The Harvard Forest Dioramas

The Fisher Museum's primary exhibit is 23 internationally acclaimed models (dioramas), the first seven of which depict 230 years of landscape change in central New England, beginning with European colonization in 1700. The remaining dioramas portray 20th-century forest management techniques and a series of conservation challenges including erosion and fire.

Diorama scene of old growth trees along the shoreline of a pond

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Landscape History of Central New England

Seven of the Harvard Forest dioramas form a historical series that depicts changes in the New England landscape over the past 300 years at one location. The scene was designed to depict all the important transformations of the landscape in the upland area of central Massachusetts since the pre-European-settlement period.

The ecological and historical interpretation of the details and significance of these transformations has changed little since Fisher and his colleagues designed the dioramas in the 1920s and 1930s. Importantly, the concepts presented in the dioramas provide the basis for much current understanding and research ecology, conservation biology, and forest management at the Harvard Forest and beyond.

One of the major lessons that emerges from the dioramas is that in order to understand our forests today we need to become deeply knowledgeable about their particular history. This historical perspective shows us that our forests have always been characterized by change and carry a strong cultural legacy of past human activity. This understanding should inform our predictions of future forest development, as well as our attempts to conserve and manage them.

Landscape History of Central New England

Pre-Settlement Forest

Diorama scene of a small farmhouse, a field surrounded by a stone wall, a few stumps of large trees, a man, a dog and a cow

An Early Settler Clears a Homestead

Diorama scene with a barn surrounded by land cleared for fields. In the foreground are two tilled fields bordered by stone walls. A man makes a pile of pumpkins.

Height of Forest Clearing and Agriculture

Diorama scene with an abandoned farmhouse and barn in the background. Small trees are beginning to grow in old fields. A hunter and his dog are in the foreground.

Farm Abandonment

Diorama scene of white pine logs lying on a ground with standing white pines in the background. Two men saw a fallen log with a two-person saw.

"Old-Field" White Pine Forest on Abandoned Farmland

Two deer walk through a stand of young trees.

"Old-Field" White Pine is Succeeded by Hardwoods

Diorama scene of a hardwood stand with an artist painting a view of the hills and valley.

A Vigorously Growing Forest of Hardwoods

A stream flows through a forest. A stonewall runs perpendicular to the stream.

The Modern Forest Landscape

Conservation Issues in the History of New England Forests

Several dioramas highlight conservation issues in the New England countryside. These dioramas remind us of the history of conservation issues in eastern North America, and also point up the continuity of certain conservation concerns through time.

Conservation Issues in the History of New England Forests

Diorama scene of two men in a stand of old growth trees along the shore of a pond

Old Growth Forests

Old Growth Forests 2

Diorama scene of a snowy landscape with an abandoned farmhouse and two deer

Wildlife Habitat in a Dynamic Landscape

Diorama scene of a river with farmland on either side that shows signs of soil erosion

Accelerated Erosion with Intensive Land Use

Diorama scene showing a fire tower on a hill. A police officer on a motorcyle and a firetruck are parked on the road and firefighters lower a hose into a water hole. Other forestry workers walk towards trees that are on fire in the background.

Forest Fire

Diorama scene of a fire observation tower on a hill. A road runs through the scene and on the side of the road is a water hole.

Forest Fire Management

Forest Management in Central New England

By coupling the forest history of New England to an understanding of the ecology of the region, the biology of forest trees, and society’s demands for natural resources, Richard Fisher developed a comprehensive approach to forest management that he and his students came to call “ecological forestry”. Because this approach was based on the study of natural stands and native species and attempted to work with the basic biology of forests in their natural landscape setting, it provides a clear precursor to the “new forestry” and “ecosystem management” approaches that have emerged in the late 20th century.