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Coconino Experiment Station (now Fort Valley Experimental Forest) was the
first USFS research facility established in the nation when it opened in
August 1908. The Riordan brothers, Flagstaff lumbermen, were concerned
that the ponderosa pine forest was not naturally regenerating after being logged
and asked USFS Chief Gifford Pinchot to study why. After examination
of other possible southwestern locales for the research station, Fort Valley was
chosen. The primary responsibility (initial focus) was silvicultural research. Scientists
studied natural and artificial regeneration, stand improvement, sample
plots, climate - everything that might influence a tree's life.
Forester Gustaf Adolph Pearson became the Director at Fort Valley and was
the sole scientist on the site in the winter of 1908-09.Additional scientists arrived the following spring.
Pearson and Region 3 silviculturalist T.S. Woolsey, Jr. established
permanent sample plots over all the various forest types in the southwest
in 1912. They measured, photographed, and inventoried the plots every five
years until Pearson's retirement in 1944. NAU forestry professors and
students have been remeasuring the plots for the past decade so a
ninety-year record of ecological change is intact.
As Fort Valley was the initial USFS research facility, scientists who
visited or worked there reads like a Who's Who list: Emanuel Fritz, T.S.
Woolsey, Jr. Enoch W. Nelson, Edward C. Crafts, Hermann Krauch, Bert
Lexen, Charles Cooperrider, Clarence F. Korstian, and E.M. Hornibrook,
among many others. A rumor persists that Gifford Pinchot tore his pants
while going through a fence during a visit to the Wing Mountain Sample
Plot.
Today, the Fort Valley campus is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places and is eligible as a National Historic Landmark. The archives generated from Fort
Valley's pioneering work in USFS research include photographs, maps,
correspondence, and reports and are available to researchers.
Some of the photos may be accessed in the image database.
Additional information
Scientist in Charge: Brian Geils
Mattoon, W. R. 1909. Measurements of the Effects of Forest Cover Upon the Conservation of Snow Waters. Forest Quarterly 7(3): 245-248. PDF
Pearson, G. A. 1910. The Coconino Forest Experiment Station Near Flagstaff, Ariz. Monthly Weather Review, Volume 38, Issue 3. PDF
Pearson, G. A. 1913. A Meteorological Study of Parks and Timbered Areas in the Western Yellow-Pine Forests of Arizona and New Mexico. Monthly Weather Review, Vol. No. 41, pages 1615-1629. PDF
A History of the Fort Valley Forest Experiment Station
Fort Valley weather data (1909 to present).
Fort Valley image database
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| Fort Valley News and Highlights |
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Fort Valley Webcam
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Historic Photographs
The Pearson House (on right) and Hermann
Krauch residence on left at Fort Valley in winter. In the background are
the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona. 1920.
This series of repeat photos shows the changes to the forest. Photos from 1909, 1941, 1949. Note the regeneration of seedlings.
Pearson measuring relative humidity. 1924
These two pink mules, Pat and Mike, transported men and supplies around Fort Valley from 1908-1918. 1910 photograph.
Ranger training camp. 1913
Fort Valley scientists leaving tool shack for work. 1913.
Researcher snowshoeing on the peaks. 1916.
Inserting apron in incision made by broad-axe. Turpentine experiment. 1910.
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| There are over 2500 more historic images in the Fort Valley image library (slow link) |
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