About the White Mountain National Forest
Conserving the Forest
The White Mountain National Forest is one of the most popular national forests in the nation and today covers 12 percent of the land base of New Hampshire. But that was not always the case. In the late 1800s, the White Mountains suffered from extensive logging, and between 1880 and 1910, hundreds of thousands of acres were destroyed by forest fires, erosion, and flooding.
Starting in the 1890’s there were repeated calls to conserve and protect the lands in the White Mountains. The battle for passage was long but in 1910 the House approved the passage of The Weeks Act, which allowed the creation of Eastern National Forests.
The first tract of land was acquired in January 1914 in Pike, NH. In four short years government land appraisers and surveyors acquired over 360,000 acres of land, making the forest reserve sizable enough to be named a national forest.
On May 16, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson signed Proclamation Order 1449, establishing the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF).
Early Days of the WMNF
The early organization of the WMNF focused on continued land acquisition, forest protection and restoration.
The early organization of the WMNF focused on continued land acquisition, forest protection and restoration.
Forest Guards were hired to conduct on the ground management. Forest protection was the primary work in the early decades and forest guards also fought forest fires, built trails, dealt with poachers and prevented timber theft. By 1942, there were 14 guard stations usually staffed by two men whose job it was to protect the forest and provide recreational opportunities to the public.
Alva Richardson became a Forest Guard in the White Mountain National Forest in 1926. He and his wife, Mildred Everett, settled at a Guard Station located where the Wild River Campground is today. Their daughter Betty was the first recorded birth in the WMNF and was famously known as the “White Mountain National Forest Baby.”
Fire Towers
The earliest challenges in managing the WMNF involved protecting the forest and restoring the land from the disastrous fires of 1903. The first fire lookout in the White Mountains was built by the Mount Pleasant Hotel Company around 1904 on the summit of Mount Rosebrook. Starting in 1911, dozens of lookouts were constructed and hundreds of miles of phone lines were installed.
Many WMNF fire towers were built and staffed by the CCC following the Hurricane of 1938.
Observatory on Carter Dome. Private Collection. 
Tower on Carter Dome. Private Collection. 
Chocorua Fire Tower. Private Collection
Multi Use
Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the US Forest Service. In 1905 he advised how the new national forests should be run. He said that national forests “should be managed for the greatest good, for the greatest number, in the long run.”
Defining the “greatest good” in the “lands of many uses” is challenging. How many ski areas, trails, timber harvests, roads or Wilderness areas should there be? The greatest good changes over time.
Building the Richard Taft ski trail, Cannon Mountain. Courtesy of New England Ski Museum. 
Wild Cat trail . Courtesy of New England Ski Museum.
Civilian Conservation Corps
CCC building the Glen Ellis Trail, 1938 Courtesy of the USDA Forest Service, White Mountain National Forest.
More than simply planting trees, the primary purpose of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was to put young men to work during the Great Depression, giving them opportunities to learn new skills. CCC enrollees were between the ages of 18-25, unemployed, and not married. They were paid $30 a month, of which $25 was sent home to their family in order to widely distribute the wealth.
Between 1933 and 1942, the CCC built:
- 15 fire towers
- 6 campground and picnic areas
- 12 roads
- 7 high country cabins
- 19 alpine ski trails
- 200 bridges
- Plus many shelters and hundreds of miles of hiking trails
Women Observers of the Forest Service (WOOFS)
Women took on many duties and responsibilities during World War 2 because most able-bodied men were either in the military or working in essential jobs. Women were recruited in 1943 on the White Mountain National Forest to staff several forest fire lookout stations. These lookouts watched out for forest fires and served as aircraft observers. Forest products were vital to the war effort and protecting the forests from fire was an important job.
Barbara Mortensen of Berlin, NH was one of the WOOFS. Her husband was in the US Navy and “somewhere at sea” and she was assigned to the Pine Mountain Lookout near Gorham, along with Brenda.
As the war ended in 1945 and the men came back the WOOFS job was over. The returning servicemen were given priority in hiring after serving for up to five years in the military. The WOOFS played an important role in protecting our forests and nation during this difficult period. The WOOFS or Women Observers of the Forest Service name is not as well-known as WAC’s (Women’s Army Corps) but they served their country well in a time of need. Today women serve as lookouts, firefighters and any job open to men.
Scientific Work in the WMNF
WMNF Experimental Forests
Research has been central to the work of the Forest Service since its inception 1905. In 1908, the Forest Service established its first experimental forest on the Coconino National Forest in Arizona. In 1923, the Forest Service established the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station which is now the Northern Research Station.
Bartlett Experimental Forest
The Bartlett Experimental Forest (BEF) began research in 1931 when the USDA Forest Service set aside 2,600 acres of the WMNF for experimental studies. This site was chosen because it represented typical forest conditions in northern New England and northern New York. Much of the research has focused on silviculture and forest harvesting methods in northern hardwood stands. Wildlife research has been another major focus area with research on songbird, small mammal and terrestrial salamander response to a variety of harvesting practices.
Since 1995, the BEF has become an important site for testing a variety of remote sensing technology in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire and NASA.
Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), located near Campton, NH, was established in 1955. Congress established the 7,800-acre HBEF as a center for forest hydrology research in New England. Like the BEF, this experimental forest collaborates with researchers and students at several universities.
Early studies focused on the impact of forest management on water yield and quality, and flood flow. In 1960, a long-term ecosystem study began between the USDA Forest Service and Dartmouth. The first documentation of acid rain in North America came from the HBEF.
In the summer of 2005, Plymouth State University’s Center for the Environment negotiated an arrangement to co-fund a hydrologist with the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in Durham. The hydrologist is a member of the Center’s faculty as well as a USFS research scientist leading hydrologic research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. The Center also provides office space to a USFS Northern Research Station geoecologist.
Plymouth State University faculty and students
Measuring forest water use in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
Plymouth State University faculty and students have aided the understanding transpiration and its controls. This has included Mark Green using the long-term monitoring of water budgets at Hubbard Brook to demonstrate a major increase in transpiration after restoration of calcium in an experimental watershed. Plymouth State faculty Eric Kelsey and Mark Green, and research associate Dan Evans have also led the operation of a state-of-the-art tower designed to directly measure water moving away from the forest to the atmosphere. Michele Pruyn and her students made many measurements of transpiration by individual trees, trying to understand how trees at different elevations used water differently.
Aluminum in White Mountains streamwater
Multiple graduate students from Plymouth State with the direction of Scott Bailey (USFS), Mark Green, and Denise Burchsted (former PSU post-doc, currently a faculty at Keene State College) have tried to explain where high aluminum concentrations are found in streamwater. Certain forms of aluminum can be harmful to aquatic organisms, thus these students have collected samples around the White Mountains to understand when and where aluminum may threaten aquatic life. A new effort is underway with Amy Villamagna to measure aquatic insects and their sensitivity to aluminum in the White Mountains.