Since its inception the Clemson University Forest has been a magnet for faculty, staff, and students researching any number of topics. While the bulk of its research history has been in forestry, forest ecology, and wildlife biology, many other researchers have also been attracted to it. These researchers have come from almost every part of campus including biological sciences, environmental engineering, geology, atmospheric sciences, recreation resource management, and behavioral sciences. Their creative activities have not been constrained to scientific research alone but have included projects across the humanities, education, athletics and architecture. For example, Dr. Dan Harding and his students built and designed structures in the Forest that gave his students real world experience and were beautiful and useful.
The “golden age” of forest science occurred through the 1970s to 90s, when an active forestry faculty conducted numerous projects. More than 300 papers, theses and reports represent this period. Topics were those closely related to the forest economy – loblolly pine silviculture – and basic forest ecology. Researchers such as the legendary Dr. David Van Lear conducted projects in and relative to the Clemson Forest that still stand as seminal contributions to the literature. Other prolific researchers included Drs. David Guynn (wildlife ecology), Larry Nix (silviculture), and Peter Kapeluck, Geoff Wang and Vic Shelburne (forest ecology) – and others too numerous to mention here. As a result of this productivity, the Clemson Forest became widely known as a place where important techniques and ideas in forestry were developed.
A few important events changed the course of research in the CU Forest. One, a funding model change happened when federal dollars were no longer available for individual faculty to propose and carry out projects. The McIntire-Stennis capacity grants that once flowed to these in-house projects now became more widely distributed. Faculty who were chasing grants to support their research now had to look farther afield, and ended up doing projects outside of this area – such as the blockbuster recent US Forest Service grant.
At the same time, many researchers from outside the forestry and wildlife disciplines had discovered the forest. Interest flowed into the Forest from basic sciences and engineering. For example, Dr. Matt Koski in Biological Sciences conducted elegant experiments on pollination of native Trillium discolor in the CU Forest. Dr. Brian Powell in Earth and Environmental Sciences has been attracted to Lake Issaqueena for its rare opportunity to study the temperature-driven fluctuations in chemistry of the water column in a small lake. Also from Biological Sciences, Dr. Michael Childress’ students are investigating behavior and ecology of crayfish, including the interactions of native species with a successful invasive. A cross-college collaboration involving Drs. Jason Fridley, Antonino Malacrio, and Nishanth Tharayil is an ongoing study of carbon dynamics, the microbiome, fire ecology, and characteristics leading to invasion of non-native woody shrubs. Dr. Lorena Endara has done an incredible job documenting the diversity of vascular plants in the Forest based on her collections in the Clemson Herbarium, and field surveys.
Research from the forestry and wildlife world has continued to grow and change. Fisheries ecologists Drs. Brandon Peoples, Luke Bower, and Troy Farmer both teach and conduct research in the forest. Dr. Erin Buchholtz has built a productive study of the invasion of wild hogs, that is helping SC DNR and the forest staff to manage the population. Dr. Kyle Barrett has led several studies of amphibians and reptiles, as well as a popular study of the movements of owls in an among the Forest and the City of Clemson. The tradition of studying the effects of forest management on forest ecology continues with studies authored by Drs. Patrick Hiesl, Don Hagan, and others. Many other studies constantly are underway including work by Drs. Thea Hotaling-Hagan and Jared Elmore to study restoration of grassland communities, and Marzieh Motallebi and her students to study economic impacts of recreational visitors to the Forest.
A burgeoning area of research involving the Clemson Forest comes from faculty in the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department in the College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences. Researchers have investigated numerous topics related to visitor management, health and well being benefits of being outdoors, and history and significance of the Forest itself. These projects not only contribute to the science of managing parks and protected areas, but inform the day to day management of the CU Forest – such as the recent study of motivations for volunteering by Lydia Heisl.
An interesting fact that few appreciate is that for many years the Department of Physics has operated the Clemson Atmospheric Research Lab inside the Forest. Off of Watershed road, this lab collects data on numerous atmospheric phenomena, including particulates such as released by prescribed fire.
Humanities, too find the Forest to be a muse. For example, Paul Crunkleton wrote an MS thesis called “Mr. Aull’s Grand Experiment” illuminating the life and efforts of the famous Clemson faculty member to establish the Forest through the New Deal and WWII eras.
To gather a more quantitative understanding of the breadth and depth of research projects on the CU Forest, staff conducted a survey of the entire faculty of the University. What was revealed was a far-reaching influence of the Forest on the academic enterprise. The survey – which is still live and collecting data – has catalogued 43 current, ongoing research projects in the Forest. These projects cross almost every discipline at Clemson, and represent over $4 million in research dollars from a range of funders including the National Science Foundation, National Park Service, US Department of Agriculture, and others.
Forestry and Wildlife, Biological Sciences, and PRTM faculty lead the charge, with numerous projects involving their undergraduate and graduate students. From the Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department, numerous ongoing projects continue to grow and evolve as new collaborations are founded. Researchers from College of Science and College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences, and Engineering continue to build their projects. The new CU Forest Data Hub fosters collaboration by providing a portal to ongoing and historical datasets, of use to many researchers. We are planning the first annual CU Forest Research Symposium for 2027, and looking forward to the creative discussions that these interactions among University faculty, students, and staff will generate.
The beauty and strength of the Forest as an academic entity is, as Dr. Jason Fridley articulated that it is “big and close” meaning researchers can easily access the Forest from campus, and find numerous research settings. For an institution that has so long been integral to Clemson University (over 90 years) it is not at all surprising that such a plethora of research activities has accumulated, nor that there is so much passionate interest in maintaining it as a resource for students and faculty into the future.
