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 The
USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC), as an
organizational unit of the Federal Government is fairly young, but
the various groups that merged to form FRESC have lengthy histories,
some dating back 30 years. The mergers and FRESC’s eventual
incorporation into the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) were part of a series of reorganizations to the
research capability of the Department
of Interior. These changes were prompted in February 1993 when
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt requested advice from the
National Research Council about the research capability of the Department.
The council responded by studying the issue and enumerating the
findings in a document called “A Biological Survey for the
Nation.” In response to these findings, the National Biological
Survey (NBS) became operational on November 11, 1993. This initiated
two years of additional, rapid change in the Department’s
research structure and function.
The NBS formed via the merger and reorganization of
existing research staff, facilities, and funding from seven bureaus
of the Department of the Interior. Although an array of justifications
guided these changes, the vision was excellent biological science
conducted in the most efficient manner possible. The largest components
of the NBS originated from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
the National Park Service. Smaller components came from the Bureau
of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the USGS, the Minerals
Management Service, and the Office of Surface Mining. All units
were engaged in scientific activities tied to the missions and responsibilities
of their parent organizations. Over a period of about a year, transitions
occurred throughout the United States in the assignments of staff
and research units in response to the formation of the NBS. FRESC
emerged out of these reassignments.
Four established research groups officially
merged in October 1994 and adopted the common name "Forest
and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center." Most of these groups
briefly were assigned to the NBS Division of Cooperative Research
as they transitioned from their originating bureaus. Research capabilities
covered the subjects of forest ecosystems, contaminants, anthropogenic
pollution, arid and semi-arid ecosystems, landscape dynamics, wildlife
ecology, population viability, conservation genetics, aquatic and
wetland ecosystems, human dimensions of resource management, restoration
ecology, and invasive species. The association of FRESC with the
USGS was the result of one additional merger. On October 1, 1996,
the NBS, including FRESC, was integrated into the USGS as a fourth
division of this agency– the Biological
Resources Division. This move added an important living resources
dimension to the USGS earth sciences orientation, thus making it
possible for the bureau to bring physical and biological science
to natural resource management problems.
had varied histories to begin with, and retirements, recruitments,
and reorganizations resulted in additional changes in staffing and
facilities. The founding groups’ histories are briefly summarized
here to provide a general picture of the origin, size, and research
focus of the groups around the time they became part of FRESC.
One founding unit of FRESC was the Oregon State University Cooperative
Park Studies Unit. The National Park Service established this unit
in 1975 on the university's campus in Corvallis, Oregon. A research
aquatic ecologist and a research biologist were assigned to the
unit, both housed in the College of Forestry. The focus was research
and technical assistance for the National Park Service, particularly
in the Pacific Northwest Region.
The Bureau of Land Management established the Pacific Forest and
Basin Rangeland Systems Cooperative Research and Technology Unit
at Oregon State University in 1991. The unit’s mission focused
on research and technical assistance on forest-related and rangeland-related
topics, specifically those of interest to managers in Oregon. Office
and laboratory facilities were co-located with the U.S. Forest Service
in the Forestry Sciences Laboratory on the university campus. Four
scientists and one administrative officer were associated with this
unit at the time it merged into FRESC.
The National Park Service traditionally employed research scientists
at Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Washington. At the time
of merger with FRESC, two research scientists were employed at the
park and conducted research on questions relevant to management
of Olympic National Park. A third scientist joined them in April
1996, shortly after their merger with FRESC. He originally was a
research wildlife biologist stationed in Alaska and assigned to
the National Park Service. Prior to assignment to FRESC, he was
briefly a part of the NBS Alaska Science Center.
