You can’t tell the story of Northern Arizona without telling the story of timber. The logging industry has been central to its growth for more than a century.
"Timber!," in fact, is the name of a new digital exhibition from Northern Arizona University’s Special Collections & Archives that explores the long history of logging in the region — as well as its evolving relationship with its expansive ponderosa pine forests.
Peter Runge, head of special collections and archives at NAU’s Cline Library, joined The Show to discuss.
Full conversation
LAUREN GILGER: It sounds like the earliest demand for timber in Arizona. It was really kind of part of and tied up in the story of, of the railroad in Arizona and the railroad coming West. Tell us about that.
PETER RUNGE: So Lauren, there was a strong need for lumber to continue the development and progress of the railroad. And in 1882 a gentleman by the name of Edward Eyre established the first lumber mill in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the sole purpose of that lumber mill at the time or the primary purpose of that lumber mill at the time was to provide lumber for the railroad and the development of the railroad.
GILGER: So what did that do to Flagstaff at the time? Like it was kind of built up around this, right?
RUNGE: Exactly. Flagstaff was a very small town at this time. And so the lumber mill actually attracted people to northern Arizona in the Flagstaff area because the lumber mill needed folks to not only sell the lumber, but also process the lumber as well and prepare it for use on the railroad. And we also had the advantage of a railroad right here coming right through town. So all the necessary aspects to create a productive lumber mill were in place in Flagstaff, Arizona. And then the town began to grow around the lumber mill.
GILGER: OK. So we have this big lumber industry built up around the railroad. How long did that last? And how much did Flagstaff grow as that industry grew?
RUNGE: I want to say the last lumber mill in Flagstaff closed in the 1980s, the mid- to late- 1980s. That was Southwest Forest Industries. But the heyday of the lumber industry here in Flagstaff was the late 19th century through the mid 20th century and probably the largest lumber mill at the time was the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company, the AL&T, run by the Riordan brothers and the Riordan brother purchased Edward Eyre lumber mill and then really began to expand it.
GILGER: So tell us when did the U.S. Forest service enter the picture and how did that change things?
RUNGE: So the forest service enters the picture in about 1905, especially around here in northern Arizona. So in 1905, the Fort Valley experimental research station was established and that research station was just north of Flagstaff, heading toward the Grand Canyon. It was about 10-12 miles outside of town at the time. And there was an interest in learning more about the forest from a scientific perspective and that was the purpose and mission of the Fort Valley Experimental Research Station.
So from that period, the early 20th century, the Forest Service begins to formulate itself.
GILGER: So let's fast forward a little bit here and talk about the 1960s. It says in this exhibit right by the 1960s, forestry looked a little different. It became more holistic, it talked about environmental sustainability. It sounds like the view of the forests and what they mean changed by then by the 1960s.
RUNGE: Yep. And at the same time, NAU is establishing its school of forestry. And at this point, there are several schools of forestry across the country. And so people are beginning to look at the forest, as you said, in a more holistic perspective and not merely as a resource to be extracted for the benefit and use of mankind. So it was looked at more as an organism that needed to be cared for and nurtured and studied.
GILGER: Hmm. So did that change the way the industry reacted like it was, it was the industry kind of winding down at that point then?
RUNGE: Right. Yeah, by the mid-20th century, the lumber industry is beginning to wind down.
GILGER: So let's talk then about another part of this exhibition which is about today, like today, Arizona's ponderosa pine forests are threatened in a lot of ways, whether it's disease and insects, climate change, wildfires, right? Where do we stand today? Where, where does the industry and sort of the community's relationship in northern Arizona stand today in relation to its forests?
RUNGE: Right. It's a difficult balance because we are absolutely surrounded by forest all around the communities in northern Arizona, whether that's Flagstaff, Williams, Winslow, et cetera. The relationship is difficult because the forests they've been managed in a way that have led to a somewhat unhealthy forest. My understanding is a healthy forest has 100 trees or less per acre. And if you look at the forest surrounding Flagstaff, there are four, far more than 100 trees per acre just about everywhere we look.
There is a retired faculty member, Dr. John Vankat, who did a very interesting study with repeat photography of the forest around the San Francisco Peaks. And one of the things that's most compelling about his study is that in the late-19th, early-20th century, we see far fewer trees. However, the trees we see are much more mature and developed. As we look forward as he, as he repeats these photographs in the late 20-teens, early 2020s, we see a heavily or densely forested area and most of the trees are very young but they're absorbing a lot of water which is affecting the entire community.
GILGER: Right. So that's interesting how much it's changed. And it's sort of because of this industry, right, because of the way we have fought forest fires for so long.
RUNGE: Correct. Right. And I think part of it has to do with the effort to suppress forest fires. And that led to, I think an overgrowth of trees in many of the forests in North America, not just here in northern Arizona. So what we're seeing today is a lot of activity to rectify that and to thin the forests. And so just around northern Arizona right now, there are several thinning projects that are going on just outside of town.
And I think part of that is we're looking at that wild urban interface where the community of Flagstaff is kind of encroaching on the forest itself, the inherent dynamic tension that exists there. And so people enjoy the forest, but the forest is also a threat for the community as well should there be a fire.
GILGER: So I wonder because you're in charge of archives, right. So you're looking back at history a lot and as you were putting this together, I wonder what you think the lessons can be for this very challenged situation you're in right now with the ponderosa pine forests in northern Arizona. Are there lessons that you think we should learn from this long history that you've traced here?
RUNGE: You know what? There's always lessons in all these situations. I think, you know, the exhibit itself is a reflection on the various approaches to living in a forested area. It's hard to say what the future of the forest is at this point. But I think some of the lessons that we're gonna learn in some of the ways we're gonna move forward is by looking into the past.
And I would say when looking into the past, looking all the way back to how indigenous communities were living with the forest. IT's gonna be one of the ways that we will begin to move forward and more healthy and conscientious way of living within a forest or a forested area.
GILGER: Yeah. All right. We'll end it there. That is Peter Runge, the head of special collections and archives at the Klein Library at Northern Arizona University, joining us to talk about their new exhibition, "Timber!" Peter, thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for telling us about this. I really appreciate it.
RUNGE: Oh, my gosh. Thank you, Lauren.
