Timeline – USDA Forest Service Experiment Stations in the South
Southern Research Station

1921- Appalachian Forest Experiment Station (FES) established in Asheville, NC; E.H. Frothingham, Director

1921- Southern Forest Experiment Station established in New Orleans, LA; R.D. Forbes, Director

1927- Southern FES; E.L. Demmon, Director; staff had grown to 23

1927- Bent Creek Experimental Forest (EF) established in North Carolina; research work had begun at Bent Creek in the early 1920's. Bent Creek is the third oldest EF in the Nation. Current location of Research Work Unit (RWU)-4101, Southern Appalachian Forests

1928- Passage of McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act

1929- Misc. Pub. 50, containing "normal" yield tables for unmanaged pine stands

1930- First woman forester in the Forest Service, Margaret Stoughton, Bent Creek EF, 1930-1937

1933- Civilian Conservation Corps established – constructed headquarters buildings and access roads to experimental forests, and installed experimental plots

1934- Appalachian FES Director; Clarence L. Forsling

1934- Sylamore EF and Crossett EF (1940) established in Arkansas; silviculture research begins, that is now continued in RWU-4106, Upland Forest Ecosystems, Monticello, AR

1934- Olustee EF established in Florida

1934- Harrison EF established in Mississippi

1934- Coweeta EF established in North Carolina; current location of RWU-4351, Watershed Responses to Disturbance

1935- Palustris EF established in Louisiana

1937- Santee EF established in South Carolina

1938- Appalachian FES Director; R.E. McArdle

1938- Hitchiti EF established in Georgia

1940- Hardwood research begins in Stoneville, MS

1944- Appalachian FES; Director, I.T. Haig

1944- Southern FES Director; Charles A. Connaughton

1945- Stephen F. Austin EF established in Texas

1945- Forest economics research began; 1977 became RWU-4802, Legal, Tax, and Economic Influences, New Orleans, LA, and RWU-4851, Economics of Forest Resources, RTP, NC

1946- Appalachian FES becomes Southeastern FES with responsibility for forest research in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

1946- Program began that became RWU-4111, Even-aged Southern Pine Forests

1947- Escambia EF established in Alabama. Longleaf pine silviculture research began in Brewton, AL; became RWU-4105, Vegetation Management and Longleaf Pine Research for Southern Forests, Auburn, AL

1947- John C. Calhoun EF established in South Carolina

1950- Tallahatchie EF established in Mississippi

1951- Southeastern FES Director; E.L. Demmon

1951- Southern FES Director; H.L. Mitchell

1951- Henry R. Koen EF established in Arkansas

1954- Southern FES Director; P.A. Brieglib

1954- Planting the Southern Pines, by Philip Wakeley, Agric Monograph No. 18

1954- The Southern Institute of Forest Genetics (now RWU-4153) established in Gulfport, MS; currently located at Harrison EF near Saucier, MS

1956- Southeastern FES Director, J.F. Pechanec

1959- Alum Creek EF established in Arkansas

1959- Southern Forest Fire Laboratory completed in Macon, GA -- the world's first lab devoted entirely to the study of forest fires

1961- Chipola EF established in Florida

1961- Scull Shoals EF established in Georgia

1961- Delta EF established in Mississippi

1962- Southeastern FES Director; Thomas F. McClintock

1962- Southern Hardwoods Lab, Stoneville, MS; RWU-4155, Center for Bottomland Hardwoods

1962- Forestry Sciences Lab, Research Triangle Park; RWU-4154, Biological Foundations of Sustainability; RWU-4803, Forest Health Monitoring; RWU-4851, Economics of Forest Resources

1963- Southern FES Director; Walter M. Zillgitt

1963- Forestry Sciences Lab, Athens, GA; RWU-4104, Disturbance and Management of Southern Pines; RWU-4505, Insects and Diseases; RWU-4901, Recreation and Urban Forest Trends

1963- Alexandria Forestry Center, Pineville, LA; RWU-4111, Even-aged Southern Pine Forests; RWU-4501, Bark Beetle and Invasive Insects; RWU-4701, Southern Forest Utilization

1963- Alexandria Forestry Center receives USDA Superior Service Award for developing successful techniques for direct seeding of southern pines, for controlling noxious hardwoods, and for utilizing and improving southern forest ranges.

1964- Blue Valley EF established in North Carolina

1966- Southeastern FES Director; Walter M. Zillgitt

1966- Southern FES Director; T.C. Nelson

1969- Forestry Sciences Lab, Starkville, MS; houses RWU-4502, Wood Products Insect Research and part of RWU-4801, Forest Inventory and Analysis

1970- Southeastern FES Director; Stephen G. Boyce

1971-New lab for RWU-4251, Wildlife Habitat & Timber Integration, Nacogdoches, TX

1970- Southern FES Director; R.L. Youngs

1972- Southern FES Director; J.C. Barber

1973- Southeastern FES Director; J.B. Hilmon

1975- Integrated Recreation-Wildlife Habitat unit created; now RWU-4201, Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species, Clemson, SC

1976- Southern FES Director; L.E. Lassen

1976- G.W. Andrews Forestry Sciences Lab, Auburn, AL; houses RWU-4105, Vegetation Management and Longleaf Pine and RWU-4703, Forest Operations Research

1977- Forestry Sciences Lab, Charleston, SC; RWU-4103, Center for Forested Wetlands

1978- Passage of Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act

1979- Southeastern FES Director; Eldon W. Ross

1982- GTR-SE-24, Proceedings of the 2nd Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference

1984- Southern FES Director; T.H. Ellis

1985- Southeastern FES Director; Jerry A. Sesco

1987- Coldwater fisheries research begins; now RWU-4202, Coldwater Streams and Trout Habitat in Southern Appalachians, Blacksburg, VA

1988- Southeastern FES; Director, J. Lamar Beasley; approximately 330 permanent and temporary employees, in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Virginia

1988- RWU-4702; Tree Quality, Processing, and Recycling, Blacksburg, VA

1988- Manual for Ground Applications of Forestry Herbicides; RWU-4105 Technology Transfer award

1991- Southern Global Change Program (RWU-4852) established in Raleigh, NC

1991- Donald Marx receives Wallenberg prize

1992- Southeastern FES Director; Peter J. Roussopoulos

1994- Gene Namkoong receives Wallenberg prize

1995- Merger of Southern FES and Southeastern FES into the Southern Research Station, headquartered in Asheville, >NC; Director Peter J. Roussopoulos. Responsible for natural resource research and forest inventory throughout 13 Southern States

1997- Strategic Framework for the Southern Research Station published; stated "Our mission is to develop the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide."

1997-1999- RWU-4702 receives industry awards and patent for scanning technology

1998- Web site for Southern Research Station goes live on server in Asheville; previously hosted at RTP, NC and Starkville, MS

2001- RWU-4801, Forest Inventory and Analysis headquartered in Knoxville>, TN

2002- GTR SRS-53, Southern Forest Resource Assessment published

2002- RWU-4951, Center for Southern Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information, Gainesville, FL

2003- 26 Research Work Units in 11 States; approximately 470 employees

Compiled by Melissa Carlson

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