Bustling Hub of Research, Teaching and Recreation
Duke Forest Marks 75 Years as One of the Nation's Largest Private Research Forests and a Unique Resource for the University and the Region p.2
Despite the overwhelming workload— or perhaps because of it—Korstian, his students and fellow faculty members formed a tight-knit band. Long, hard days of work were enlivened with evening campfires, practical jokes and a sense of camaraderie that remains a vivid memory for surviving participants even today.
William R. "Randy" Boggess MF'40 first saw Duke Forest in January 1935 when he came to Duke as a graduate teaching assistant in botany. He worked as a research assistant to Korstian in 1936 and on one of the Duke Forest work crews in the summer of 1938. (See an alumni profile of Boggess here >.)
"I have fond recollections of both the forest and the people," the 93-year-old retired forester from Austin, Texas, says. In spite of sore backs, blistered hands and frequent run-ins with chiggers, mosquitoes and copperheads, morale in the forest rarely flagged, he says, because of a shared belief that they were doing important work.
ADAPTING TO CHANGE
By the 1940s, Duke Forest's research and teaching focus broadened to
include the emerging field of forest ecology—a shift that reflected the
scientific community's growing understanding of the relationships between
forest change, health and productivity.
Drawing on the data they had amassed from more than a decade of biological surveys and plot sampling in Duke Forest, Korstian and his colleagues published seminal studies on the process of forest change and the impacts of human disturbances on forest ecosystems.
Those studies, and the comprehensive database Korstian and his team created, "are benchmarks scientists still use today," says Norman L. Christensen Jr., professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School. "They helped form the foundation for southern forest ecology as we know it today, and established Duke Forest as a site ideally suited for long-term ecological research."
Christensen himself is one of hundreds of researchers indebted to this legacy. His studies, conducted over the last 30 years, on plant succession, the impact of deer populations and the role of natural fire regimes in southeastern forests would not have been possible, he says, without having access to permanent research plots and forest archives in Duke Forest. (See the special feature on Christensen here >.)
"Nearly all research on southern forest ecology from the 1950s onward has roots that trace back, directly or indirectly, to Duke Forest," he says.
Edeburn agrees. "One of the things that makes the forest so valuable for scientists is that it has remained a research and teaching facility throughout its history, even as surrounding lands have been developed," he says. "We have detailed records that document every tree that has been planted here, and every research and forest management activity that has taken place here, for the past 75 years. That's an incredible resource."
Since the 1990s, the forest's focus has expanded yet again to encompass disciplines in the natural and environmental sciences—a change that mirrors the School of Forestry's evolution into the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.
This year, at sites throughout the forest, students and scientists from Duke and other universities are conducting more than 50 research projects on subjects as diverse as water quality, air quality, botany, zoology, wetlands restoration, soil science, carbon sequestration and climate change. The U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation and the USDA Forest Service are among the agencies that sponsor this research, valued at $4 million.