Cloquet Forestry Center records

In 1909, University of Minnesota professor Samuel B. Green helped secure federal and state legislation along with private funding and support from Cloquet-area lumber companies to permit the federal government to deed approximately 2,000 acres of “unallotted Indian land” directly to the University for a Forestry Station outside Cloquet. The Forestry Station, which opened in 1910, was managed under the Department of Forestry, which was an academic unit of the University’s Department of Agriculture. D. P. Tierney was named the first administrator of the Forestry Station.

The original purpose of the Forestry Station was experimental work, and the first research project began in 1911 to study broadcast sowing on cut-over areas using a variety of site preparation techniques.

At their May 6, 1912, meeting, the University Board of Regents voted to recommend name changes for schools and stations under the charge of the Department of Agriculture, and the Station’s name was changed to Forest Experiment Station, Cloquet.

Undergraduate field instruction in forestry was conducted at the University’s field station at Itasca State Park, but between 1924 and 1927, class field training for forestry students was transferred from Itasca to the Forest Experiment Station at Cloquet.

From the 1920s to the 1970s, the Station at Cloquet was known by different names, including Forest Experiment Station, Experimental Forest, and Cloquet Forest Research Center.

In 1970, the facility was renamed the Cloquet Forestry Center to indicate its considerably broadened mission, according to the 1970-1972 University President’s Report. The Center was organized as a field unit of the University’s College of Forestry. It was used in training College of Forestry undergraduate students and by graduate students needing a forested environment for their studies. The Center served as a continuing education facility for groups interested in forestry studies (secondary teachers, professional foresters, loggers, etc.) and provided environmental education field days for elementary school students. Demonstration areas included all aspects of forest establishment, management, harvest, and utilization. Aerial and forest surveys, wildlife, hydrology, recreation, and forest protection also were covered in the Center’s continuing education programs.

Research projects have included climate and air quality, ecology, entomology, genetics, mensuration, pathology, physiology, silviculture, soils, vegetation management, and wildlife.