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Blodgett Forest Research Station History
The area of which Blodgett Forest Research Station is a part has had a
history of periodic fires. Prior to the displacement by European immigrants,
the Native Americans regularly set fires to maintain and improve habitat for
deer and other game animals. Fires occurred at a frequency of one fire every
7-20 years prior to the Gold rush of 1849.
After 1849, European immigrants homesteaded this area. They brought livestock
which grazed in the forest. Logging operations removed sugar pine and
ponderosa pine in the early years. Parts of the forest were logged by oxen
teams in the late 1890's, while ground lead, steam equipment was used in
the period between 1900 to 1910. Regeneration following logging was
accomplished by natural seeding. All-consuming fires occurred in 1903 and
1919. The fire of 1919 resulted in brush fields in the southern part of
the property. The last old logging operations occurred in 1927, but logging
occurred in 1952 and then resumed on an annual basis in 1961. Most of the
forest has been logged at least once and some parts have been harvested as
many as four times.
Blodgett Forest was donated to the University of California by the
Michigan-California Lumber Company in 1933. The purpose of the gift
was to provide a research site and practical demonstrations of forestry
for students, forest industry, and the public. The second-growth
characteristics of the forest allow many opportunities to study and evaluate
alternative management strategies.
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