaska tradition of strong ties with leading

figures in forest research and forest management. Heintzleman retired from the Forest Service in

1953 and accepted appointment as Governor of Alaska Territory just as pulp logging escalated

with the beginning of wood-chip exports to Japan. His successor at Region 10, Arthur W. Greeley,

was the son of former Chief W.B. Greeley (of the Harding-Coolidge era) and a forest manager

with Forest Service experience in Montana, Idaho, and California. Greeley was left to contend

with a serious outbreak of the blackheaded budworm, which seriously threatened Alaska timber

just as he assumed control, and this outbreak created a demand for entomological research at

Juneau. These changes took place during the administration of Forest Service Chief Richard

McArdle, who took office 2 years earlier and presided over a system-wide administrative reorganization in 1953.25

McArdle was a long-term veteran of the Forest Service and also an academic who held a

Ph.D. in forestry from the University of Michigan and had served as Dean of Forestry at the

University of Idaho during the early 1 930s. As Assistant Chief in the 1940s, McArdle promoted

the idea that the Forest Service should provide "on-the-ground technical assistance to individual

landowners,"26 and he worked with research and state and local foresters throughout his Forest

24Al Harris, whose experience with the Forest Service in Alaska dates back to 1954, was involved in

several efforts to establish RNA sites, recalls that Region 10 managers "...tended to resist any withdrawal

of timber from potential cutting, although they were always ready to cite existing RNA's as examples of

their concern for science and multiple use." Correspondence from Al Harris to Ken Wright 14 March

1995. Interview with Bill Farr 21 Dec 1992 in Juneau, AK; interview with Al Harris, Bill Farr, Don

Schmiege. Doug Swanston, Bill Meehan, Tom Laurent, Carl Hegg, and Mary Lewis 22 Dec 1992 in

Juneau, AK; "RNA File," located in storage room, Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest

Service

25More than 11 .6 million acres on the Tongass National Forest were under attack from the budworm by

1954, when Congress amended the McSweeney-McNary Act to include funding and support for

research and inventory work on forest lands in the territories as well as the states. R.F. Taylor, Annual

Report I 954 (juneau: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Alaska Forest Research Center,

Station Paper 2, 1955), 1; communication from Ken Wright to author June 1995; Rakestraw, Forest

Service in Alaska, 140-141; Steen, The U.S. Forest Service, 278-280.

26Robbins, American Forestry, 1 72-1 73.

57
Alaska Lumber and Pulp mill at Sitka. (Juneau

3092)

Service career to promote cooperative relations with

private industry and state foresters. McArdle remained

Chief of the Forest Service through 1962, and his connections with academic foresters at the University of

Michigan and the University of Idaho apparently helped

bring a new breed of researchers to the fore in Alaska.

McArdle's Deputy Chief for Research, V.L. Harper, and

his Associate Chief, George Jemison were responsible

for implementing a substantial increase in the size of

Forest Service Research, improved training and work

environments for Forest Service scientists, and a program of laboratory construction from the early 1950s

through the early 1960s.27

During McArdle's administration, "Yale men" became less dominant at the Center, and scientists assigned to work there more often earned their graduate and undergraduate degrees at state

colleges and universities in the Midwest (notably the University of Michigan and Michigan State

University) and in the West (notably the University of Idaho, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, and the Colorado, California, and Washington schools).28 McArdle and subordinates such as Greeley were no less committed to the utilitarian principles of forestry and cooperation with the needs of industry than their predecessors, but they reshaped the professional

networks of power within the agency and between the Forest Service, academia, and private

industry. Over the long term, those networks drew a new generation of scientists into the Forest

Service and distributed them through the agency into various offices, experiment stations, and

research centers. Over the short term, the administrative reorganization of 195329 led to a shuffling of assignments and a willingness to consider new positions opening up at the Center. One

result of this process was a new diversity of ideas and backgrounds among the forest researchers

working with the Center in Juneau during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

27Communication from Robert Buckman and Ken Wright to author, Spring 1996.

28Profossion.il Biography Files, Central History Files, Portland Office, PNW Station.

29This reorganization came in the first year of the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency and was part of a

government-wide shuffle that phased out many agencies in the wake of election-year promises from

Eisenhower and Congressional Republicans) to reduce the size of government and privatize New Deal

programs. Ken Wright recalls that agencies "phased-out" included the Bureau of Entomology and Plant

Quarantine, and he notes he was transferred into the Forest Service as part of the shuffle that moved

Foresl Entomology and Pathology into the Forest Service. Communication from Ken Wright to author

June 1995.

58
Natural Events and the Transformation of Research in Alaska

The problems facing forest researchers in Alaska initially were defined by the needs of private

industry, refined by the dictate's of Congressional legislation and Forest Service policy, and transformed by "natural" events and legal actions that often were unplanned consequences of earlier

forest management practices. During the late 1950s, these forces converged in a series of events

that redefined the mission of the Center and culminated in its reorganization as the Northern

Forest Experiment Station by the early 1 960s. The blackheaded budworm crisis of the mid 1 950s,

massive landslides on areas logged for pulp timber during the late 1950s, forest fires in the interior, and a federal mandate to begin a forest survey of coastal and interior Alaska vastly expanded

the scope, purpose, and geographic extent of Center responsibilities and led to an increase in

funding, personnel, and areas of research. Private industry, academia, and government agencies

asked more and different questions of a larger and more varied research staff who brought a

broader range of disciplines and methods to bear on those issues.

The blackheaded budworm crisis peaked during this period of administrative realignment and

made entomological research at the Center a high priority just as research on forest entomology

came under the nationwide purview of the Branch of Research. Industry officials and public

foresters in the Pacific Northwest lobbied Congress for federal legislation to improve coordination of forest protection efforts after World War Two, and the Forest Pest Control Act of 1947

provided for federal funding and technical assistance to coordinate detection and control efforts

nationwide. Responsibility for Alaska fell to the Forest Insect Investigations Laboratory of the

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, in Portland through

1953, and Portland Division Chief Robert Furniss visited Alaska several times during the

Close-up of "actively eroding suiface" at traitor's Cove

in 1957. Photographer Zach noted that the "mat of soil

holding stumps and roots has gnen way on steep

unstable slope. Note debris-choked water course."

Zach's conclusion: "No evidence that this material was

washing down slope."(juneau 837)

Debris-choked draw in Halt-Mile Creek on the

Maybeso Experimental Forest in 1955, showing erosion

on slopes logged tor the watershed studies in the early

years of the Alaska Forest Research Center. Taylor

concluded within three years oi beginning those studies

that "No evidence was found that logging had

destroyed any ot the streams tor spawning. " (juneau

1699)

59

CONTINUED