Northeast Oregon Ecological Collection donated to Pierce Library

Charles Johnson, Jr.

LA GRANDE, Oregon – Pierce Library at Eastern Oregon University unveiled a new Northeast Oregon Ecological Collection donated by retired USDA Forest Service scientist, Charles G. Johnson, Jr., on Thursday, Nov. 16. 

Johnson, of Baker City, donated the historical collection to Pierce Library for archiving. It is comprised of the papers and photography of four U.S. Forest Service scientists, including Johnson. The materials span nearly 100 years of research pertaining to the Malheur, Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla National forests.

The work of the late scientists Elbert Reid, Gerald Strickler and Wade Hall was entrusted to Johnson prior to their deaths for safekeeping. He has since received much more information, which is included in the collection.

“They put their confidence in me as a person to see that their research didn’t get thrown in the dumpster,” Johnson said. “I sought to find a sanctuary outside the government offices where public access to these materials was possible. Working with the Forest Service supervisor, we transferred the collection to EOU and arranged to have it placed in Pierce Library.”
        

The collection contains hundreds of historic photographs. This
image was taken at Eagle Creek and is dated 1965.

Johnson began systematically sorting through the stored materials retained from the inception of the Forest Service’s Northeast Oregon Ecological program in 1977. The

bulk of the work is representative of the history of the Region 6, (Washington and Oregon), and Area 3, (Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests), Ecology programs.

“The collection tells a nice composite story of research findings and management driven projects resulting from the basis of plant ecology,” Johnson said. “It is all about plants and plant communities and how they are affected by fire and other hazards. Rangeland management here in northeast Oregon is influenced by the research of these individuals.”

The collection will be of interest not only to those studying ecology, Johnson said, but also for those interested in organizational dynamics and will be very user-friendly.

Johnson’s work is a compiled history of the Forest Service’s Region 6 Area Ecology Program, headquartered in Portland. He served as the first area ecologist for the three national forests in Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington before retiring in 2004.

Elbert Reid

Elbert Reid engaged in rangeland analysis at the Pacific Southwest Station at Berkeley and contributed to the budding science of range management in the early to mid 1900s. His work from the Tenderfoot Basin study area in the Wallowa Mountains is included in the collection.

 

Gerald Strickler

Gerald Strickler held distinction as the first ecologist in northeast Oregon. He was regionally recognized as a pioneer in ecology and produced valued technical papers. Strickler also embraced Reid’s work in Tenderfoot Basin, as well as Arthur Sampson’s studies at Standley Basin in the Wallowas. Sampson is considered to be the “father of rangeland management in the U.S.”

            Wade Hall

Wade Hall, long-term range manager on the Wallowa National Forest, knew the land before it was combined with Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. After the union, Hall moved to Baker City and became the first range staff officer for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, amassing a large collection of technical material during his career.

“We are very excited to accept, organize and make accessible this unique collection of work that has such relevance to eastern Oregon,” said Karen Clay, Pierce Library director. “It will make research projects possible in a variety of interests to EOU students and faculty and to scientists in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.”

To view the online index of the collection go to http://pierce.eou.edu/core/ctrl?target=ecno/.

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