Experimental Forest

The Big Meadow Creek Unit is located on the south side of Moscow Mountain.  Much of the parcel was part of the original Latah County land gift in the early 1930s.

View the Big Meadow Creek recreation map

East Hatter Creek is home to the 249-acre Basalt Hill Special Management Area. From the late 1940s to the mid-60s, much of East Hatter was home to a large deer enclosure used for a variety of short and long-term wildlife management research by students and faculty in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences.

This management unit along the West Hatter branch and Long Creek tributaries to the Hatter Creek drainage include productive Western red cedar and grand fir stands on north-facing slopes, and Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir stands on southern slopes at lower elevations.

West Hatter, located near Princeton, Idaho, is a popular location for outreach and extension activities.  

The Flat Creek Unit is home to two of the experimental forest's special management areas. Flat Creek Special Management Area is located on the north side of Highway 8, just west of the railroad bridge at the Road 11 entrance. Hemlock Special Management Area is located approximately four miles on Road 12. Road 12 is accessed on the south side of Highway 8.

The Flat Creek Cabin on Road 11 (also called The Cabin Road) was built in 1949 as a research station for field experiments and group outings in the forest.

The Roger Guernsey Outdoor Classroom (also known as Pinestia) was gifted to the College of Natural Resources by former state forester Roger Guernsey, to provide a demonstration area illustrating principles of small woodlot management. Cathedral Ponderosa pines are interlaced with clusters of young regeneration in gaps. Accessing Pinestia

Heading east on Highway 6 in Princeton, turn north (left) onto Gold Hill Road. Continue for approximately one mile and look for a small gravel driveway access surrounded by large Ponderosa pine trees on the left. As you enter the parking area, look for a black mailbox on the right. In this mailbox, you will find pamphlets leading you on a guided tour of the property that covers the unique features of its history and management.

The 80-acre Blodgett Outdoor Classroom was gifted to the college by Earle and Ena Blodgett in 1988 to provide a teaching classroom close to the Moscow campus. Students in silviculture, ecosystem processes and forest operations regularly use the classroom for field labs. The annual FFA statewide Forestry Career Development Event is hosted at Blodgett.

The Matthew M. McGovern Memorial Tree Farm provides an ideal location for extension forestry workshops in the Cougar Creek drainage, close to Coeur d'Alene. Mary Alice McGovern gifted this 238-acre property to the college for the demonstration of forest management techniques. A log kiosk approximately 600 feet in from the UIEF forest access road gate describes the McGovern family, the property's history and current forest management goals.

Class I Stream Shade Rule Demonstration Area: Idaho's Class I Stream Shade Rule went into effect in June 2014. For more information about the rule, please visit the Idaho Department of Lands fact sheet.

The College of Natural Resources is working closely with Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Idaho Dept. of Lands to install new demonstration areas on the experimental forest to show small landowners, foresters and contractors how tree marking to comply with the rule works, and how different treatment options may look after harvesting.

In Fall 2014, pre-treatment shade was sampled every three meters along a 1,200-foot reach of Cougar Creek using a Solar Pathfinder, and all trees were measured to determine Relative Stocking in 50-foot intervals. Treatments demonstrating the two Shade Rule options (60/30 and 60/10) were installed in winter 2015, with signs showing pre- and post-treatment measurements. Please contact Forest Manager Rob Keefe for more information.

The 1,650-acre Herald Nokes Experimental Forest in McCall is currently managed by the Nokes family with assistance from the college. Eventually, management will transition to the experimental forest and continue the legacy of forest stewardship.