The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program, Oregon, USA: A Historical Biocultural Perspective

Abstract

The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest and Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, Oregon, USA, has a history of influence in biocultural conservation through basic and applied ecology and forestry research, close partnership with managers of public forest lands, and a growing arts/humanities program. Studies of old-growth forests, the northern spotted owl flagship species, and watersheds over several decades underpinned a major shift in federal forest lands management policies in the early 1990s as the public sense for native forests shifted from their utilitarian values to their intrinsic value. Since the 2000s, a program engaging arts and humanities, including creative writers and philosophers, has richly expressed the profound beauty, wonder, and mystery of the forest, perhaps foreshadowing a new era of forest stewardship. This transformation parallels merging of environmental science, arts, and humanities at other USA LTER sites and similar programs internationally, notably the Omora Ethnobotanical Park Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research program in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile.