Historic Photos
Erosion
Photograph by Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Forestry
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
In the absence of soil surveys and scientific knowledge of soil chemistry, trees were the primary means by which settlers gauged the quality of land. Tall trees in general and hardwood trees in particular, such as oak, chestnut, walnut, and hickory, were considered good indicators of soils suitable for agriculture. Higher and sloping ground was considered desirable because it did not require draining and was often less densely forested. It became apparent only over time that the practice of clear-cutting forests has many detrimental environmental effects that lead to widespread soil erosion and permanent soil degradation.
Removing Stumps: Animal Husbandry Department
Photograph by Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station Department of Forestry
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
Tree stumps presented a serious obstacle for the use of cleared land. Removing tree stumps was a task perhaps even more arduous than chopping trees, and the increased value of the improved land typically did not pay for digging out tree stumps immediately. Instead, they were often left to rot until they were easy to lever out or pull with the help of oxen or horses. Side roots would rot in about 2 years but stumps of large hardwood trees could take up to 10 years to rot before they could be removed.
Looking South from Inspiration Hill, Waterloo State Forest (1918)
Photograph by Department of Forestry: Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
In 1915, the Ohio General Assembly appropriated ,000 for the purchase of land to be used for establishing the state forest system in Ohio. A year later, 221 acres were purchased at a cost of .00 per acre in Athens County, leading to the creation of Waterloo State Forest (today a wildlife research area). 1,500 acres were purchased at a cost of .50 per acre in Lawrence County to create Dean State Forest.
Cutting Ash Trees
Photograph by Department of Forestry: Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
Most forests were cleared with manual labor, the result of a long, hard, and gradual process spanning multiple years. The method commonly practiced in Ohio was to chop down the trees. Clear-cutting, despite being an arduous task, left a field relatively free for agricultural activities for a few years and kept a field clear, provided cultivation was in place to prevent the regrowth of forest.
0010a_fn_a 1911 crossties and fence posts
0556a_gn_a WO 1914
0791_gs_a 1916 home - ashworth
0922_gn_a Thomas Drag Saw operating for the Ohio Spoke and Bending Co
0999_fn_a 1946 Louis Bromfield Tree Farm Dedication
Ohio State University Extension
Ohio State University Extension has, through the years, produced publications that help decision makers, landowners, foresters, and businesses alike understand the values that the forests provide to Ohio’s economy.Extension publications provide current information to growers and landowners on a wide variety of topics related to cultural practices and business operations.
William F. Cowen, James H. Brown and Randall B. Heiligmann
<em><a href="https://extensionpubs.osu.edu/ohio-christmas-tree-producers-manual" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Ohio Christmas Tree Producers Manual</a></em> (2016)
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin
Courtesy by Ohio State University Extension
T.Davis Sydnor, Kathy L. Smith and Randall B.Heiligmann
<em><a href="https://extensionpubs.osu.edu/ash-replacements-for-urban-and-woodland-plantings" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Ash Replacements for Urban and Woodland Plantings</a></em> (2005)
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin
Courtesy by Ohio State University Extension
David K. Apsley and Kathy L. Smith
<em><a href="https://extensionpubs.osu.edu/leaf-identification-key-to-eighty-eight-ohio-trees" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Leaf Identification Key to Eighty-eight Ohio Trees</a></em> (2002)
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin
Courtesy by Ohio State University Extension
<em>Publications available for purchase at links and <a href="http://extensionpubs.osu.edu" rel="noopener" target="_blank">extensionpubs.osu.edu</a></em>
1821_fn_a1917 veneer knife Hartzels
1823_fn_a 1917 veneer saw
1837_fn_a log loading 1917
1861_gn_a WO 1918 for quarter and wagon stock
1940 Lake Hope
1940 Log Cabin Lake Hope first home
1943 Emmett Conway - The Ranger Lake Hope State Park
1946 Forest Ranger home Zaleski
1948 Emmett w R Reynolds - Southern Exp Forest
1961_gn_a white oak nov 1918
2455_fn_a ribes eradication 1933
2617_fn_a zaleski east from tower 1934
2751_fn_a zaleski sawmill 1935
2756_fn_a zaleski 1935 lumber yard
3250_fn_a honeysuckle underplanting 1937
3546_marshall woods 1941
3765_fn_a zaleski 1940
3776_fn_a zaleski 1939
3850_fn_a mobile circular saw 1945
5230_fn_a edmund secrest measuring white oak 1948
5324_fn_a WO logs
5342_fn_a Emmett Conway, W.R. Anderson, J.W. Meteer, C.B. Stott, Dan Den Uyl, and O.D. Diller at Cloquet Experiment Forest, Cloquet Minnesota in 1949
Emmett Conway, W.R. Anderson, J.W. Meteer, C.B. Stott, Dan Den Uyl, and O.D. Diller at Cloquet Experiment Forest, Cloquet Minnesota in 1949.
charcoalhearth
Ohio's Forest Economy
Eric McConnell and Mike Hogan
<em>Fairfield County's Forest Economy</em>
<a href="https://library.osu.edu/buildingohiost/pdfs/ohios-forest-economy/">This publication</a> takes a comprehensive look at what the forest products industry contributed to the state’s economy in 2010. The industry contributed .05 billion to the economy with a total employment of 118,000 full-time and part-time jobs with wages and benefits amounting to .69 billion. The publication also details forest ownership, timber prices, tree growth and removal data, along with discussions on management.
