Northern Research Station

Title: Fernow Experimental Forest: Research History and Opportunities

Author: Adams, Mary Beth; Edwards, Pamela J.; Ford, W. Mark; Schuler, Thomas M.; Thomas-Van Gundy, Melissa; Wood, Frederica.

Date: 2012

Source:  Experimental Forest and Range WO-EFR-2. Washington, D.C: USDA Forest Service, Washington Office. 26 p.

Station ID: EFR-WO-2

Description: The Fernow Experimental Forest (39.03° N, 79.67° W) is located in north-central West Virginia near the community of Parsons, in the Allegheny Mountain section of the mixed mesophytic forest (Braun 1950). Named after Bernhard Fernow, an early forestry research pioneer, the Fernow Experimental Forest (Fernow) was established in 1934 from land originally purchased as the first tract for the Monongahela National Forest (Monongahela). The Fernow was set aside to "make permanently available for forest research and the demonstration of its results a carefully selected area representing forest conditions that are important in Northeastern West Virginia." The Fernow Establishment Order, dated March 28, 1934, and on file at the Timber and Watershed Laboratory, Parsons, WV, was signed by Arthur A. Wood, supervisor of the Monongahela, and E.H. Frothingham, director of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station, who, in the order, described the forest at the time and detailed working relationships between the Monongahela and the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station.

Keywords: Fernow, EFR, Experimental Forest and Range, silviculture, interdisciplinary research, Appalachians

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Citation

Adams, Mary Beth; Edwards, Pamela J.; Ford, W. Mark; Schuler, Thomas M.; Thomas-Van Gundy, Melissa; Wood, Frederica.  2012.  Fernow Experimental Forest: Research History and Opportunities.   Experimental Forest and Range WO-EFR-2. Washington, D.C: USDA Forest Service, Washington Office. 26 p..