Cedar Creek Natural History Area records

The Cedar Creek Forest was established in 1942 by the Minnesota Academy of Science and the University of Minnesota. The agreement establishing the Forest provided that “certain lands had been or would be transferred to the Regents of the University who would keep and preserve the land in natural condition as a refuge for indigenous plant and animal life, would administer the area to encourage wise use for scientific and educational purposes particularly for natural history studies…and would keep the area accessible to qualified persons not being limited to those having official connections with the University.”

In 1945, University professor Arthur Wilcox was appointed chairman of the University committee working with the Minnesota Academy of Science to administer the Forest. In 1954, the Board of Regents named Professor Wilcox director of the Cedar Creek Forest. In 1958, the Board of Regents approved a name change to Cedar Creek Natural History Area.

Professor William H. Marshall succeeded Professor Wilcox as Director in 1962. In 1966, the Field Biology Program was established in the College of Biological Sciences to “further develop the activities in research and teaching that exploit the two excellent field stations maintained by the University (Cedar Creek Natural History Area and Itasca Forest Biological Station).” In addition to serving as Director of Cedar Creek, Professor Marshall was named chair for Field Biology, which was an interdepartmental graduate study program. In 1970, Professor David Parmelee was named Director of Cedar Creek and Chair of the Field Biology Program. Starting in the mid-1970s, field biology was described in the College of Biological Sciences catalogs as a program unit administered by the college, not a separate academic department or graduate study program.

In 1986, Professor John Tester was named director of Cedar Creek Natural History Area. By this time, no programs chairs were named for field biology. Professor Tester served until 1992, when Professor David Tilman was named director of Cedar Creek. The facility’s name was changed in 2007 to Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.