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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 asked Gifford Pinchot to study why the
ponderosa pine forest was not regenerating after logging. Fort Valley was
the main field and laboratory site for forest management investigations in
Region 3.
Fort Valley's first responsibility was mensurational studies.
Researchers 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 of Fort Valley and
was the sole scientist on the site in the winter of 1908-09. He lived in
this uninsulated cabin first built in 1906 as a forest ranger's cabin. He
buried his canned food to keep it from freezing, but the cans froze anyway
and the labels came off. Pearson never knew what his meal would contain
until he had opened a few cans. The next spring, he built an insulated
residence/office now known as the Pearson House.
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 eight years,
providing a ninety-year record of change.
In August, 1909, Fort Valley served as the site for Ranger Schools to
train incoming District 3 rangers. Students learned silvilcuture, camp
maintenance, law, grazing, fieldwork, horse care, and office work during
the two-week sessions. Two sessions per year were held intermittently until
World War II began. A baseball game pitted the Arizona rangers against the
New Mexico rangers and included rules that base runners had to remove their
spurs and firearms. The camaraderie that developed was as important as the
skills learned.
Today, the Fort Valley campus is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places and is eligible as a National Historic Landmark. Plans to
refurbish the buildings are in process. The archives generated from Fort
Valley's pioneering work in USFS research include photographs, maps,
correspondence, and reports which are maintained by Rocky Mountain Research
Station. Some of the photos may be accessed in the image database.
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.
A weather study initiated in 1916 followed biologist C. Hart Merriam
study in 1889 when he suggested the lifezones theory based on his work on
the San Francisco Peaks. Fort Valley scientists placed weather recording
instruments and nurseries at various altitudes. They planted exotic species
to see if they would survive and take weather readings weekly. They would
leave the Fort Valley station at daybreak with snowshoes strapped on and
lunches packed.
By 1927, Fort Valley's scope of operations had grown to include Range
studies. Charles K. Cooperrider was the head of this Division. Scientists
studied domestic and wildlife grazing damage to tree reproduction and also
studied range grasses. Permanent Range Study Plots were established around
Region 3 and are still being monitored.
A 1910 test of ponderosa pine's ability to produce resin was led by
USFS engineer Harold S. Betts who based his research from Fort Valley.
The initial response was good enough for more research the following year
over a larger area. Results indicated that ponderosa pines produce resin at
about 4/5 the quantity of southeastern trees when factors such as length of
season are the same. Resin quality is similar and the main problem to
developing turpentine operations in northern Arizona was the lack of
skilled laborers. The potential existed for a market, but the idea was
never pursued.
Fort Valley not only has a rich history but also has an exciting future!
Today Fort Valley is bustling with
renovation activities.
Related information
A History of the Fort Valley Forest Experiment Station
Fort Valley, the Beginnings of Forest Service Research (Adobe Acrobat PDF file) by Susan Olberding, Forest History Today, Spring 2000.
Fort Valley weather data (1909 to present).
Fort Valley image database
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Fort Valley Centennial Conference and Celebration - August 7-9, 2008 
