Forestry

Forest history, traditionally the preserve of the forester and the historical geographer, has recently achieved a more popular following among students and others interested in environmental studies. A highly recommended general study of the field nationally is Richard G. Lillard's The Great Forest (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1947). This is readable, comprehensive, and authoritative. Lillard is a University of Iowa Ph.D. The work covers American forest history from the earliest European invasion to 1947. An appendix lists "Big American Trees" and doesn't fail to include the Wethersfield Elm. There are other miscellaneous appendixes and a magnificent sixteen-page bibliography which, despite its age, is still very useful. Another starting point could be Samuel P. Hays' Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890-1920 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959). This, too, is based on a dissertation. It is not nearly as readable as Lillard, but it is an excellent introduction to the area of public policy in relation to forest and other resources, since it is broader in scope than the title indicates. See Chapter II, especially, using the footnote citations. There is a very useful "Bibliographical Note" on pages 277-82. A very different approach is taken by Charles F. Carroll in The Timber Economy of Puritan New England (Providence: Brown University Press, 1973), a fascinating work that includes a chapter on New England's pre-settlement forests. Carroll's sources are seventeenth-century travellers' accounts and, for wood resources, trade statistics. If you want to go beyond these works, there is North American Forest and Conservation History: A Bibliography (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1977), by Ronald Fahl.

The Connecticut story is best read through the annual reports of the State Forester included in the Report of the Forest Commission--after 1933, the Forest and Park Commission. They begin in 1901. Another useful and interesting source is Connecticut Woodlands, published by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association. This journal carries articles about skiing, canoeing, hiking, wildlife, parks, etc., but one can trace much twentieth-century forest history through its pages. There is much on forest resources, especially cordwood, which became a burning issue during World War II, as well as in the late seventies. Volume I, number 1 was February, 1936; the April, 1946, issue celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Association with several good historical articles. The Bulletins of the Agricultural Experiment Stations at Storrs and New Haven, though concerned chiefly with such technical topics as the strawberry root weevil, publish occasional articles about the forests. Some are listed below.

Though we are told it is faulty in some respects, we have found Christopher Rand's The Changing Landscape (New York: Oxford, 1968) a good work to introduce students--high-school and college--to forest dynamics. Originally New Yorker articles, the chapters discuss the historical landman relations as exemplified in the hills of Salisbury, and include discussions of farming, charcoal burning, and other activities as related to the local forests. A brief discussion of the forests of the prehistoric era can be found in The Prehistory of the Indians of Western Connecticut (Washington, Conn.: Shepaug Valley Archeological Society, 1974), by Edmund Swiggart.

The list which follows is somewhat eclectic in that it has been developed to satisfy our own teaching needs. Nevertheless, researchers who pick up the works listed here will be led to many, many additional sources that may well fill their own particular needs.

Barett, John W. "The Northeastern Region," in Regional Silviculture of the United States. Edited by John W. Barett. New York, 1962. This is not historical, but it is descriptive of the forests in a way that sheds light on how they probably once were.

Britton, W.E., "The Elm Leaf Beetle Outbreak." Bulletin no. 84 (1932), Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. There are several bulletins and articles in Connecticut Woodlands dealing with the Dutch Elm disease and the Chestnut blight. We include this one only as an excuse to point out that ample materials are available to write a history of these exotic diseases' invasion of Connecticut and the private and public policy response to them.

Bromley, Stanley. "Original Forest Types of Southern New England." Ecological Monographs 5 (1935) 65.

Butterick, Philip L. "Public and Semi-Public Lands of Connecticut." State Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin no. 49 (1930). Includes a map of state parks, forests, private forest preserves, etc.

Collins, S. "Three Decades of Change in Unmanaged Connecticut Woodland." Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. Bulletin no. 653 (1962). See also George R. Stephens and Paul E. Waggoner, "The Forests Anticipated from 40 Years of Natural Transitions in Mixed Hardwoods," in Bulletin 707 (January, 1970), Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven.

Fletcher, E.D., and Hawes, A.F. The Use of Lumber and Wood in Connecticut. Hartford, 1928. Fletcher was a marketing expert; Hawes was a long-time state forester. This is a very interesting discussion of the state of Connecticut woodlands and their potential for the lumber industry about 1928.

Gold, T.S. "Notes on Forestry in Connecticut." Connecticut Quarterly 4 (1898) 4:372-75. Gold was for many years Secretary of the State Agricultural Commission. This is a four-page description of the despoliation of Connecticut forests, with practical policy suggestions for their improvement and use.

