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Blodgett Forest Research Station Dominant Usage
The scientific value of Blodgett has grown with the corresponding increase
of the demands on natural resources. Blodgett Forest research has a
fifty-year history which includes studies of tree growth, forest
succession, harvesting costs, forest insect and disease dynamics,
forest ecology, wildlife population dynamics, range animal dynamics,
control of non-tree vegetation, thinning and spacing of commercial
conifers, soil compaction from logging operations, effects and techniques
of prescribed fire, conifer regeneration methods, harvesting methods,
nutrient cycling, and much more.
Support for research is provided in the form of facilities, equipment
loans, etc. This support is financed by sales of forest products and by
grants from the USDA Forest Service, the National Science Foundation,
and the University of California Agricultural Experiment Station.
The major mission of Blodgett Forest is to evaluate response, cost, and
impacts of different management activities. The forest is divided into
approximately 90 compartments, which have an average size of 13 hectares
(33 acres). Each compartment's management is designated as even-aged,
uneven-aged, or reserve. Measurements are made of animals and vegetation
on the entire forest, and state-of-the-art analyses involving computer
simulation and geographic information systems are used.
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