History of the School Forest
1847: There was a large fire complex that regenerated forests in many areas in and around the site of the School Forest
1903: Parts of the site also had a non-lethal understory burn. This fire killed some trees and scarred others, essentially thinning parts of the stand
1936: The School Forest was established administratively in support of the growing Forestry program at the Utah State Agricultural College
1947: Theodore W. (Doc) Daniel begins bringing Forestry student to summer camp on the forest
1950s: Doc Daniel begins hosting many students and visiting students from Austria
1962: Utah State University
1976: Cheney Creek clearcut was conducted to regenerate lodgepole pine. Becomes site of ongoing education and demonstration
1980: Doc Daniel retires and is replaced by Dr. James N. Long
1983: Lodgepole pine regenerated in the Cheney Creek clearcut is pre-commercially thinned
1986: Mein Gott shelterwood-with-reserves is implemented next to Cheney Creek, developing on the silviculture demonstration on the forest
1996: The site was dedicated as the T.W. Daniel Experiment Forest in honor of long-time Forestry faculty member Theodore W. Daniel
1996–2000: A project at the TW Daniel Experimental Forest, conducted by Fred Baker and Jim Long was undertaken to demonstrate ecosystem management approaches intended to mimic natural disturbance processes in spruce-fir and lodgepole pine stands
1999: A demonstration tour was given by Jim Long, the theme was "Goshawk Habitat and Landscape-scale Disturbance Processes"
2000: A demonstration tour was given by Jim Long, the theme was "Aspen Decline and Lynx Habitat”
2002: John Shaw and Jim Long, led a demonstration tour of the forest
2004: A research proposal was developed to address drought and water resources to better understand how native vegetation and soil properties affect snow melt infiltration and soil water storage. It was implemented near Sunrise Meadow on the forest by Dr. Scott Jones (USU Department of Plant, Soils, and Climate)
2005: Power cabling and bases for the 12 above ground towers were installed, and 24 ground plots were instrumented for the drought project
2006: Instrumentation and data loggers were added for each of the 12 sites for the drought project. An old tower was moved for use by a new eddy covariance system. Eight smaller sites were prepared and data collection at these sites began
2006–2008: Harvesting began on the uneven-aged silviculture for Engelmann spruce demonstration project. Unlike previous demonstration harvests, this one is replicated with a control. Post-harvest monitoring plots are installed and will be remeasured every five years
2007: In January, the 4 larger drought monitoring sites were finished. In addition, snow surveys were performed helping gather data for the drought project. The eddy covariance instrumentation was installed on its tower
2007: The USU Doc Daniel Snotel site was added to the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest
2007: A demonstration tour was led by Jim Long, the theme was " Sagebrush Treatments on the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest"
2007: A relay tower on the ridge to the north of the fenced area was installed to relay the data signal to a Campbell Scientific tower on Mt. Logan, and from there to the Agriculture Science building on USU's campus
2008: To support research concerning soil carbon, water, snow and climate dynamics, replacement sensors to measure soil water content, matric potential and temperature were installed
2008: In September the radio relay system from TWDEF to the USU campus became fully functional and has allowed for more efficient and consistent data acquisition
2009: Surface mapping was performed of the study area using light detection and ranging (Lidar) methods to quantify fine scale snow accumulation and melting across the 4 primary vegetation cover types
2009: The Utah State University Soil Physics Laboratory developed instruments to measure snow melting rates and soil water transport and they were installed on the forest
2009: In the late fall a camera was installed to capture images of the grass and sage areas during snowmelt. The camera is automated to take photos every day
2013: The first five-year remeasurement occurred in the Engelmann spruce silviculture study
2019: The second five-year remeasurement occurred in the Engelmann spruce silviculture study
2019: Justin DeRose (USU Department of Wildland Resources) installs a large fixed-area forest monitoring plot
2021: After fifteen years of data collection at the instrumented exclosure within and surrounding Sunrise Meadow, the equipment was removed from the forest site. The data transmission tower remains along with a cosmic ray neutron probe tower, which is part of the COSMOS network
2022: Robert Schaffer (USU Department of Biology) begins study of pollinator habitat on the forest