Experimental Forest and Savenac Nursery Archive

About the Collection

The Experimental Forest and Savenac Nursery Photo Archive contains photographs related to or depicting the establishment of two Forest Service Experimental Forests in north Idaho, Priest River and Deception Creek, and the Savenac Nursery in Montana. These images were taken over almost 80 years, from 1910 to 1989, and depict the people, places, and machinery of forest workers in Northern Idaho and Northwestern Montana.

This collection was provided to the University of Idaho Library’s Digital Initiatives Department by Bob Denner, Forester with the Rocky Mountain Research Station, in the fall of 2013. Denner was the Superintendent at the Priest River Experimental Forest before being transferred to the Moscow Forestry Sciences Lab. While at Priest River, he found boxes of photos and documents stored in the office attic! Eventually he brought them to Moscow, where he was able to digitize and catalog each one. The Moscow office also provided a large number of photos and documents that add to the historical record of these sites.

Original copies of these images remain the property of the Forest Service; they may be reproduced with acknowledgement to the USDA-Forest Service. Those photos from Priest River of original cottage interiors, J.A. Larsen, his wife Jenny and daughter Margaret are from the private collection of Ms. Susan Marsh will require authorization from the Marsh family for reproduction.