Archives West Finding Aid

The Blue River Experimental Forest was designated by the United States Forest Service in 1948, and renamed the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest five years later following the death, in an automobile accident, of Region 6 Chief Forester Horace J. Andrews. In the years since, the forest has served as a laboratory for a wide array of scientific investigations including trials related to forest operations efficiency and the impacts of logging on numerous aspects of forest ecology. The site was also selected for two long-term trials sponsored by the National Science Foundation -- the International Biological Program, and the Long-Term Ecological Research Network. Many of these experiments have been led by Oregon State University research scientists working in collaboration with employees of the U.S. Forest Service. In more recent time, the forest has also nurtured the creative work of writers- and artists-in-residence sponsored by OSU's Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature and the Written Word.

Max G. Geier is Professor Emeritus of History at Western Oregon University, where he also served as chair of the university's Social Science Division. His scholarly interests include environmental and North American history, with a particular focus on community development in the western United States and Canada. In addition to two books on the history of forest science research in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, Geier is the author of The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West (Oregon State University Press, 2015), a study of a racially charged 1943 murder trial.

Samuel Schmieding is an independent research historian and photographer with interests in environmental history as well as the history of science, geography, cartography, Native American history and Latin American history.

Sara Khatib is a cultural anthropologist who earned a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016, and a master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Oregon in 2021.

Fred Swanson is a research geologist who worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1977-2012. He spent much of his career studying the geology-ecology interface in the Andrews Forest and serving in a variety of leadership positions, including as principal investigator of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. In 2018 he was selected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The narrators interviewed for the projects described in this collection can be broadly grouped into two categories -- U.S. Forest Service employees and Oregon State University faculty. The Forest Service employees who contributed interviews are as follows:

Ed Anderson (Blue River District Ranger), Rolf Anderson (Willamette National Forest administrator), Martha Brookes (research scientist), Lynn Burditt (Blue River District Ranger), Terry Cryer (trades maintenance worker), John Cissel (Blue River Research Liaison), Ted Dyrness (soil scientist), Steve Eubanks (Blue River District Ranger), Jerry Franklin (research forester and chief plant ecologist), Gordon Grant (research hydrologist), Don Henshaw (information technology specialist), Richard Iverson (landslide specialist), Sherri Johnson (Pacific Northwest Research Station scientist), Mike Kerrick (Willamette National Forest Supervisor), Al Levno (research scientist), George Lienkaemper (Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory geologist), Art McKee (Andrews Experimental Forest Director), Ross Mersereau (Andrews Experimental Forest field staffer), Norm Michaels (research forester), Cindy Miner (Pacific Northwest Research Station Assistant Director for Communications and Applications), Russ Mitchell (entomologist), John Moreau (field technician), Jean Rothacher (wife of Jack Rothacher, Pacific Northwest Research Station Forester in Charge), Jim Sedell (research scientist), Roy Silen (Forest Genetics Research Project leader), Zane Smith (Willamette National Forest Supervisor), Fred Swanson (geologist), Bob Tarrant (Pacific Northwest Research Station Director), and Gabe Tucker (Andrews Experimental Forest research scientist).

The OSU faculty members interviewed for the projects include:

Norm Anderson (Professor of Entomology), Linda Ashkenas (Senior Faculty Research Assistant in the College of Agricultural Sciences), Barbara Bond (Professor of Forest Ecology and Ecophysiology), George Brown (Professor of Forest Engineering and Dean of the College of Forestry), Kermit Cromack (Professor of Forest Ecosystems and Society), Bill Ferrell (Professor of Forest Ecology), Stan Gregory (Professor of Fisheries), Robert Griffiths (OSU and Forest Service research scientist), Jim Hall (Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife), Mark Harmon (Professor of Forest Ecosystems and Society), Julia Jones (Professor of Geography), Jack Lattin (Professor of Entomology), Andy Moldenke (Professor of Entomology), Tim Schowalter (Professor of Entomology), Phil Sollins (Professor of Forest Ecosystems and Society), Susan Stafford (Professor of Forest Science), Jim Trappe (Professor of Mycology) and Dick Waring (Distinguished Professor of Forest Science).