Olympic Field Station Home Page
The Willamette Field Station was established in 1976 as part of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Two research scientists and
a secretary, all stationed in Corvallis, Oregon, staffed the field
station. Research primarily focused on contaminant issues in the
western United States. Also joining FRESC in 1994 was a zoologist
from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who was assigned research
on issues related to forest wildlife. He was originally stationed
at an Environmental Protection Agency Laboratory in Corvallis and
was reassigned to the Willamette Field Station when he joined FRESC
in 1994. The staff and their facilities retained the identity of
a field station until October 1997, at which time they merged with
the Corvallis-based science staff to become the Corvallis
Research Group of FRESC. Some staff and facilities continued
to be located at an Environmental Protection Agency facility along
the Willamette River south of Corvallis, Oregon.
The Bureau of Land Management established the Raptor Research and
Technical Assistance Center in 1990. Besides the Bureau of Land
Management, the station had a history of strong cooperative ties
with its host institution, Boise State University, Idaho Department
of Fish and Game, Idaho State University, University of Idaho, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Boise Office, and The Peregrine Fund,
Inc. Six research wildlife biologists, several administrative and
clerical staff, a geographer and a computer specialist became part
of FRESC in 1996. These staff had a history of conducting research
on a variety of wildlife, particularly raptor populations inhabiting
semi-arid regions of the western United States. The staff came with
office space leased from Boise State University, two dry labs, a
geographic information system, and the Richard Olendorff Memorial
Library. The latter contained 28,000 holdings on the subjects of
raptor ecology, biology, and related topics. At the time of joining
with FRESC, this group was renamed the “Snake River Field
Station.”
Snake River Field Station Home
Page
The University of Washington Cooperative Park Studies Unit was founded
in 1970 and joined FRESC in 1996. It was the first university-based
research unit of the National Park Service. Under its historic ties,
the unit's staff studied effects of environmental stress on forest
ecosystems, primarily in the Pacific Northwest, and a variety of
issues surrounding visitor and subsistence use of national parks.
The unit was staffed by two federal scientists, a forest ecologist
and a sociologist and was located in the College of Forest Resources
at the University of Washington in Seattle. University office space
for scientists, laboratory facilities, and office space for graduate
students and technicians became associated with FRESC via this merger.
The group was renamed the “Cascadia Field Station” under
its affiliation with FRESC.
Cascadia Field Station Home Page
Three southwestern units of the National Park Service - Canyonlands,
Arches, and Natural Bridges - shared the expertise of a small research
staff of two federal scientists. With the transition to NBS and
on to the USGS, the scientists were first assigned to the Midcontinent
Ecological Science Center and then transferred to FRESC in 1997.
Shortly after the merger, a third researcher, stationed in Flagstaff,
Arizona, was assigned to the group. The staff expertise covered
ecology of desert soils, invertebrates and vascular plants. The
group was renamed the “Canyonlands Field Station” under
its affiliation with FRESC. In 2002, this field station severed
administrative ties with FRESC when it became part of the newly
created USGS Southwest
Science Center.
Canyonlands
Field Station Home Page
Established in 1989 as a National Park Service cooperative park
studies unit, the Colorado Plateau Research Station became a part
of FRESC in May 1997 and was renamed the Colorado Plateau Field
Station. This research group was first assigned to the Midcontinent
Ecological Science Center and then transferred to FRESC. As a cooperative
park studies unit, it acted as a center for identifying research
and resource management needs throughout the Southwestern United
States, with a specific emphasis on the Colorado Plateau. The 7
federal and 35 state-employed scientists and staff were recognized
for implementing quality interdisciplinary research to support effective
management of biological resources. All staff was housed in the
Colorado Plateau Center on the Northern Arizona University campus
in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 2002, this field station severed administrative
ties with FRESC when it became part of the newly created USGS Southwest
Science Center.
Colorado Plateau
Field Station
The current structure of FRESC and the center’s research capability
are described in this web site. You are invited to explore these
pages, seek out our science expertise, and ask any questions that
come to mind. Undoubtedly the future holds additional organizational
change, but that is inevitable given the changing nature of our
world and the need for a responsive research organization, like
the USGS, to help understanding these changes and related consequences
to our natural world and human systems.
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