Hawes, Austin F. "A Brief History of Forestry in Connecticut." Connecticut Woodlands 18 (May, 1953) 3:45-48. Most of this article is concerned with the twentieth century. Hawes was state forester from 1904 to 1909 and 1921 to 1944.

--"Chestnut in Connecticut and The Improvement of the Woodlot" Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (New Haven) Bulletin 154 (September, 1906). Forestry Publication No. 2. This deals with much more than chestnut. It is especially useful for its charts and explanations--which I have found nowhere else--of calculating board feet, cords, railroad ties, pulpwood, etc. available in standing forests in Connecticut on a per acre basis.

--"The Forests of Connecticut:...the Past and Future of Connecticut's Woodlands Told." Connecticut Magazine 10 (1906) 2:261-70. A good piece, especially for what it tells us about Connecticut woodlands at the turn of the century, when "one half the state is covered by stunted woody growth." Written to promote scientific development of forests as a commercial venture. Excellent photographs of our now long-gone chestnut forests.

--"Forestry, the Salvation of a Worn-Out Connecticut Town." New England Magazine New series 39 (September, 1908-February, 1909) :19-25. Hawes believed that the town of Union could be saved by developing the forest industries there. Glowing prognostications of prosperity for local farmers if his projects were carried out. They were not.

--"New England Forests in Retrospect," Journal of Forestry 21 (March, 1923).

Hicock, Henry W., and Miner, Bruce B. "Connecticut in Perspective: A Bicentennial View of Its Land and Its People," Connecticut Woodlands (1976). In two parts, this work is highly derivative in its history, but great on the history of the Connecticut forest from prehistoric time to 1976. Excellent maps and illustrations. Hicock was State Forester; Miner is a free-lance writer.

Hopkins, Francis W. "An Historical Sketch of Local Finance in Connecticut Until 1930 with Special Reference to Forest Resources." A photocopy of a revision of a doctoral dissertation (1936) at Yale. See above under "Public Finance."

Lord, Eleanor L. Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1898. The focus is on lumber and naval stores, and is mainly about Massachusetts material.

Lutz, Harold J. “Trends and Silviculture Significance of Upland Forest Successions in Southern New England." Yale University School of Forestry: Bulletin no. 22 (1938). Deals with trends at the time of Lutz's study.

Moss, Alben A. "A Forest Survey of Connecticut," Forestry Publication No. 11, Part II, "Eighth Report of the State Forester." Hartford, 1915. Moss, assistant state forester, drove around the state in an automobile and charted the degree of forestation in each town. A map showing the percentage of each town covered by forests is included. Thirteen towns were more than 70 percent forested. Forest cover in Connecticut did not reach its modern peak until 1940, so that this is an excellent survey during the transitional stage from less to more woodland.

Nichols, George E. "The Vegetation of Connecticut, II: Virgin Forests." Torreya 13 (September, 1913) 9:199-215. Description of the virgin forest, with photographs of Colebrook forest. Includes ages and measurements of primeval trees.

Pierson, A.H. "Wood Using Industries of Connecticut." Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. Bulletin no. 174 (1913). (Forestry Publication no. 7)

Reynolds, R.V., and Pierson, A.H. Fuel Wood Use in the United States, 1630-1930. U.S. Department of Agriculture Circular no. 641 (January, 1942). A compendium of statistics. Puts Connecticut in context and shows that, comparatively, wood products didn't amount to much here. They still don't.

Raup, Hugh. "Forest Primeval." Connecticut Conservation 3 (September, 1970) 4:16-23.

Schurr, Sam H., et al. Energy in the American Economy Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1960. Another work that will allow students to see Connecticut in the national context.

Stephens, George R., and Waggoner, Paul E. "A Half Century of Natural Transitions in Mixed Hardwood Forests.” Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. Bulletin 783 (1980). This provides an explanation of changes in forest populations in areas not affected by human activity and throws light on what probably went on in much of New England before European occupation.

Winer, Herbert I. "History of the Great Mountain Forest, Litchfield County, Connecticut" Doctoral dissertation, Yale, 1955. This fascinating work describes an area in Canaan and Norfolk that has been managed as a natural preserve for many years. Winer traces the forest back to the time of earliest occupation by Connecticut pioneers in the mid-eighteenth century and shows, through imaginative use of boundary markers on original landholders' deeds, what the forest consisted of before they arrived.