Rodewald's Oak Forests
Amanda D. Rodewald- <a href="https://library.osu.edu/buildingohiost/pdfs/rodewald-oak-forests/"><em>Oak Forests</em></a>
One issue addressed in forest management is wildlife habitat. Research conducted at the School of Environment and Natural Resources has shown how certain forest management practices affect songbirds, resulting in recommendations to guide landowner and manager decisions on management practices. Typically, improving the habitat for one species will negatively affect the same habitat for another species. Forest management efforts will help achieve a balance between uses of the forest and the wildlife that inhabits those forests.
DSCN1064
x198_fn_a WO
x285_pr_a 1957 OSU Forestry Students
x321_fn_a sawmill
Zaleski WO harvest for Thompson Library
pic3
BlackWalnut
Civilian Conservation Corps Planting
Audrey Farm, 1933
Photograph by Department of Forestry, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
Thousands of young men worked in Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) forest camps across the state. In addition to planting millions of trees on the state’s forestlands, they built fire towers, a forest fire control telephone network, recreational facilities, and many miles of roads in and around state forests. The work of the CCC crews had lasting effects on the state’s forest resources, and even today, many older tree plantings and permanent structures on the state’s forestlands can be traced back to CCC origins.
Wooster Administration Building
1957 - Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station
Ohio State University Archives Collection
In 1882, The Ohio State University established the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station and incorporated it with the university farm in Columbus. William R. Lazenby and Norton S. Townshend divided their time between classroom teaching and research on the station’s land. The Hatch Act of 1887 provided separate federal funding to support experiment stations, and under the leadership of Director Charles Thorne, the experiment station relocated to Wooster in 1892. State forester Edmund Secrest became the Station’s third director from 1937 until his retirement in 1948. Secret had worked for the experiment station since 1905, and directed most of the state’s reforestation programs. He also developed the Wooster Arboretum (later named the Secrest Arboretum) into one of the nation’s leading long-term plant repositories. The experiment station was renamed Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Centers in 1965 and merged with The Ohio State University in 1982.
Erecting Dams in Gullies
Harmon Farm, 1933
Photograph by Department of Forestry, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
Civilian Conservation Corps crews worked on private farmland to help implement erosion control measures, such as soil-protecting dams, terrace outlets, flood control measures, and vegetation and forest plantings.
Zaleski State Forest
1939 - Photograph by Department of Forestry, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Forestry Image Collection
The Land Utilization Program (LUP) was another federal New Deal program that greatly benefited Ohio’s state forests in the late 1930s. The LUP enabled the purchase of large areas of marginal land with little potential for profit and the resettlement of affected landowners. Many of the purchased farms were converted to forest areas to serve wildlife, timber, and recreational purposes. Zaleski, Tar Hollow, and Blue Rock (totaling almost 40,000 acres) were among the purchased areas and were eventually developed into state forests. In 1939, the United States Department of Agriculture transferred operational control of these areas to the Department of Forestry at the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station.
case2
case6
case1
case3
0455_gs_a removing stumps
0576_gs_a 1915 girls planting trees Andrews Institute
0789_pr_a fire crew
0791_gs_a 1916 home - ashworth
0922_gn_a Thomas Drag Saw operating for the Ohio Spoke and Bending Co
1376_gn_a erosion 1927
1377_gn_a 1927
Civilian Conservation Corps
Elden B. Sessions
Educational Work of the Civilian Conservation Corps Camps in Ohio (1937)
Dissertation, The Ohio State University
The Ohio State University Libraries Collection
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program authorized by Congress in 1933 by “An Act for the Relief of Unemployment through the Performance of Useful Public Works and for Other Purposes.” The CCC provided unskilled manual labor jobs designed to promote the conservation of natural resources in rural areas, especially those owned by federal, state and local governments. By 1936, there were 60 CCC camps operating across Ohio, with 20 specializing in soil conservation, 19 in state and federal forests, and 11 in state parks.
1589_gn_a 1929 4-H planting club (1) (1)
1649b_fn_a jan 1961
1821_fn_a1917 veneer knife Hartzels
1823_fn_a 1917 veneer saw
1837_fn_a log loading 1917
2070_gn_a 1929 Geauga County 4-H Forestry Club at Camp Peat
2458_fn_a 1933 erosion dams
2505_fn_a erosion 1934
3480_fn_a 1939 bathhouse at lake hope
3486_fn_a 1935 forest rangers at rock house
3533_fn_a portable mill 1941
3590_fn_a 1937 forestry headquarters
3776_fn_a zaleski 1939
3853_fn_a 1944 lg white oak
4028_fn_a pastured unpastured 1927
5565_fn_a 1954 Howard Kreibels SM nursery
5593_fn_a 1954 forestry wagon tour at secrest
5691_fn_a 1956 Frank Newell, Farm Forester,
5859_pr_a 1960 testing sap sugar content
x156_gn_a seed beds at oaes 1911
0117_gn_a officers of morrow county forestry 1904
Photos Courtesy of OhioLINK Digital Resource Commons
Opening Reception: February 1, 2017
_IMG8265
_IMG8269
_IMG8275
_IMG8276
_IMG8277
_IMG8280
_IMG8282
_IMG8291
_IMG8292
_IMG8295
_IMG8296
_IMG8298
_IMG8303
_IMG8308
_IMG8311
_IMG8318
_IMG8320
_IMG8321
_IMG8325
_IMG8328
_IMG8330
_IMG8333
_IMG8334
_IMG8335
_IMG8339
_IMG8345
_IMG8349
_IMG8351
_IMG8355
_IMG8358
_IMG8359
_IMG8361
_IMG8366
_IMG8369
_IMG8370
_IMG8371
_IMG8372
_IMG8373
_IMG8375
_IMG8376
_IMG8381
_IMG8386
Photos Courtesy of Ken Aschliman