History of Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest

The Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest (BCEF) is a 5053 ha (12,487 acre) research area located approximately 20 km southwest of Fairbanks along the Parks Highway (map). The Forest is within the Tanana Valley State Forest, a unit managed by the Division of Forestry, State of Alaska. The Experimental Forest is leased to the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Boreal Ecology Cooperative Research Unit (formerly Institute of Northern Forestry) for the exclusive purpose of conducting research in forestry. The original 55-year lease on July 1, 1963 established about 3360 ha (8,300 acres) representative of upland forest types. On January 6, 1969, the lease was amended to include representative floodplain forests along the Tanana River.

Existing vegetation types within BCEF strongly reflect three wildfire periods. In the early 1780's, there was one or more major fires that burned through most of what is now BCEF. Evidence for this fire is the relatively uniform stand ages of most mature spruce and spruce-birch stands in the uplands, and ages of black spruce in small patches on the old river terraces. In about 1914 another extensive fire burned through black spruce on old terraces of the Tanana River. East of BCEF the fire burned through large areas in the uplands as well as the flats. Evidence for this fire include the stand origins of about 1914 within the burned areas and fire scars from scattered black spruce that survived the fire. The 8,600 acre 1983 Rosie Creek wildfire burned extensively in the lowlands to the east of BCEF and made a wide run through the uplands within the Experimental Forest, burning through large continous stands of white spruce and paper birch on about 3,400 acres. It reburned through most of the area burned in the 1914 fire.

Research activity within the area began even before formal establishment of the Experimental Forest. Descriptive studies of upland soil profiles were conducted in 1958-1959 by S.A. Wilde and H.H. Krause (See the BNZ bibliography for a complete listing of research publications resulting from work in BCEF). Early research by R.A. Gregory on white spruce seed production began in 1958, and was continued by J.C. Zasada from 1969 through 1984. From 1957 until 1966, Gregory and other INF personnel conducted destructive sampling and stem analysis for the development of growth and yield tables for white spruce, aspen, and birch. Both floodplain and upland stands within BCEF were used extensively. Gregory also studied seasonal cambial activity in white spruce in the late 1960's. Zasada established demonstration plots for different silvicultural systems on an upland white spruce site in 1972, and with others, considered various aspects of natural regeneration including seedfall, seedling survival, density and growth, nutrient status, and competition. Sprout and sap production in birch stands has also been studied. Beginning in 1962, INF and the University of Alaska cooperated in studies of the effects of red squirrel foraging on white spruce cone and seed production. This work was later expanded by J.O. Wolff to include red squirrel response to various silvicultural treatments. Between 1964 and 1967, P.E. Heilman, University of Alaska, conducted studies of nutrient relationships in birch and black spruce stands on north-facing slopes in BCEF. This work was expanded on by K. Van Cleve, University of Alaska, to include above and below-ground biomass and nutrient cycling in white spruce and birch stands on all aspects. L.A. Viereck, M.J. Foote, and others have utilized numerous permanent plots to study species composition, successional relationships, and soil temperature fluctuations. BCEF has been used extensively in the study of forest insect biology and management. Research by R.A. Warner, R.C. Beckwith, and others has focused on the spruce and Ips beetles, large aspen tortrix, spear-marked black moth, and the larch bud moth.

More recently BCEF has been used for studies of floodplain soil moisture dynamics and formation of salt crust on freshly-deposited alluvium (Salt Affected Soils), forest reestablishment following wildfire (Rosie Creek Burn), insect and disease dynamics following wildfire, and tree species provenence tests. In 1987 BCEF joined the network of Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, studying successional processes in the well represented taiga forests at the Experimental Forest (LTER1 and LTER2).

Taken from the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest Management Plan (USDA Forest Service February 25, 1987)