January 2004, Volume 5, Issue 1

This last June, Prof. Scott Stephens had the idea of bringing together a group of Dr. Harold Biswell’s students and colleagues who worked at Whitaker in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Scott’s goal was to learn about the early fire research at Whitaker, collate early records, and determine whether these data could be used to support further research that would create time-series information on stand dynamics with and without treatments.

Joining Scott at Whitaker were Prof. Jim Agee from the University of Washington who did some of his Ph.D. work with Biswell at Whitaker, Dr. Jan van Wagtendonk a National Park scientist at Yosemite who worked as a student for Biswell but did his doctoral work in Yosemite, Dr. Hale Buchanan who worked for Biswell in 1964 and 1966 and recently retired from the faculty of Weber State University, UT, and Dr. Bruce Kilgore who worked with Dr. Starker Leopold and Biswell and did his doctoral dissertation research on bird populations at Whitaker and Sequoia National Park. Also present was Frieder Schurr from UC’s Center for Forestry who is responsible for management of Whitaker and Nate Stephenson who is a research scientist with the USGS station at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.

UC’s Whitaker Forest is a 320-ac tract of predominantly giant sequoia adjacent to Sequoia National Park. The Forest and adjacent areas were selectively logged from 1873 to 1879 after which there was abundant regeneration of sequoia, incense-cedar, and white fir. In 1964, UC’s Prof. Harold Biswell established some plots at Whitaker to test his theories of stand management.

Harold Biswell was California’s pioneer researcher on fuel hazard reduction and prescribed burning and was a member of UC’s faculty from 1947 to 1973. In 1964 he established four 20-ac plots at Whitaker Forest. Biswell’s objective was to create open park-like conditions that resembled the situation prior to European settlement and to provide guidelines for the newly conceived concept of park management. The study involved quantifying the behavior of treated stands with untreated control plots. Treatments consisted of cutting all trees and snags less than 11 feet tall and hand piling and burning all slash and most ground fuels. Transects were used to measure regeneration, ground cover, and tree density. Most manual labor was done by Conservation Camp crews and most of the measurements were made by Biswell’s crew, particularly Hale Buchanan and Bob Gibbons. A visual impression of the forest conditions in 1964 and the stand structure after the treatment in 1967 can be seen in the photos on the left.

The group was delighted to find that they could re-locate all of Biswell’s original forest plots — except one that was covered by a wind-blown old-growth tree. They greatly enjoyed reminiscing about Biswell and the early research at Whitaker. Jim Agee said: “I hadn’t been back to Whitaker for 30 years. What struck me most was the understory response in places where the forest floor had been disturbed, such as the burn plots used for my dissertation work in the 1970s. We were glad to see Whitaker Forest being actively used again, to check out the old cabins where Harold Biswell and Harold Weaver had collaborated, and rekindle the old memories of graduate student days”. One of Scott’s major impressions was that “it’s amazing to see that the plots thinned to create open, park-like conditions in 1967 have grown back recreating horrendous fire hazard conditions that now need another treatment”. Jan van Wagtendonk commented that “Whitaker Forest will always be special to me; that’s where I learned my first fire ecology lesson from Biswell – don’t let him out of your sight if he has any matches!”.

Scott said that the reunion was extremely enjoyable and instructive. He thinks that the early plots and data can provide a base for continued studies and follow-up treatments. “There is such a limited amount of long-term fire ecology research sites”, says Scott, “and it is exciting that Whitaker Forest and Biswell’s legacy can provide the basis for continuing work in fire ecology and restoration”.

Above: “Before” plot in 1964 prior to treatment showing extreme fire hazard.	Above: “After” - Dr. Biswell in 1967 looking at plot where most undergrowth was removed to reduce fire hazard.