Historical and Retrospective Studies
Since the first, largely unsuccessful attempts by Richard Fisher and his students to promote the regeneration of white pine following the harvesting of pine stands growing on old abandoned farm fields, researchers at the Harvard Forest have recognized that historical studies afford great ecological insights that have practical applications for conservation and management.
As a consequence, the history of research at the Forest has emphasized retrospective studies ranging from dendrochronology and paleoecology to the compilation of a variety of historical documents, literature and maps. These studies have led to the development of many new approaches to historical ecology and have produced a number of classic papers by researchers such as Hugh Raup, Earl Stephens, Margaret Davis, Steve Spurr, David Henry, Mark Swan, Chad Oliver, Craig Lorimer, and Ernie Gould. Today nearly every field study conducted by researchers at the Forest incorporates a historical component. Through these historical studies we are able to extend the timeframe for our research and cover important temporal precursors to the ecological phenomena and landscape conditions that we witness around us today.