Happy
90
th, Duke Forest
From its earliest days in the 1930s, Duke Forest offered researchers an opportunity to see how forests grow and evolve. Photo: Duke Forest.
Throughout its history, Duke’s natural resource has welcomed research and recreation
S
everal times a week, Steve Anderson ventures into Duke Forest, puts on waders and steps into the rushing water of New Hope Creek, where he fishes out a sensor-filled pipe that collects vital data for a research project investigating the life cycle of streams. Since arriving at Duke in 2011, Anderson, an associate in research with Duke Biology, has grown familiar with Duke’s sprawling forest, studying invasive grasses, forest succession and pollution’s effect on wetland organisms. Away from work, Anderson can often be found hiking the forest’s New Hope Creek South Trail, sporting a backpack-style baby carrier for his 1-year-old son, Eliot. “I still find time to enjoy the forest because it’s really great,” Anderson said. Covering roughly 7,100 acres across Durham, Orange and Alamance counties, Duke Forest was created in July 1931 and the Duke School of Forestry, the first graduate school of forestry in the American South, was born in 1938. Whether seen in yellowed photos and research notes or in the experiences of people who visit the forest today, the land has served as one of the nation’s leading research forests and a place to find nourishing time for over 90 years. “From day one, the mission has always been to be a place for teaching and research, beginning with understanding how managing the land could help restore the health and productivity of the land,” said Duke Forest Director Sara Childs.
Associate in Research Steven Anderson shows off a stonefly in Duke Forest. Photo: Steven Anderson.
A Living Laboratory In the mid-1920s, Duke University began buying parcels of forests and farms. At the time, the land that became Duke Forest didn’t look all that different from the areas that surround it. Now, Duke Forest’s six divisions are heavily wooded breaks in the suburban development that surrounds them. The forest’s initial mission was to be a laboratory where the understanding of forests and forestry practices could be advanced through action. That spirit lives on as, during the past academic year, 47 research projects were underway in the forest. “Right from the beginning, this was a forest where you could do experiments,” said James Clark, Nicholas Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science. “If you go back to the earliest days of the forest, it was viewed as a place to learn about forestry through experiments, rather than just watching trees grow and hoping something happens.”
Massive towers that emitted carbon dioxide were part of a long-term study that yielded important research. Photo: Duke Forest.
12
WORKING@DUKE
