An abbreviated administrative and organizational history of the Southern Forest Experiment Station

Abstract

When established in 1921, the Southern Forest Experiment Station (SOFES) was headquartered in New Orleans, LA—a somewhat ironic choice, given the distance from New Orleans to the major southern forests and most of the Station’s territory (Fickle 2001). According to Forbes (1925), New Orleans had originally been seen as a temporary Station headquarters, but further study into its relative advantages soon conferred its permanence. New Orleans was near some of the southern forests most devastated by lumbering and was a regional rail transportation hub, an important consideration at a period when travel was still difficult and time consuming. Just as importantly, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service staff had begun some research in the nearby Louisiana locations of Bogalusa and Urania, providing a kernel upon which to expand the effort. It was for many of these same reasons that the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station (AFES) was headquartered in Asheville, NC.

Parent Publication

• Celebrating 100 years of forest science: an abridged history of the Southern Research Station

Citation

Barnett, James P.; Bragg, Don C. 2023. An abbreviated administrative and organizational history of the Southern Forest Experiment Station. In: Bragg, Don C., ed. Celebrating 100 years of forest science: an abridged history of the Southern Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-272. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station: 123-161.