About the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest
The T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest (TWDEF), formerly known as the School Forest, is an area of four sections (four square miles) in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest east of Logan. It is located about 45 minutes from campus, roughly four miles south of the Bear Lake Summit on the Sinks Road, Forest Road 055. USU owns one of these sections, and the other three are administered by the U.S. Forest Service. All four sections of the forest are managed in cooperation with the Logan Ranger District under an ongoing memorandum of understanding with the goals of providing opportunities for teaching, research, and demonstration. The ‘School Forest’ has been used since 1947 to teach foresters and students from USU’s Quinney College of Natural Resources. Research has been conducted on the forest beginning in summer of 1948. The ‘Doc’ Daniel bibliography is a repository of the theses, dissertations, projects, and peer-reviewed papers produced by people working on the forest. Demonstration and outreach on the subjects of alternative silviculture and ecosystem management, among other things, occurs on the School Forest almost annually in the form of field trips.
Elevation of the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest ranges from 8,000–8,800 feet. Vegetation types at the highest elevation include Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir forests, which are the dominant late successional species. The major early successional species include lodgepole pine and quaking aspen, with Douglas-fir and limber pine on south-facing ridges and at lower elevations. The aspen and conifer stands are interspersed with meadows and shrub-forb-grass uplands. Post-settlement high-grading of old-growth Douglas-fir occurred on the periphery of the School Forest around 1900. Prior to that, the area was likely prime summer hunting grounds for the Shoshone.
Ongoing Activities
Links to publicly available data collected on the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest.
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